Wednesday 15 June 2022

Sekirica

The (most likely ceremonial) battle axe "sagaris" of the Scythian period, 7th century BC. The Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg (Russia)....


The sagaris (Ancient Greek: Σάγαρις) is an ancient Iranian shafted weapon used by the horse-riding ancient Saka and Scythian peoples of the great Eurasian steppe. It was used also by Western and Central Asian peoples: the Medes, Persians, Parthians, Indo-Saka, Kushans, Mossynoeci, and others living within the milieu of Iranian peoples. According to Aristarchus of Samothrace, the legendary Amazons used the sagaris, as well. In The Histories, Herodotus attributes the sagaris to the Sacae Scythians in the army-list of Xerxes the Great...

The word "σάγαρις" is apparently a "...foreign word without known etymology...but one would rather...expect Iranian origin, and it is probably a cognate to Latin secūris (broad axe) and Proto-Slavic *sekyra (broad axe)..."

Hmmm....

Slavic word for an axe is sekira (sikira). While sekirica (pronounced sekiritsa), sikirica (pronounced sikiritsa) means "little axe", from sekira (axe) with "ica" diminutive ending which put together means "small (head) axe"...

Sounds very much like "sagaris" right? Which was a small head axe on a long handle...Like Scythian battle axe...Is there any etymology for σάγαρις (sagaris) in Iranian languages I wonder...If not, is it possible that σάγαρις (sagaris) came into Ancient Greek via an intermediate (Proto) Slavic???

Anyway, It gets more interesting...Enter the Akkadians...

In Ancient Greek, the word for an axe was πέλεκυς (pelekus) and for axe handle was πέλεκκον (pélekkon)...Apparently:

"... πέλεκυς is often considered a Wanderwort (A loanword that has spread to many different languages, often through trade or the adoption of foreign cultural practices), because of the similarity to Arabic فَلَقَ‎ (falaqa) meaning to split apart which comes from Akkadian 𒁄 (pilakku, pilaqqu) meaning wooden handle; spindle, harp, which itself comes from Sumerian 𒁄 (balag) meaning wooden handle; spindle, harp; possibly a split piece of wood or wooden wedge..."

A Wanderwort you say...Well if πέλεκυς is a Wanderwort, why is σάγαρις not one too? Because

Bronze axe head, Akkadian, c. 2340-2200 BC, inscribed with owner's name. Akkadian 𒅆𒆕 "šukurru" (metal wedge, spear, axe)...Officially "not related" to Slavic sekira (axe), Latin secūris (axe) and Ancient Greek σάγαρις "ságaris", Scythian axe. 


Definitely is related...

One of the Akkadian words for "destiny" is "isqu" meaning "lot" which derives from "esēqu" (to make a drawing, to incise a relief) and specifically "to apportion lots"...Etymology of the Akkadian word from: "Luck, Fortune, and Destiny in Ancient Mesopotamia Or How the Sumerians and Babylonians Thought of Their Place in the Flow of Things"...

Which is very interesting, considering that in Slavic languages "sek" (From PIE "sek" meaning to cut) means "to cut",  and "isek" means "to to cut out, to apportion".



How are these words not related? When it comes to Ancient Greek πέλεκυς (pelekus), apparently "...some suggest that the Proto-Indo-European terms are ultimately borrowed from...Akkadian..." Is it possible that  Akkadian words with "sk" root were borrowed into Akkadian from som IE language? Considering that the "sk" root only exists in IE languages...

And interestingly, we again find link between Slavic and Akkadian...I talked about few more in my posts "Kurban", "Pelasgos", "Kaunakes", "Zib-Ba-An-Na"...

Strange...Slavic being "the youngest IE language branch" and all that...


1 comment: