The myth says that the Phoenicians
Cadmus and Thasus, in their quest for Europa, landed in the land of the
Thracians (Thrace). But ancient authors disagree about the details. According
to some, Cadmus and Thasus landed first in Samothrace, where the same language
was spoken
The story about the Phoenicians, Agenor, and
Argiope, and their children, Phoenix, Cadmus, Cilix, and Europa, is a story about the invention of the
written word (Telephassa Argiope), and about the writing gesture (Agenor), and
the related tools: the clay tablets (Phoenix), soot-pen (Cadmus), quill,
painter's brush or pencil (Cilix), and watercolors (Europa) by the potters and
writers (Phoenicians). If this hypothesis is right, the morphemes found in the
toponyms Thrace, Thasos, and Samothrace, must also be found in words related to
pottery or language.
Let us start with Θρᾴκη (Thraikē;
Thrace). We recognize the stem thrai, from Thraikē,
also in the verb θραίειν (thraiein), glossed by Hesychius
as λοιδορεῖν, to abuse, revile, rebuke; but the I is reduced into an Iota subscript,
and its semantic importance diminishes, in Thraikē.
Ignoring the subscript, we have the stem thra, typical of the verbs θράω
(thraō), to set, put, lay, or stand (something) in a
specified place or position, harden into a solid or semisolid state, and θραύω
(thrayō), to break in pieces, shatter, fragment. The
latter verb relates to θραῦσις (thraysis) meaning comminution,
the action of reducing a material, e.g., an ore, to minute particles or
fragments, metaphorically slaughter, destruction; and θραῦμα (thrayma),
fragment, breakage, destruction. The letter that follows thra modulates,
thus, the meaning of the stem into setting up, build-up, with small
particles (thra-I) or very small particles (Iota subscript; thra-i),
to breakdown (thra-Y). The word θρακτικόν (thraktikon)
is glossed by Hesychius as πορευτόν (poreyton), gone over,
passed, passable. The letter K (or archaic Q) specifies the place or position
of the build-up. That is a narrowing, tubular stenosis like the chimney.
Apart from Thrace and its semantic
relatives, the stem thrak appears in a large family of words related to ἄνθραξ
(anthrax; pronounced anthraks; genitive ἄνθρακος, anthrakos),
which means charcoal, coal, carbon. For instance, ἀνθρακιά (anthrakia)
means burning charcoal, hot embers, black sooty ashes. In these words, thrak
seems to be combined with an intriguing prefix an-, but none of the
known an-like particles[1]
would make clear sense or follow known rules in this context. There is no known
reason for an a-, or ana-, prefix to become an- before Th.
In such cases, a promising method assumes that a letter sequence is inversed to
produce an opposite meaning.
The original meaning of the sequence anth-
cannot be readily traced by forward reading because the stem is used as such
only in three overwhelming word-families that are unrelated to one another at
first glance: the cognates of ἄνθραξ (anthrax;
charcoal), those of ἄνθρωπος (anthrōpos; man, mankind),
and those of ἄνθος (anthos; flower). The reverse reading of anth
gives thna, which is very specifically found in the words θνᾴσκω (thnaiskō;
to die) and θνατός (thnatos; mortal). According to our
immature, for the moment, assumption, if thna means dead, anth
means up and living. This may well be true, since man is upstanding, when
alive, and so is a flower. The an- prefix would, thus, have derived – in
an unusual way – from the preposition ἀνά (ana), meaning on, upon, up,
from bottom to top, up along, up and down, throughout, continually, amounting, proportionately;
when in composition, it means to increase, strengthening, back, backward, against
the stream. These notions fit well to anthrax and anthrakia,
as the alive, burning coal, as opposed to Thraikē,
a dead, non-burning carbon in the form of minute particles (iota subscript)
setting to a semisolid state on the surface of a chimney. We know that, unlike
the graphite used for making modern pencils, thrax is not pure carbon,
but it would be perfect for writing in ancient times. Thrace (Thraikē)
would be a synonym of kadmia (soot), hence the localization of Cadmus in
Thrace. The Modern Greek θράκα (thraka) means cinder, and Θράκη
(Thrakē) is Thrace.
Apollodorus[2]
says that 'on the disappearance of Europa her father Agenor sent out his sons to
find her, telling them not to return if they didn't. With them, her mother,
Telephassa, and Thasus, son of Poseidon, or according to Pherecydes, of Cilix,
went forth in search of her. But when, after diligent search, they could not
find Europa, they gave up the thought of returning home and took up their
abode in divers places. Phoenix settled in Phoenicia, Cilix settled in Cilicia,
and Cadmus and Telephassa took up their abode in Thrace, and in like manner, Thasus founded a city Thasus (Thasos) in an island off Thrace and dwelt there.'
When used without the noun Argiope (inert,
written word), the epithet Telephassa (the far-reaching, seen from afar; see section Agenor and Argiope)
acquires a second meaning as the chimney, which is lengthy, tall, and seen from
afar. The soot (Cadmus) and his mother, the chimney (Telephassa), took adobe in the land of coal (Thrax), the furnace, which is known as the coal-land (Thrace).
Thasus remained just off the shore of the furnace because it was a little
related tool, perhaps the fire tongs for handling and rearranging the burning
coal, or the hot baked objects. Alternatively, it could be a coal shovel, a
vessel to collect fire byproducts, a vessel for cooking, or a cooked terracotta
vessel.
There is no common name or verb close
enough to Thasos to guide interpretation. We have, however, the adjective Θάσιος
(Thasios), always interpreted to mean of Thasian
origin, from the isle of Thasos. A closer look into the uses of Thasios,
and its feminine version Θασία (Thasia) suggests that the
object was a mixing vessel. In Aristophanes' Lysistrata (411 BC) we find
Θάσιον οἴνου σταμνίον[3],
which has been poetically translated as Thasian wine[4]
Egg yolk provides the glutinous material required
to make a permanent, fast-drying medium, which, mixed with water-soluble
colored pigments, makes up a paint-like tempera. Thasios, Thasia,
or Thasion, are the three genders for mixtures made by vigorous,
intense, sinewy agitation in a Thasus vessel, or with a Thasus
mixer, which probably originates as a tool of coal-burners. These adjectives
are also attested in the context of brine or pharmaceutical preparations, pharmakon
being a drug, remedy, dye, paint, color, or other chemical reagents. Of note,
the archaic letter { (Theta; Th), which iconically represents a wheel or around the grid,
initiates the above terms providing right away the notion of rotation or that
of a grill.
References
———. 1938. "Ecclesiazusae." In The Complete Greek Drama, translated by Eugene O'Neill. Vol. 2. New York, NY: Random House.
Kerényi, Karl. 1959. The Heroes of the Greeks. Translated by H J Rose. Myth and Man. London: Thames and Hudson.
[4] Aristoph.
Lys. 196, English translation by Benjamin Bickley Rogers.
[6] Aristoph.
Eccl. 1119 in translation by Eugene O'Neill.