Reflections on the Thracian Sea-Nymph Aba
Witczak Krzysztof T.
Two Greek lexicographic sources mention the sea nymph Ἄβα as a mistress of Poseidon. She bore him a son Ergiskos, who, according to a local aetiological story, became the eponymic founder of the ancient town of Ergiske (now Çatalca, Turkey), located in East Thracia on the ridge between the Marmara Sea and the Black Sea. It is obvious that the proper name Ἄβα, denoting a local sea nymph, represents a Thracian ingredient in Ancient Greek mythology. The article demonstrates that the theonym Ἄβα derives from the appellative ἄβα denoting ‘a large sea-monster’, specifically ‘Mediterranean sea cow’, cf. the Hesychian gloss †ἄβα· τροχός, ἢ βοή.
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