Athena(i) Re: Transcription exercise

Philip Newton skrev:
 > On 9/25/06, Carsten Becker <carbeck@...> wrote:
 >> From: "Remi Villatel" <maxilys@...> Sent: Friday,
 >> September 15, 2006 8:32 PM
 >>
 >> > Amsterdam JatsērhdaV [ja.tsEx.dav] Athinai JatiyaI
 >> > [jatiHa"i]
 >>
 >> It would be interesting to know the etymologies of these
 >> city names.

 > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athens says that the city was
 > "[n]amed after goddess Athena," without going into
 > details.

The etymology is obscure to say the least, as evidenced by
the gibberish theoris advanced at <http://tinyurl.com/ktv8n>
(WP). It may well be pre-Greek.

 > (I note that the accent is different, though -- the
 > goddess is Athiná in modern Greek, while the city is
 > Athína. And the older name is plural: Athínai /
 > Athê~nai -- but also has the accent on the penult, not
 > the ultimate.)
 >
 > ...ah, the article goes on to claim: "In ancient Greek,
 > the name of Athens was Ἀθῆναι-Athenai, plural of
 > Ἀθηνά-Athene, the Attic name of the Goddess Athena.
 > The city's name may have been plural, like those of Θῆβαι-
 > Thebai (Thebes) and Μυκῆναι-Mykenai (Mycenae),
 > because it consisted of several parts." -- but doesn't
 > explain the shifted accent.

_Athe:nâ:_ the godess' name seems to come from a form with
four syllables, probably _*atha:nája_, which would then
regularly become _*atha:náa_ and _*atha:nâ:_. The glides
*j and *w and *h (usually < *s) regularly disappear between
vowels in Greek. I'm not sure why the a-quality of the last
vowel was preserved in Attic -- if the sequence _aE:_ would
regularly become _a:_ or if the former presence of *j
blocked the Attic *a: > E: shift. This shift is regularly
blocked by preceding /i/, but I think the loss of *j between
vowels preceded the *a: > E: shift. Perhaps the name is
simply not Greek! FWIW there is an alternative form
Ἀθήνη _Athé:ne:_ that looks more 'regular' as a
singular corresponding to _Athê:nai_, but I'd bet it's
analogical. The difference in type as opposed to position of
accent is probably Byzantine scholars' guesswork.

Ray, do you know theorder of the sound changes?

--
/BP 8^)>
--
Benct Philip Jonsson -- melroch at melroch dot se

    "Maybe" is a strange word.  When mum or dad says it
    it means "yes", but when my big brothers say it it
    means "no"!

                            (Philip Jonsson jr, age 7)

--
/BP 8^)>
--
Benct Philip Jonsson -- melroch at melroch dot se

    "Maybe" is a strange word.  When mum or dad says it
    it means "yes", but when my big brothers say it it
    means "no"!

                            (Philip Jonsson jr, age 7)

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