DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9840#0131
82
CEREMONIOUS CRETAN SALUTATIONS. FcHAP.
Polis, which is also called Gaidhurdpolis1, the City of
Asses, and is situated at no great distance from Episkope.
It is within the confines of Rhithymnos, though very
near the borders of Sfakia. My guide, once told that
I am anxious to procure all the coins I can meet with,
allows no one, man woman or child, to pass us without
questioning them whether they have any thing of the
sort " in gold, silver or brass", and thus we advance
but slowly. He also meets many people of his acquaint-
ance, and the formality with which salutations and com-
pliments are exchanged between them is quite amusing2.
1 'H IIoXis or VdioovpoiroXLs. The word yaSovpis (ydioovpis is far more
common in Crete, and is, I think, alone used) occurs, instead of ilvos, in the
poem of Theodorus Ptokhoprodromus, ii. 47t>. addressed to the
Emperor Manuel Comnenus, and has long been the only current word for
ass in every part of Greece. FaLodpos is another common form of it. Since
this name Gaidhurdpolis has obviously been derived from the metaphorical
sense of ydiSovpi, which is just as common, in Greek, as that of the corre-
sponding word is in French or English, it calls to mind the Poneropolis
of Stephanus of Byzantium ; and will suggest to those who have seen any of
the numerous villages called Kako-khorid, although well situated, and in no
respect worse off, as far as one can see, than other places in their neighbour-
hood, the obvious etymology, which in fact any Greek peasant, if asked why
the village received its name, invariably gives: ciai-i -qcrav nanol oi dvdpw-
ttoi. Thus also we may account for the fact that some villages, though posi-
tively unhealthy, are yet called Kald-khorid. The Cretan's ya'iooupi is also
called by him his kt^/xo, a word which, in Crete at least, is used for any kind
of k-tj^os horse, mule, or ass. 1 have no doubt they would apply it to camels
if they had them. Their usage seems to be a preservation of an ancient sense
of the word : peyjpL toD vvv irapd ttoXXois j} ev £niois irepLovaia KTHMATA
Xeyerai, says Eustathius, on the Iliad, p. 999, 17- See also p. 494, 4. Oi
XtopjjTt/ctoxejoot tow dpTL kt-q paT a (paarl Ta TeTpctTroSa. Koray has men-
tioned this and pointed out the passage of Sophocles, (Antig. 781.) "Epois
dviKcne pdxav, "Ejoeos Ik ev KTijp.a<Ti iriirTeLi, where some critics have
wished to read KTijveo-i, and others, even the most recent, have proposed
interpretations far less probable than that suggested by this Cretan usage.
2 The ceremonious politeness, even of the poorest people in Crete, when-
ever they meet and address one another, is very striking. When a visitor goes
into a house, his first exclamation is, commonly, the general and peculiarly
Cretan greeting, iroXXd Ta eTt] <ras, or rather TroXXd tk eV?j ei's Trjv
AvQevTLav (pronounced 'AcpevTid) eras: (in which phrase alone I have found
the old word tVti preserved in the modern language.) The host immediately
replies, KaXws wpiaaTe »j Huyeveia eras, the title of course varying with
the visitors, or pronounces some other form of welcome. Mutual enquiries
after health are then made, and, at length, the visitor is asked to sit down.
While
CEREMONIOUS CRETAN SALUTATIONS. FcHAP.
Polis, which is also called Gaidhurdpolis1, the City of
Asses, and is situated at no great distance from Episkope.
It is within the confines of Rhithymnos, though very
near the borders of Sfakia. My guide, once told that
I am anxious to procure all the coins I can meet with,
allows no one, man woman or child, to pass us without
questioning them whether they have any thing of the
sort " in gold, silver or brass", and thus we advance
but slowly. He also meets many people of his acquaint-
ance, and the formality with which salutations and com-
pliments are exchanged between them is quite amusing2.
1 'H IIoXis or VdioovpoiroXLs. The word yaSovpis (ydioovpis is far more
common in Crete, and is, I think, alone used) occurs, instead of ilvos, in the
poem of Theodorus Ptokhoprodromus, ii. 47t>. addressed to the
Emperor Manuel Comnenus, and has long been the only current word for
ass in every part of Greece. FaLodpos is another common form of it. Since
this name Gaidhurdpolis has obviously been derived from the metaphorical
sense of ydiSovpi, which is just as common, in Greek, as that of the corre-
sponding word is in French or English, it calls to mind the Poneropolis
of Stephanus of Byzantium ; and will suggest to those who have seen any of
the numerous villages called Kako-khorid, although well situated, and in no
respect worse off, as far as one can see, than other places in their neighbour-
hood, the obvious etymology, which in fact any Greek peasant, if asked why
the village received its name, invariably gives: ciai-i -qcrav nanol oi dvdpw-
ttoi. Thus also we may account for the fact that some villages, though posi-
tively unhealthy, are yet called Kald-khorid. The Cretan's ya'iooupi is also
called by him his kt^/xo, a word which, in Crete at least, is used for any kind
of k-tj^os horse, mule, or ass. 1 have no doubt they would apply it to camels
if they had them. Their usage seems to be a preservation of an ancient sense
of the word : peyjpL toD vvv irapd ttoXXois j} ev £niois irepLovaia KTHMATA
Xeyerai, says Eustathius, on the Iliad, p. 999, 17- See also p. 494, 4. Oi
XtopjjTt/ctoxejoot tow dpTL kt-q paT a (paarl Ta TeTpctTroSa. Koray has men-
tioned this and pointed out the passage of Sophocles, (Antig. 781.) "Epois
dviKcne pdxav, "Ejoeos Ik ev KTijp.a<Ti iriirTeLi, where some critics have
wished to read KTijveo-i, and others, even the most recent, have proposed
interpretations far less probable than that suggested by this Cretan usage.
2 The ceremonious politeness, even of the poorest people in Crete, when-
ever they meet and address one another, is very striking. When a visitor goes
into a house, his first exclamation is, commonly, the general and peculiarly
Cretan greeting, iroXXd Ta eTt] <ras, or rather TroXXd tk eV?j ei's Trjv
AvQevTLav (pronounced 'AcpevTid) eras: (in which phrase alone I have found
the old word tVti preserved in the modern language.) The host immediately
replies, KaXws wpiaaTe »j Huyeveia eras, the title of course varying with
the visitors, or pronounces some other form of welcome. Mutual enquiries
after health are then made, and, at length, the visitor is asked to sit down.
While