This table of dialectic forms, which was originally based mainly
upon the information of Schmidt[567] and my own observations and has
now been enlarged with the aid of Polites’ new work[568], is even so
probably far from complete; nor have I included in it, for reasons to
be stated, the following forms: καλκάνια[569] (τὰ) which is apparently
an abbreviated diminutive formed from the first two syllables of
καλκάν-τζαρος with a neuter termination, and is therefore a nickname
rather than a strict derivative: καλκαγάροι which Bent[570] represents
to be the usual form in Naxos and Paros, but I hesitate to accept
without confirmation from some other source: σκατσάντζαροι[571], a
Macedonian form, and καλκατζόνια, a diminutive form from the district
of Cynouria, both so extraordinarily corrupt that I can find no place
for them in the table: λυκοκάντζαροι, which has been thought to be
κολλικάντζαρος with the first two syllables reversed in order--a change
to which I can find no parallel--but is, as I shall show later, a
distinct and very important compound of the word κάντζαρος: and lastly
καλι̯οντζῆδες[572] which has nothing at all to do with καλλικάντζαροι
etymologically, but is an euphemistic and not particularly good pun
upon it, really meaning the ‘sailors of a galleon[573]’ (Turkish
_qālioundji_), and humorously substituted for the dreaded name of the
Callicantzari.
To conclude this compilation, it must be added that the wives of
Callicantzari are denoted by feminine forms with the termination -ίνα
or -οῦ, and their children by neuter forms ending in -άκι or -οῦδι in
place of the masculine -ος.
From a careful analysis of this material two main facts seem to emerge.
First, the form καλλικάντζαρος, the commonest in use, is also the
centre from which the other dialectic forms diverge in many directions;
and therefore if one of the rarer dialectic forms be selected as
the parent-form and the basis of any etymological explanation, the
advocate of the particular etymology not only assumes the burden of
showing how his original form came to be so generally superseded by
the form καλλικάντζαρος, but also will require many more steps in his
genealogical table of existing varieties of the word. Secondly, the
words καλλικάντζαρος and λυκοκάντζαρος (if, as I hold, they cannot
be connected through the mediation of the form κολλικάντζαρος) show
that we have to deal with a compound word of which the second half is
κάντζαρος: and corroboration of this view is afforded by the existence
of a form of the uncompounded word in the dialect of Cynouria, where
σκατζάρια[574] (τὰ)--i.e. a diminutive form of κάντζαρος with σ
prefixed and ν lost--is used side by side with the words καλλικάντζαροι
and λυκοκάντζαροι to denote the same beings.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account