Omerico Ἧρα. Elementi di cultura arcaica e radici indoeuropee

Abstract

The origin of the Homeric term ἦρα ('service, gratification', according to LSJ) is traditionally ascribed to an Indo-European root *ṷer(ə)-/ēros
(IEW 1165) whose general meaning assumedly ranges from 'friendship' to 'joy', 'faith', and 'truth'. A textual analysis of the Homeric occurrences and an extensive survey of the other IE cognates, however, show that the original reference of ἦρα was not related to gratification within the emotional sphere but, rather, to a compulsory service pertaining to the social and juridical domain. In fact, the basic meaning of the alleged root IEW, 1165 appears to be the questionable result of heterogeneous data assembled rather inconsistently, and we can therefore advance the hypothesis that such a root never existed. Moreover, a comparison of phonetic and semantic features displayed by Greek and other IE forms points to an etymological relation between ἦρα and another Homeric term, ἠρίον 'burial mound'. Several typological parallels with Celtic and Germanic eventually show that, in all these cases, we are facing offshoots of a single root *wē̆r- (partly to be identified with IEW, 1160 5 ṷer) whose primitive meaning 'cover, defend' naturally develops senses such as 'mound', 'tomb', as well as 'warranty', 'obligation', and 'object or service due'. We can thus add a piece to our knowledge of the socio-juridical dimension of interpersonal relations in archaic times and, possibly, reach a deeper comprehension of the cultural meaning originally held by some Homeric passages.