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Cook, Arthur B.
Zeus: a study in ancient religion (Band 3,1): Zeus god of the dark sky (earthquake, clouds, wind, dew, rain, meteorits): Text and notes — Cambridge, 1940

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https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14698#0089

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Nephelokokkygia 49

521 6 be \dfnruii> 6iTT)s aal xpv^P-^y05 *<" /idvris-... &/ivve be Kara tou x<]voi us
P-uvtikov opviov). And a little mythological ingenuity could doubtless discover some spark of
sanctity in the 'plane-tree,' the 'cabbage,' the 'poppy' (Souid. s.v. n& ^/owos x\°V'
"vai mi fj.a fiT)nuvos x^v" and s.v. vai vai p.a /x-qKuvos x^V' °PK0S X^vaal"f)< an<^
what not? All the same, there was sound sense in the dictum of Apollonios that Sokrates
swore by these things oix ws ffeoiis, dXV 'ifa p.r] ffeovs bnvioi (Philostr. loc. cit.). Finally,
we shall not subscribe to the well-meant but unconvincing claim of St Augustine, that
Sokrates' attribution of divinity to natural objects was an expedient intended to deter
men from the worship of artificial objects and to direct their thoughts toward the one
true God (Aug. de vera religione 2 (i. 1207 c ff. ed.2 Bened.) credo, intelligebat qualia-
cumque opera naturae, quae administrante divina providentia gignerentur, multo quam
hominum et quorumlibet opificum esse meliora, et ideo divinis honoribus digniora, quam
ea quae in templis colebantur. non quod vere lapis et canis essent colenda sapientibus,
sed ut hoc modo intelligerent qui possent, tanta superstitione demersos esse homines, ut
emergentibus hie esset tarn turpis demonstrandus gradus, ad quern venire si puderet, viderent
quanto magis pudendum esset in turpiore consistere. simul et illos qui mundum istum visi-
bilem, summum deum esse opinabantur, admonebat turpitudinis suae, docens esse conse-
quens utquilibet lapis tanquam summi dei particula iure coleretur. quod si exsecrarentur,
mutarent sententiam, et unum deum quaererent, quem solum supra mentes nostras esse,
et a quo omnem animam et totum istum mundum fabricatum esse constaret. etc.).

What then, after all, is the explanation of these strange oaths? J. Vendryes Language
trans. P. Radin London 1925 p. 221 observes: 'In many languages oaths undergo a
conventional alteration which allows them to be introduced into the best society; thus,
for example, bigre, orfichtre. The French say: palsambleu, parbleu, pargnieu, pardienne
instead of par le sang de Dieu or par Dieu, just as the English turned " By Mary" into
"Marry,'' "By God's Little Body" into "Odds Boddikins".' Similarly E. Weekley The
Romance of Words London 1912 p. 60: 'In drat, formerly W rot, zounds, for God's
wounds, 'sdeath, odsbodikins, etc., there is probably a deliberate avoidance of profanity.
The same tendency is seen in Gogs (Shrew, iii. 2), Fr. parbleu, and Ger. Potz in Potztau-
send, etc' Accordingly W. A. Becker long since conjectured that OTxa in this connexion
was a distorted form of Zjjva (W. A. Becker Char/hies- Leipzig 1854 i. 154 'Es kann
fast scheinen, als ob man ausweichend rbv xwa statt ™" z^"a gesagt habe, wie auch bei
uns dergleichen Verdrehungen nicht ungewohnlich sind'). The same view was advocated
by K. Lehrs Platos Phddrus und Gastmahl Leipzig 1870 p. 142- k- Hirzel Der Eid
Leipzig 1902 p. 96 n. 2 objects that nobody said vt\ rbv Zijva (despite //. 23. 43 and Od.
-°- 339 ol' Zv"', Soph. Trach. 1188 o/xvvp.' tyarye, lap)' eirufioTov, Phil. 1324

Zi/xa 0 opKtof Ka\w, Eur. Hipp. 1025 f. vuv 5' Spmbv <roi Iriva nai weSov x9°v°s I "p-vp-1
k.t.X.) and consequently nobody would have altered it into vi] rbv xw"- But tn's objection
ignores the fact that in Crete—the very home of Rhadamanthys—oaths were regularly
taken at Dreros by™- Aijxa (Dittenberger Syll. inscr. Gr.2 no. 463 (ib.3 no. 527), 14 tf.
cited supra i. 729 n. 2), at Priansos, Gortyna and Hierapytna by TttJco (F. Blass in
Collitz—Bechtel Gr. Dial.-Inschr. iii. 2. 301 ff. no. 5024, 59 ff. cited supra ii. 723 n.o),
at Hierapytna and one of its colonies by Tijva (F. Blass ib. iii. 2. 311 f. no. 5039, 11 f.
cited supra ii. 723 n. o), at Lyttos by Tijva (F. Blass ib. iii. 2. 380 f. no. 5147 b, 5 cited
s"pra ii. 93+ n. D) an(j Dy Zij„a (Michel Recueil cTInscr. gr. no. 29, 13 f. cited supra ii.
723 n. o).

I conclude, therefore, that in Crete, where men swore officially by rbv Arjua or Urijua
or T^a or z^o—so many ways of representing the initial Ai- in the name of Zeus
(E. Boisacq Les dialectes doriens Paris 1891 p. 153, G. Meyer Griechische Grammahk3
Leipzig 1896 p. 338, C. D. Buck Introduction to the Study of the Greek Dialects Boston
'9lo pp. 31, 67, 86)—a popular distortion vt) tov xw°- arose and was in due course fathered
upon Rhadamanthys. k. Hirzel loc. cit. aptly observes that in Crete people still say
m Tb 0epi6, ' by the beLstj dragon, giant,' or na to xvU, 'by the sap,' for fia rb 0eb, 'by
~ot1' (A. Jeannaraki [ = A. N. Jannaris] AiDMATA KPHTIKA Leipzig 1876 p. 3*7 'M
To eepi6, statt p.6. to 0co, bei Gott, avaXtfm statt ivadep-a, verflucht etc.,' ib. p. 379 'Da
C in. 4
 
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