DOI:10.30842/alp23065737181165186
Kölligan Daniel. Full and calm: Notes on
Greek ἥσυχος and Latin tranquillus. Acta Linguistica
Petropolitana. 2022. 18(1): 165–186.
The paper is dedicated to the etymologies of Greek and Latin
adjectives with the meaning 'calm', ἥσυχος and
tranquillus. Greek adj. ἥσυχος 'calm, quiet, peaceful' may
be a derivative with the suffix -χο- of a deverbal abstract noun
*hāsu- < *seh₂tu- 'satisfaction'.
The suffix -χο-, which originally had a diminutive meaning,
could express a positive connotation for this adjective. This
allows regarding the Homeric use of ἥσυχος in the meaning of
'peaceful' as secondary. The comparison to other uses of this
adjective in the ancient Greek literature allows to trace how the
semantics of the adjective developed from the original meaning
'satiated, satisfied' to 'contented, calm, gentle, quiet', which
became the main one in Classical Greek. A similar development of
semantics is reflected in the notion of the god of war Ares as
'insatiable' (Il. 5, 388 Ἄρης ἆτος πολέμοιο) and has a parallel in
Lat. satur (cf. satur fu, fere Mars in
the Latin Carmen Arvale).
Lat. adj. tranquillus, the usage of which is comparable
to that of ἥσυχος, can be derived from *ku̯ih₁lo- (also
found in Germanic languages, cf. *hʷīla- 'rest; interval
of time'). The reconstructed adjective *quīlos was
probably regularly used in the construction 'sail (across) the calm
sea', (trans) *quillum (mare). After the
loss of the simplex *quillo-, the syntagm was univerbated
into tranquillum which was interpretable as an adverb 'calm(ly)':
tranquillum 'across the calm sea' and tranquillo
'in a calm sea'. The reinterpretation of these forms as adverbs,
especially the use of tranquillum in the function of
accusativus adverbialis, gave rise to the corresponding adjective
tranquillus.
Keywords
etymology, Greek, Latin, metaphor, diminutive,
nautical terminology
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