If Cadmus was the reed pen and Cilix the quill (see section Cadmus and Cilix), we would also understand why the myth calls them brothers. They were born out of married concepts. Their ‘father’ was Agenor (Ἀγήνωρ; Agēnōr), and their ‘mother’ Argiope (Αργιόπη; Argiopē)[1], variously surnamed Telephassa (Τηλεφᾶσσα; Tēlephassa; Τηλέφασσα; Tēlephassa), Telephaessa (Τηλεφάεσσα; Tēlephaassa), Telephaassa (Τηλεφάασσα; Tēlephaassa), or Telephe (Τηλέφη; Tēlephē). These are used either as alternative spellings of the personage’s name or, more convincingly, as her epithets. All these versions of Argiope’s epithet are easy to explain. They are derivatives of the masculine form τηλεφαής (tēlephaēs; seen from afar), from τῆλε (tēle) meaning at a distance, far off, afar, far from, and φάος (phaos), light, illumination, both emitted and received, seen. Designed as a riddle, the noun Argiope consists of argi-, from ἀργία (argia), idleness, laziness, staying idle, unemployment, doing nothing, inactivity, inertia, and -opē (-όπη), from the Homeric ὄψ (ops), meaning word, voice. The Homeric ops is probably the same word used for eye or face, cognate of ὄψομαι (opsomai), future tense of ὁράω (‘oraō) meaning to see, look, have sight, behold, perceive, observe, look out for, provide, discern. If so, the first ops and -opē would not simply mean word, voice, but rather seen, visual word, written word, as opposed to uttered and heard word, since the sememe of sight prevails in ops. Anyway, the stem argi- (idle) stresses this notion of inactivity, making Argiope the idle-word, the inert-word, the word that sits there doing nothing, spends no energy to be uttered, waiting to be seen, the written word. The epithet Telephassa (far seen) is most appropriate to this type of word. Because, unlike spoken words traveling a few meters and silenced as soon as uttered, the written word can be seen at another place, in another time.
Argiope has been built on the
pattern of Calliope (Καλλιόπη; Kalliopē), literally meaning
the beautiful-word, not so ‘beautiful-voice’ as it is usually translated.
Calliope is the ‘muse of’ epic poetry (literally word-making; see section Poetry), eloquence, i.e.,
the fluent, forcible, elegant, persuasive expression and appropriate language.
Another name designed on the same pattern is Antiope (Ἀντιόπη; Antiopē).
Among the numerous mentions in Greek literature, Antiope appears
along with The Phoenician Women
(Phoinissai) and Hypsipyle, as the title of a tragedy in a trilogy by Euripides
winning the second prize around 408 BC. Unfortunately, only fragments remain
from that play. Apollodorus, who summarized the story[2], tells us that Antiope had a love
affair with a certain Epopeus (Ἐπωπεύς; Epōpeys).
Epopeus
is thought to derive from the verb ἐπωπάω (epōpaō), to observe, regard, guide, direct. For
this explanation, the name is split as epi-ōps, over-eye,
over-see. This may sound
convincing since the common noun ἐπωπεύς (epōpeys) means inspector. But myths are riddles, and obvious
solutions are never the good ones. The brain must work harder! In this case,
the stem -eu-, which is extremely frequent in Greek, is neglected.
Another solution is to split the name into epō-pey-s. The verb epō (ἔπω) means to say, call, name –
remember, epos means word – or be about, busy oneself with. The stem pey-
starts words about information and sources of information. I argued and pointed to more solid evidence that the ending -eys (-eus)
means source, resource, usually of water but not only. For example, πευθώ (peythō)
means tidings, news, information; πεῦσις (peysis) is inquiry,
question, information; πευθήν (peythēn), inquirer, spy; πευστικός
(peystikos), interrogative; πευστήριος (peystērios),
of or for inquiry; etc. The word πεύκη (peykē) means pine
tree, but it also means anything made from pine wood and wooden writing-tablet.
Pinewood is well known for its softness and is abundant around the
Mediterranean. It is so soft that one can easily engrave glyphs on it using any
sharp object, even the fingernail. A similar term, πευκήεις (peykēeis), means anything covered with pinewood as well as sharp, piercing. I am
reluctant to suggest that the ancients could produce paper pulp, but this is
one of the primary uses of pine wood today.
