Gods Names used by the Ancient Macedonians

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  • Starling
    Member
    • Sep 2017
    • 153

    #61
    Some names and terms transliterated from one script to another have multiple spellings. For example everyone spells the name Ajax as I typed it but looking at the text from the Illiad it should be Aļas. Ksand is also rendered as Xanth or Xandos but those are clearly gracecized versions of the original spelling, which seems to be Ksand. Your argument of misspellings here is rather flimsy.

    As for Zairena, I'm not sure which spelling is standard but Zirinia's come up a few times. When accounting to the z/s relation you basically get variations of seiren/seirenes with possible a/ia suffix to make it a feminine name. Siren is one of the names that seem to be labelled as pre-Greek in origin, which from what I've seen refers to the linguistic substratum from a language or languages spoken by pre-Hellenistic people of the region. The first post brings up relation to ezero and ezerin. Google translate says those mean lake rather than sea but it can be finicky and it still clearly has relation to water.

    I know for a fact that Gazoria, Aret, Ksand, Darron and Zirinia came up before and I'm reasonably sure Favlo and Tatoe have as well, so Vedi and Giga are the only ones I'm unsure have been mentioned before. I also pointed out that Giga is probably a variation of Gaia. Vedi is extremely difficult to research as you just get stuff about Vedic deities, Vedi people and Odin instead of what you're actually looking for.

    Greeks and Romans regularly substituted the names of foreign gods for the ones they used or used them as epithets. Pretty sure that's been covered earlier in the thread. I mean, that's what the whole concept of interpretatio graeca and interpretatio romana is about. As far as I can tell stuff about Alexander claiming to be the son of Zeus came from him getting the Egyptian priests to recognize him as the son of Amon to legitimize his rule as pharaoh because Amon was equated to Zeus. Incidentally Amon can also be spelled Amun, Ammon and Amen while still being correct. Basically you should take the Greek version and check if it means anything without the os or s. Given ancient Greek has a good few hundred 'pre-Greek' words that means whose etymologies can't be explained within the Greek language, that's how you're going to find your loanwords.

    Wikipedia pages aren't sources in themselves, especially in relation to Macedonia. When they say Artemis Gazoria or Diana Gazoria, they mean a local goddess named Gazoria that's equated to Artemis and Diana. You may recall that quote I had in my coin thread from a Latin book about a Macedonian coin featuring 'Diana Gazoria'.

    Due to the difficulty of finding detailed information on subjects like this, collaboration and discussion on the topic is necessary to actually assemble enough information to really get anywhere. You shouldn't be so quick to declare the information non-existent or just assume it isn't credible just because you're waiting for confirmation, as it sets unrealistic expectations of how quickly a single person can find that information and discourages people from trying when they always seem to be met by comments like that. There's enough of that everywhere else so just be patient and try to be more polite about your skepticism.

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    • Amphipolis
      Banned
      • Aug 2014
      • 1328

      #62
      I'll be back, but here are some relevant posts, by me or others

      Bryn Mawr Classical Review: Finally, it is interesting to take a look at the spelling of Alexander's name in the cuneiform texts Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2004.02.13 [....] Finally, it is interesting to take a look at the spelling of Alexander's name in the cuneiform texts. The correct rendering of Alexandros would


      This one is similar to your text, but from another author and with different spellings.

      Note from SoM: I have moved the discussion over to a new thread so the other one stays on topic. Plus, this is something that needs to be put out there and clarified. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Indigen Quick question for


      This is also good

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      • Starling
        Member
        • Sep 2017
        • 153

        #63
        Helpful, though considering who made that first post and the context just copy pasting the Greek text for the name would've gotten all the info that was actually useful in it. From what I could find Xanthos is derived from the proto indo-european word ḱsendʰ and indo-european ḱas-, same as the proto-italic kaznos (grey) and latin cānus (white). Basically it originally meant something around the lines of pale and seems to be the root for a few words meaning hare and old as well. Ξ is ks, which tends to shift to and from k or s. So while Ξ often gets transliterated as x, ks is also valid, which is why Ξάνδος can be both Xandos and Ksandos. The phoenician character 𐤎 was s so that should be accounted for as well. Comparing Phoenician and Greek versions of θ indicates a transition of t > th. While I don't personally know much about the link between th and d, the existence of those name variations indicates its existence and I recall some mention of it in one of the language threads I'll have to dig up later. k/s/ks for Ξ and t/th/d for θ are what you need to look for to find modern words that may have an etymological connection beyond that there doesn't seem to be much etymological information about the name, though there seems to be a relation with candle and kindle.

        Some names were written in multiple ways even in the source texts, so there's that to consider too along with what I said before about different transcriptions. Anyway for the Favlo/Thaulos thing, they could be variations of the same name. There's the whole w/v/u/y thing with upsilon and waw so the main issue is the F and Th at the start of the two names. Not quite sure why the other version of Thaulos swaps the m for an l but it suggests potential regional variations of the name. One of them could be a Thracian or Ilyrian variant rather than local to Macedonia.

        Thracians worshiped Perun under the name Περκων/Περκος (Perkon/Perkos) and Perun is likely a cognate of the rain god Parjanya. Given Zeus is also in the Vedic texts as Dyaus Pita, he's likely the source of Zeus' lightning imagery.

        Looking at that last link, the parts relevant to this thread seem to be this:

        ἀράντισιν = ἐρινύσι. Μακεδόνες = The Furies or Erinyes in Macedonia
        Ἄρητος = Ἡρακλῆς, παρὰ Μακεδόσιν = Aretos: Herakles in Macedonian
        Δάῤῥων = Μακεδονικὸς δαίμων, ᾧ ὑπὲρ τῶν νοσούντων εὔχονται = A Macedonian daemon that gives health when prayed to (?)
        Ζειρηνίς = Ἀφροδίτη ἐν Μακεδονίᾳ = Aphrodite in Macedonia
        Θαῦμος ή Θαῦλος = Αρης Μακεδόνιος = Thaulos or Thaumus: Ares in Macedonia
        θούριδες = νύμφαι. Μοῦσαι. Μακεδόνες = Nymphs or Muses in Macedonian
        Πελλαῖον = [φαιόν. καὶ] Μακεδονικόν = Gray(?) in Macedonian
        Πιερίδες = αἱ Μοῦσαι ἐν Μακεδονίᾳ The Muses in Macedonia(?)
        Πίπλ(ε)ιαι = αἱ Μοῦσαι ἐν τῷ Μακεδονικῷ Ὀλύμπῳ, ἀπὸ κρήνης Πιπλείας = Mueses in Macedonia; Goddesses of the Spring Pipleia(?)
        σαυᾶδαι = σαῦδοι. Ἀμερίας τοὺς σειλείνους οὕτω καλεῖσθαί φησιν ὑπὸ Μακεδόνων = Silenus in Macedonia(?)
        σχερόν = κῦμα ἕτοιμον. Ἀμερίας = beach waves(?)
        Since Aret is supposed to be a god of strength, Herakles is known for his strength and I recall him becoming a god when he dies, could Aretos = Aret? Also the spelling Zeirenis is even closer to seirenes as the ones from earlier. I included okeron since it related to Okean.

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