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.

Keywords: Aelian, etiology, etymology, nymphs, sea mammals, theonymy, Thracian
References:

Anikin, A.E. 2011: Russkiy etimologicheskiy slovar’. Vyp. V [Russian Etymological Dictionary. Vol. V]. Moscow.

Аникин, А. Е. Русский этимологический словарь. Вып. V. М.

Barringer, J. 1995. Divine Escorts: Nereids in Archaic and Classical Greek Art. Ann Arbor.

Beekes, R. 2010: Etymological Dictionary of Greek. Vol. I. Leiden–Boston.

Boardman, J. 1987. Very like a whale – classical sea monsters. In: A. E. Farkas, P. O. Harper, E. B. Harrison (eds.), Monsters and Demons in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds. Papers Presented in Honor of Edith Porada. Mainz, 73–84.

Boryś, W. 2005: Słownik etymologiczny języka polskiego. Kraków.

Cooper, J.C. 1992: Symbolic and Mythological Animals. London.

Delliaux, M., Gautier, A. 2018: Cheval ou baleine? Les noms du morse dans les mondes septentrionaux (IXe-milieu du XVIe siècle). Anthropozoologica 53/1, 175–183.

Derksen, R. 2008: Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon. Leiden–Boston.

Detschew, D. 1957: Die thrakischen Sprachreste. Wien.

Diggle, J. 2021: The Cambridge Greek Lexicon. Cambridge.

Dindorf, G. (ed.) 1853: Harpocrationis Lexicon in decem oratores Atticos. T. I. Oxonii.

Domning, D.P. 1972: Steller’s sea cow and the origin of North Pacific aboriginal whaling. Syesis 5, 187–189.

Dornseiff, F., Hansen, B. 1978: Reverse-Lexicon of Greek Proper-Names. Chicago.

Frisk, Hj. 1960: Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. Vol. I. Heidelberg.

Gaisford, T. (ed.) 1974: Etymologicon Magnum, seu verius lexicon saepissime vocabulorum origines indagans ex pluribus lexicis, scholiastis et grammaticis anonymi cuiusdam opera concinnatum. Amsterdam.

García Valdés, M., Llera Fueyo, L.A., Rodríguez-Noriega Guillén, L. (eds.) 2009: Claudius Aelianus, De natura animalium. Berolini–Novi Eboraci.

Kaczyńska, E., Sadziński, W., Witczak, K.T. 2019a: Ausgestorbene Meeresküstenungetüme τροχοί resp. rotae. Erga-Logoi 7/2, 7–18.

Kaczyńska, E., Sadziński, W., Witczak, K.T. 2019b: Sirenen des Mittelmeerraums im Lichte der Überlieferung Aelianus’ (De natura animalium XIII 20, XVII 6, XVII 28). Živa Antika/Antiquité Vivante 69/1– 2, 45–58.

Kaczyńska, E., Witczak, K.T. 2018: Greckie nazwy dużych zwierząt morskich w świetle relacji Klaudiusza Eliana (O naturze zwierząt IX 49). Symbolae Philologorum Posnaniensium Graecae et Latinae 28/2, 43–56.

Kaczyńska, E., Witczak, K.T. 2020: The sea-leopard and the Oxyrrhynchus shark (Ael. NA 11, 24). Philologia Classica 15/1, 37–46.

Larson, J. 2001. Greek Nymphs: Myth, Cult, Lore. Oxford–New York.

Latte, K. (ed.). 1953: Hesychii Alexandrini Lexicon. Vol. I (Α–Δ). Hauniae.

Latte, K., Cunningham, I.C. (eds.) 2018: Hesychii Alexandrini Lexicon. Vol. I (Α–Δ). Berlin–Boston.

Le Goïc, J., Cam, M.-T., Ferrière, H. 2020: Deux animaux marins en quête d’identité: rota (Pline, Histoire naturelle 9 et 32) et τροχός (Élien, Personnalité des animaux 13.20). Anthropozoologica 55/2, 21–34.

Lehmann, W.P. 1986: A Gothic Etymological Dictionary. Leiden.

Mallory, J.P., Adams, D.Q. 2008: The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto- Indo-European World. Oxford.