The sememes of saying, calling, and naming,
combined with information, resource, or a pinewood tablet, make Epopeus a
lexical information resource, perhaps a dictionary, an author, a writer, or any
text written on a soft wooden matter. Antiope is formed with the well-known
prefix anti-, over against, opposite, facing, in opposition to, one
against another, equal to, like, corresponding, counter, compared with, etc.,
and the suffix -opē [opi], word, as in Calliope and Argiope
above. It literally translates as a counterword, similar word, or equal word.
In Greek, we call it ἀντιγραφή (antigraphē), literally
counter writing, previously meaning reply in writing or transcription, but today,
copying. In English, copy admittedly derives from French copie
and Latin co + ops (genitive opis)[3],
but no relation to the Homeric ops (ὄψ; word), Calliope
(good-word), Argiope (idle written word), or Antiope (counter or
equal word) is recognized. The reason may be our phonocentric attitude to
language. Although ὄψ had both voice (word) and visual (written word)
connotations, a word is thought to be primarily uttered. A sound can be
immitted but not copied, properly speaking. We, therefore, prefer to
resort to some untestable and un-attestable spoken PIE root *op- to
which we give the meanings of work, produce, and abundance[4].
The Medieval Byzantine grammarian and poet John
Tzetzes (Constantinople, 12th century AD)[5],
who preserved a lot of Ancient Greek literature and scholarship
The common noun ἀγήνωρ (agēnōr) is glossed as proud, arrogant, brave[7], or manly, heroic, headstrong, stately, magnificent, lavish[8]. It is an epithet with both good and bad sense given, for example, to Achilles or the suitors of Penelope by Homer, the Titans by Hesiod, or to seven conspicuous, bold, Argive captains riding against Cadmus’ citadel by Aeschylus in Seven Against Thebes[9]. It has always been considered as a composite of ἀνήρ (anēr; man) with ἄγαμαι (agamai), to wonder, admire, be delighted with, be jealous of, or angry at, a person or thing. Of course, there are complex phonetic and grammatical explanations about how the vowels might have changed and how the Omega may appear from nowhere. Instead, we may consider joining the intact stems ἄγη (agē), an aorist of ἄγνυμι, to break, shiver, with a winding course, spread around, and νωρ (nōr), from νωρεῖ, to be in action or activity, operate, effect, execute, to be actively carried on, things executed. Thus, Agē-nōr (Agenor) translates as active shivering, voluntary vibration. Like the English verb to shiver, ἄγνυμι also means to break, fragment, splinter, although the words seem to have no common origin whatsoever. The literal meaning of agēnōr is a microscopic description of the action of writing. The term was later used as an epithet to macroscopically describe the glamor or, sometimes, the arrogance and envy transmitted by those few who knew how to write.
So far, we have seen the shivering and
winding action of writing (Agenor) combined (married) with the fixed,
long-reaching, and far-seen word (Argiope) and spread by the copy (Antiope) on
pine wood-boards (Epopeus, copy’s lover, the preferred medium for copying).
The marriage of writing gestures with the written word gave birth to tools like
the clay tablets (Phoenix), the reed pen (Cadmus) using soot ink (cadmia), and
the quill or pencil (Cilix). Cadmus’ and Cilix’ sister, Europa (Εὐρώπη; Eyrōpē;
Europe) consists of ey-, and -rōpē. As I have already mentioned
above and will extensively document it throughout, ey- (eu)
invariably means water, well, water-source, or resource in general. The stem -rōpē
is a feminine version of -rōpos, a mixture of colors[10].
Europe means watercolor. The mytheme that Zeus abducted Europa means that the watercolor was removed by the rainwater, or the pigment powder
was dissolved in pure rainwater because Zeus is the rain (see section Zeus – the rain). Europa was the ultimate addition to the
collection of drawing and writing tools that humans needed to design and
spread long-lasting words had created. All this started in Phoenicia, the
pottery workshop.
References
Smith, William, ed. 1873. “Joannes Tzetzes.” A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. London: John Murray.
[1] Pherecydes of Syros, 6th century BC, fragment 40. Hyginus,
Fabulae 6, 178 in Apollodorus
Library 3.1.2.
[5] Joannes
Tzetzes in the Perseus Project.
[6] Tzetzes Chiliades
7.19.