Studies on Homer and the Homeric Age, Vol. 1 of 3: I. Prolegomena II. Achæis; or, the Ethnology of the Greek RacesGladstone, W. E. (William Ewart)
History
Studies on Homer and the Homeric Age, Vol. 1 of 3: I. Prolegomena II. Achæis; or, the Ethnology of the Greek Races
Gladstone, W. E. (William Ewart)
Civilization, Homeric; Epic poetry, Greek -- History and criticism; Homer
arcus {βιὸς
{τόξον
sagitta {ἰὸν
{ὀϊστός.
It can hardly, I think, be questioned, that this class of words
presents on the whole a very marked contrast to those which were before
exhibited. And as we see the highest martial energies of Greece
manifestly represented in the Hellenes, we may the more confidently
adopt that inference as to the habits of Hellenes and Pelasgians
respectively, which the contrast between the two languages of itself
vividly suggests.
Before quitting this head of the subject, let us notice the wide
difference in the channels by which the two languages arrive at the
words intended to represent the highest excellence. For ‘better’ the
Greeks have βέλτερος, from βέλος, ‘a dart,’ and for ‘best,’ ἄριστος,
from ἄρης, ‘war;’ while the Latins are contented with _optimus_, formed
from a common root with _opes_, ‘wealth.’
There is almost as remarkable a want of correspondence between the two
languages in respect to the higher ideas, both intellectual and moral,
as in regard to war.
In three words indeed we may trace a clear etymological relationship,
but in two of the cases with a total, and in the third with an
important change in the meaning.
1. The μένος of the Greeks becomes the Latin _mens_; so that a
particular quality, and that one belonging to the πάθη rather than the
ἤθη of man, comes to stand for the entire mind.
2. The Greek ἄνεμος is evidently the Latin _animus_: or, that word
which remains the symbol of a sensible object in Greek becomes
the representative of mind in Latin. The adjective ἀνεμώλιος is
indeed capable of a metaphysical application: but it means ‘of no
account[543].’
3. The θυμὸς of the Greeks is the _fumus_ of the Latins: and the case
last described is exactly reversed.
The three great words in the early Greek for the unseen or spiritual
powers of man’s nature are νόος, φρὴν, and ψυχή. They perhaps
correspond most nearly with the three Latin words _mens_, _indoles_,
and _vita_[544]. There is not the slightest sign of conformity
or common origin in any of the cases; although νόος is akin to
_nosco_[545].
In two other very important words we find perhaps derivation from a
common root, but nothing like a near or direct relationship. The Greek
ἀρετὴ may proceed from the same stock with the Latin _virtus_, and in
like manner ἄτη may have the same source as _vitium_.
Upon the whole we may conclude, that in this important class of words
the resemblances are scanty and remote. It will be seen that under
the head of general ideas there is not included any clear case of
correspondence in a mental quality; and all the resemblances appear to
rest, mediately or immediately, upon sensible objects and phenomena.
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