The Ethnicity of the Sea Peoples - RePub - Erasmus Universiteit ...

linguistic point of view, however, the names Demeter and
Zeus should be assigned to a Pelasgian layer or group in
Cretan society.
Additional note 1: Linear A I-DA-
MA-TE
Two double-axes, one of gold and the other of silver, from
the cave of Arkalokhori are inscribed with the Linear A
legend L 100a-30-95-92, reading, with the values of their
Linear B counterparts, i-da-ma-te. 703 This legend has received
various interpretations by the different authors. In
the first place, the excavator of the find, Nikolaos
Boufidis, suggested to consider it as the equivalent of
Greek Ida h matr “The Idaian Mother”. 704 Secondly, the
editor princeps of the inscription on the gold axe, Maurice
Pope, took it for a variant of the pre-Greek divine name
Dmtr characterized by an enigmatic prefix i-. 705
Thirdly, Franco Crevatin explained the second part of the
legend as a reflex of the onomastic element -martis as attested
for the pre-Greek Cretan divine name Britomartis.
706 In the fourth place, finally, Paul Faure proposed to
split up the second part of the legend in a theonym Ma and
a reflex of the Greek vocabulary word theos. 707
Of these interpretations, the last two have a bearing
only on the second element -ma-te, which the authors in
question try to disconnect from PIE *méh2tr “mother”. In
my view, these attempts are highly dubious (we would
have expected †-ma-ti and †-ma-te-o, respectively) and at
any rate unsuccessful in explaining the legend in full. The
latter remark also holds good for Pope’s interpretation,
which, although recognizing the plausible relation of ma-te
with PIE *méh2tr, saddles us up with an enigmatic prefix
i-. 708 This leaves us, by means of deduction, with the only
703 Godart & Olivier 1982: 142-3, AR Zf 1-2; for the numbering
of the Linear A signs, see Meijer 1982: 38-47.
704 Boufidis 1953-4.
705 Pope 1956.
706 Crevatin 1975.
707 Faure 2002: 78. Cf. Duhoux 1994-5: 289-90; Kaczynska 2002:
138.
708 Duhoux 1994-5: 291-2 connects the supposed prefix i- with
Linear y- as in ya-sa-sa-ra-me alongside a-sa-sa-ra-me, but, as we
have noted in section 12 above, this concerns the Semitic vocative
particle y- and, although hybrid formations are not altogether
impossible, would nonetheless collide with the PIE nature of the
144
comprehensive elucidation by Boufidis as “Idaian
Mother”. According to Elwira Kaczynska, this runs up
against the fact that the Cretan oronym Ida originates from
*Wida, and hence an initial digamma should be expected
for the Linear A legend709 – an inference which even receives
further support if the related Greek id “timber-tree”
(leading to the interpretation of Ida as “wooded hill”) 710
ultimately derives from PIE *uidhu- “tree”. 711 However,
the man’s name Idaios, which, of course, cannot be disconnected
from the mountain name Ida, appears in Linear
B as i-da-i-jo, that is to say without an initial digamma. 712
As it seems, then, the initial digamma has been dropped already
in the 14th century BC, which, needless to say, seriously
undermines Kaczynska’s objection.
The validity of Boufidis’ interpretation can be further
supported by circumstantial evidence. As indicated in the
above, the legend is inscribed on double-axes. Now, the
double-axe is the symbol par excellence of the foremost
Cretan goddess, which according to her Semitic form of
address is called Assara. This goddess, especially known
from libation inscriptions on wash-hand stone-basins from
peak-sanctuaries, is depicted on a seal with the double-axe
on her head. Furthermore, her name is written with the
double-axe sign for the expression of the initial vowel,
which in one instance is placed between punctuation marks
to stress its symbolic value as a totem for the goddess. 713
According to three Cretan hieroglyphic sealings with the
possible, would nonetheless collide with the PIE nature of the rest
of the legend.
709 Kaczynska 2002: 138.
710 LSJ, s.v. Note in this connection that in Homeros, Iliad XXIII,
110-28 and in Dictys of Crete’s work on the Trojan war (III, 12
and IV, 13) the Trojan mount Ida is referred to as a source of wood
for cremation burials.
711 Pokorny 1994: I, 1177; cf. Delamarre 2003: 319 for Celtic uidu-
“tree, wood”.
712 Ventris & Chadwick 1973: glossary, s.v.; cf. also i-da-me-naja,
the female counterpart of Homeric Idomeneus, which latter is
plausibly interpreted by Kretschmer (Pauly-Wissowa Realencyclopädie,
s.v.) as “der Mann vom Ida gebirge” and hence likely
bears testimony of the Hittite ethnic suffix -umana-, see Laroche
1960c: 171. Note that this linguistic analysis receives further emphasis
by the fact that Idomeneus’ mother is called Ida according
to literary tradition, see Gindin 1999: 90. For the loss of the wau,
cf. Linear A a-si-ja-ka as compared to Linear B a-si-wi-jo, both
forms bearing testimony of the Anatolian geographic name Assuwa
“Asia”.
713 Best & Woudhuizen 1988: 19-21, esp. figs. 19 and 20a.