ΘÛµις in the Mycenaean Lexicon and the Etymology of the Place-Name *ti-mi-to a-ko
Reassessing work by Spanish scholars Martín S. Ruipérez and Mercedes Aguirre de Castro, this paper examines words in the Linear B texts that have been connected with the later Greek word themis. New readings of several key texts and a fuller understanding of the still much-debated tablet KN V(2) 280...
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2000 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona |
| Repositorio: | Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB |
| Idioma: | inglés |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:ddd.uab.cat:599 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://ddd.uab.cat/record/599 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Linear B Etymology Linguistics Legal terms Place-names Plant names Archaeo-botany Bronze Age Messenia Etimología Lingüística Términos legales Topónimos Nombres de plantas Arqueobotánica Edad del bronce de Mesenia |
| Sumario: | Reassessing work by Spanish scholars Martín S. Ruipérez and Mercedes Aguirre de Castro, this paper examines words in the Linear B texts that have been connected with the later Greek word themis. New readings of several key texts and a fuller understanding of the still much-debated tablet KN V(2) 280 argue against interpreting any words as connected with themis. This is consistent with the general absence of references to legal procedures in the Mycenaean records and the conspicuous absence in the Linear B inscriptions of any derivatives of the word for the notion of 'justice' äÝëè, which occurs so prominently in historical Greek literature and even as a formative element in historical personal names. The paper further explores the significance of these conclusions for the interpretation of the toponym *ti-mi-to a-ko, a prominent provincial capital in the Pylos tablets which has been identified archaeologically as the site of Nichoria. Using the results of three separate surveys and archaeobotanical studies of the region and the work of José L. Melena and José Fortes Fortes with botanical terms from the Mycenaean and historical periods, I propose that the interpretation 'agkos of the terebinth trees' would fit both the topography of the environs of Nichoria and the attested high exploitation of products from the terebinth trees in late palatial Crete and Messenia. Stephanus of Byzantium cites the toponym Tremithous in Cyprus, and there are other examples. |
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