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)

792 The owl of Athena

spinturnix1. So charged with heat was the eagle that, had it not
introduced a piece of cool jet into its nest, it would positively have
cooked its own eggs2! Viewed in this context the name Atthyia
becomes significant. It is best explained as an old participle of the
verb aitho,' I burn4,' and suggests a burnt or fiery colour5. In point
of fact the herring-gull is distinguished by its yellow bill, which has
a patch of bright red at the basal angle; the eye too is of a beautiful
straw-colour set in a frame of vermilion formed by the rim of the
eyelid6. Again, the little owl—Athene noctua, as the ornithologists
term it—certainly derived its name glaiix from the fiery glance of

revealing itself as a stuffed bird tied on to a bundle ot squibs. Immediately the spectators
rushed upon it, each trying to secure at least a feather.... That evening the walls were
placarded with the announcement of a "Mala Pasqua," and all sorts of misfortunes f°r
the present year were freely prophesied' (Jessie L. Weston in Folk-Lore 1905 xvi. 182—1^4>
Frazer Golden Bough*: Balder the Beautiful i. 126 f.). I witnessed the ceremony myse'^
on Saturday, 15 April 1922, when the fiery bird made its double flight in safety, tne
Carro burst in fine style, and the crowd filling the Piazza scrambled for the smouldering
fragments.

1 Fest. p. 330 b 34 ff. Miiller, p. 446, 7 ff. Lindsay spintyrnix est avis genus tuipis
figurae...ea Graece dicitur, ut ait Santra, tririvBapls. Walde Lat. etym. Worterb. p- 731
adds: 'das wohl als Vogel mit funkelnden Augen zu o-irivBapls, airivd^p "Funke.'
der Endung sieht Stowasser Afl L. VI, 563 vielleicht richtig das westgriech. tpvi% ( = op'"sl
"Vogel," wie auch in co(c)tumix, das Keller Volkset. 51 als Muster fur die Bildung v0
spinturnix gehalten hatte.' Cp. Ernout—Meillet Diet. etym. de la Langue Lat. p. 92"*" .

2 Myth. Vat. 3. 3. 4 quod vero aquilam eius deputant tutelae, quam refert fabula J°j^
contra Gigantes dimicanti fulmina ministrasse, et hanc dant physici rationem, quod aqu

sub
olis

per naturam nimii est caloris, adeo ut et ova, quibus supersedet, possit coquere, ^
gagaten, lapidem frigidissimum, admoveat. unde Lucanus (6. 676) 'foeta tepefacta
alite saxa.' addunt etiam, adeo acutum esse aquilae intuitum, ut pro fulgentissimis s<

radiis numquam deflectat obtuitum. matres etiam, ut ajunt, pullos suos contra solis or'uV
obvertunt, ut si in ipsos solis radios lumina figere sustinuerint, in vitam reserventur,^
non, a nido dejiciantur. unde Lucanus in ix (9. 902) dicit 'utque Jovis volucris c
quum protulit ovo' etc. (Cp. supra i. 10411. 1, ii. 230.) elemento igitur calidissiw0
limpidissimo, videlicet aethere, illud ales consectatur, quod et calore abundat et Pel^ a
acitate. Dionys. opi/iOiatca (printed in the Didot Bucolici p. 107 ff. in the form
Byzantine epitome wrongly ascribed to Euteknios) 1. 1 says of the eagle's s'one '^,
aeTiT7)%, on which see A. Nies in Pauly—Wissowa Keal-Enc. i. 704 f., Gruppe Gr. J ^
Rel. p. 777 n. 1, G. F. Kunz The Curious Lore of Precious Stones Philadelphia & Lou
1913 p. 34, J. Evans Magical Jewels of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance pat „gaTOs
in England Oxford 1922 Index p. 251 s.v. 'Aetites') iav iv
iirt^/au(rr], tt)v rod irvpos viKT]vei Tr&VTWs iVxtV.

3 Supra p. 783 n. 1. & the

4 K. Brugmann Griechische Grammatih* Miinchen 1900 p. 210 (cp. &yvia je
like). Boisacq Diet. etym. de la Langue Gr. p. 23 doubts this derivation, ^el^nt[fce&
impressed by the fact that so many bird-names begin with al-, possibly to be 1

with avi-s.

6 Prellwitz Etym. Worterb. d. Gr. Spr.'2 p. 15. j
6 J. L. Bonhote Birds of Britain London 1907 p. 364 ff. pi. 91, W. P. Pycra 1
of Birds London 1908 p. 82 pi. 16, 1.