Maspero, F. (ed.) 1998: Claudio Eliano. La natura degli animali. Vol. II. Milano.

Mayor, A. 1985: Greek mermaids and sea monsters. The Athenian 11/9, 21–24.

Mayor, A. 1989: Paleocryptozoology: A Call for Collaboration between Classicists and Crytozoologists. Cryptozoology 8, 12–26.

Montanari, F. 1999: Vocabolario della lingua greca. Torino.

Montanari, F. 2018: The Brill Dictionary of Ancient Greek. Leiden–Boston.

Orel, V. 2003: A Handbook of Germanic Etymology. Leiden–Boston.

Papadopoulos, J.K., Ruscillo, D. 2002: A ketos in early Athens: an archaeology of whales and sea monsters in the Greek world. American Journal of Archaeology 106/2, 187–227.

Pape, W., Benseler, G.E. 1911: Wörterbuch der griechischen Eigennamen. 3. Aufl. neu bearbeitet von Dr. G. E. Benseler. Braunschweig.

Pokorny, J. 1959: Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. Bern–München.

Rychło, M. 2014: Gothic wopjan, Polish wabić and English weep. In: G. A. Kleparski, E. Konieczna, B. Kopecka (eds.), The Subcarpathian Studies in English Language, Literature and Culture. Vol. I. Linguistics and Methodology. Rzeszów, 121–132.

Rychło, M. 2016: Can weep lure? An analysis of a controversial Slavico-Germanic pair of cognates. Beyond Philology 13, 103–124.

Rychło, M. 2019: Contrasting Cognates in Modern Languages from a Diachronic Perspective. Gdańsk.

Roller, D.W. 2018: Cleopatra’s Daughter and Other Royal Women of the Augustan Era. Oxford–New York.

de Saint-Denis, E. 1947: Le vocabulaire des animaux marins en latin classique. Paris.

Schmidt, M. (ed.) 1858: Hesychii Alexandrini lexicon post Ioannem Albertum recensuit M. Schmidt. Vol. I. Ienae.

Scholfield, A.F. (ed.) 1959: Aelian. On the Characteristics of Animals, with an English translation by A. F. Scholfield. Vol. III. London–Cambridge (MA).

Serafiński, W., Wielgus-Serafińska, E. 1988: Ssaki. Warszawa.

Smoczyński, W. 2018: Lithuanian Etymological Dictionary. Berlin.

Specht, F. 1931: Beiträge zur griechischen Grammatik. Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung auf dem Gebiete der indogermanischen Sprachen 59/1–2, 31–131.

Sorbi, S., Domning, D.P., Vaiani, S.C., Bianucci, G. 2012: Metaxytherium subapenninum (Bruno, 1839) (Mammalia, Dugongidae), the latest sirenian of the Mediterranean Basin. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 32.3, 686–707.

Steller, G.W. 1751: De bestiis marinis. Novi Commentarii Academiae Scientiarum Imperialis Petropolitanae 2 (ad annum 1749), 289–398.

Steller, G.W. 2011: De Bestiis Marinis, or, The Beasts of the Sea (1751). Translated by W. Miller & J. E. Miller, edited by P. Royster. Lincoln.

Strömberg, R. 1943: Studien zur Etymologie und Bildung der griechischen Fischnamen. Göteborg.

Sylburg, F. (ed.). 1816: Etymologicon Magnum. Lipsiae.

Toepffer, J. 1894: Aba 4. In: RE. Bd. I, 1, 4.

Zaliznyak, A.A. 1965: [Materials for studying the morphological structure of Old Germanic nouns, II]. In: L. A. Gindin, G. A. Klimov, V. A. Merkulova, V. N. Toporov, O. N. Trubachev (eds.), Etimologiya. Principy rekonstruktsii i metodika issledovaniya [Etymology. Principles of Reconstruction and Methods of Research]. Moscow, 160–235.

Зализняк, А. А. Материалы для изучения морфологической структуры древнегерманских существительных. II. В сб.: Л. А. Гиндин, Г. А. Климов, В. А. Меркулова, В. Н. Топоров, О. Н. Трубачев (ред.), Этимология. Принципы реконструкции и методика исследований. М., 160–235.