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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#0431

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362 Water-carrying and the Dana'ides

of Argos' fertility, while a variant and perhaps later1 reading spoke
of the 'Danaan maids' rather than Danaos himself.

It is not unreasonable to contend that this ancient tradition was,
in the main, true. Immigrants from Egypt—let us say the Danauna
—came by sea via Rhodes and settled at Argos. They called them-
selves Danaoi—a name which would be appropriate to desert-dwellers
if, as Herakleides of Kyme2 asserted, it really meant the 'Dry' or
' Parched ones.' But etymology is capable of a volte-face, and modern
scholars have maintained that Danaoi should rather be connected
with the Sanskrit danu meaning 'fluidity, dampness, drops3.' Be
that as it may, Gelanor the reigning king of Argos was, owing to

1 W. Schwartz in the Jahrb. f. class. Philol. 1893 xxxix. 105 infers that "Apyos
HvvSpov ibv Aavaal Btaav "Apyos ivvbpov is a later recension of Hesiod's line from the fect
that "Apyos is repeated as a mere 'flickwort.' It might be added that Aavaal, though a
metrical necessity, is a somewhat unsatisfactory substitute for AavaiSes.

2 Herakleides of Kyme (a contemporary of Philip ii of Macedon: see F. Jacoby in
Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. viii. 469 f. no. 42) frag.3 (Frag. hist. Gr. ii. 97 Miiller) ap-
et. mag. p. 247. 41 ff. Sara/cjjs vop.lap.aTbs e<mv bvopa fiapfiapiKbv, ir\£ov 6§oKov, i> T0is
veKpois Iv rois arbpaaiv irUStaav...ei'pTjrai ok 5a.vb.KTqs, b tois Savaois tp(3a\\bp.ei>os' Savao
yap oi veKpol, Tovrian Hypoi, Sava yap ri ^pd. 'B.paK\eldrjs ev rip devrtptp r&v ile/3f"''w^'
Opinions have differed as to the trustworthiness of Swabs = fi/pos. Gruppe Gr. My '
Rel. p. 831 accepts the equation; J. Miller in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. iv. 2093 rejects
it. The word Sdvbs, 'dry,' remains unexplained (L. Meyer Haiidb. d. gr. Etym. iii-

I would suggest confusion with Srjvaibs, 'ancient,' in its Doric form Savaibs (Aisch. Bu •
845, 879).

3 V. Henry in the Rev. Et. Gr. 1892 v. 284 ff. Cp. H. Usener 'Gotternamen Bo"11
1896 p. 206: 'Unter den bezeichnungen, welche die hymnen des Rigveda fiir den ■ ^
Indra bekampften damon anwenden, erscheint audi Danu, theils mit Vrtra oder
zusammengestellt, theils ftir sich, und in patronymischer fortbildung Danava—^'""^ja
wird Danava sichtlich identificiert mit Vrtra. Die mehrzahl Ddnavds kommt im R'S ^
noch nicht vor, wohl aber zweimal im Atharvaveda, und heir bereits gleichbedeuteii

den Asuren, der allgemeinen bezeichnung der bosen damonen. Diesem plur. fa ^
entsprechen die gr. Aavaol auf das vollkommenste, ausgenommen die quantitat del e
silbe. Aber derselbe tibergang zur kiirze hat sich im Sanskrit vollzogen; sc'l0"ul)t,
£atapathabrahmana wird das grundwort damt, obwohl der hochton auf diesem voca t
mit a angewandt, und so bei spateren durchweg. Noch begreiflicher ist die kUrzU^ejjt
der fortgebildeten form Danavds als wirkung des vorgeschobenen hochtons. Man v ^
jetzt das gebet des alten Chryses rlauav Aavaol tp.6. S&upva (A 42).' On the Danavas ^
further H. Jacobi in J. Hastings Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics Edinburgh 19 ^
809s, id. ii. 1911 iv. 390s—392*, a. a. Macdonell id. 1921 xii. 6ioa. As t0Pa!"j^ is
Vedic Mythology Strassburg 1897 P- 158 says: 'Vrtra's mother is called Danu
compared with a cow (1, 32). This name seems to be identical with the wor g t0
which is several times used as a neuter meaning "stream" and once as a ^em'fi"ltiy in
designate the waters of heaven. The same term is applied as a masculine, aPP*^ jeiiion
the sense of a metronymic, to Vrtra or the dragon (2, 12 ; 4, 30), as well as to jegaW
Aurnavabha (2, 11), and to seven demons slain by Indra (10, 120)- jn(jra an^
metronymic Danava is used five times to designate a demon combated by he
doubtless identical with Vrtra. Indra cast down the wiles of the wily Danava ( > ^fll
struck down the snorting Danava (5, 29), to release the waters (5i 3
p. 366 n. 4.
 
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