Chapter 7. Krátos Abstract Krátos does not mean “physical force” (iskhús, sthénos) or “spiritual force” (alkḗ) but “superiority,” whether in battle or in the assembly. This sense, which is constant for krátos, is confirmed by some of the uses of the derivative kraterós which means “without equal,” especially in combat. But in other uses kraterós comes close in sense to krataiós ‘hard, cruel’, kratús ‘hard’. The etymology gives the reason… Read more
Chapter 6. Magic Power Abstract Kûdos, a term almost exclusively confined to the epic, which has been regarded by ancient and modern scholars as a synonym of kléos ‘glory’, ‘renown’, has in fact a quite specific sense: it designates a magic power that is irresistible and is the apanage of the gods, who occasionally grant it to a hero of their choice and thus ensure his triumph. Kûdos arésthai, used… Read more
Chapter 5. Honour and Honours Abstract In Greek géras—the connection of which with gérōn ‘old man’ is no more than a popular etymology—is the honorific supplementary share occasionally granted to a king by his subjects which is a mark of his rank. If the timḗ, like the géras, enters into the apanage of the king, if it likewise entails honorific material prestations, it is distinguished in being a permanent dignity… Read more
Chapter 4. The Authority of the King Abstract The Greek kraínō is used of the divinity who sanctions (by a nod, kraínō being a derivative of kára ‘head’) and, by imitation of the divine authority, also of the king who gives executive sanction to a project or a proposal but without carrying it out himself. Kraínō thus appears as the specific expression for the act of authority—divine in origin and… Read more
Chapter 3. Hellenic Kingship Abstract As compared with the Indo-Iranian and the Italic concept of the king the Greek names basileús and wánaks suggest a more evolved and differentiated notion close in several respects to the Germanic conception. Of unknown etymology, but both attested in the Mycenaean texts, these terms are in distinctive opposition, in that only the second designates the holder of power. As for basileús, although he is… Read more
Chapter 2. xšay– and Iranian Kingship Abstract Iran is an empire and the notion of the sovereign has nothing in common with that of rex. It is expressed by the Persian title xšāyaθiya xšāyaθiyānam (Gr. basileús basiléōn, Pers. šāhān šāh), the King of Kings; this title designates the sovereign as he who is invested with the royal power, the xšāy-. Now an epithet of the Achaemenid king, vazraka, which may… Read more
Book IV: Royalty and its Privileges Chapter 1. Rex Abstract Rex, which is attested only in Italic, Celtic, and Indic—that is, at the western and eastern extremities of the Indo-European world—belongs to a very ancient group of terms relating to religion and law. The connection of Lat. rego with Gr. orégō ‘extend in a straight line’ (the o– being phonologically explicable), the examination of the old uses of reg– in… Read more
Chapter 6. Cities and Communities Abstract The Western dialects of Indo-European (Celtic, Italic, Germanic, Baltic) have preserved the word *teutā, derived from a root *tew– ‘to be swollen, powerful’, to designate “the people” as a full development of the social body. Quite naturally, this term, which supplied national ethnics among the Germans (Teutoni, deutsch) acquired the opposite meaning when Slavic borrowed it from German: Old Slav. tŭždĭ means “stranger.” The… Read more
Chapter 5. The Slave and the Stranger Abstract The free man, born into a group, is opposed to the stranger (Gr. xénos), that is to say, the enemy (Lat. hostis), who is liable to become my guest (Gr. xénos, Lat. hospes) or my slave if I capture him in war (Gr. aikhmálōtos, Lat. captivus). A stranger by necessity, the slave is designated in the Indo-European languages, even modern ones, either… Read more
Chapter 4. Phílos Abstract The specific values of Lat. cīvis ‘fellow citizen’, Got. heiwa– ‘family group’, Skt. śeva ‘friendly’ lead us to postulate for the Indo-European word *keiwo-, which these words enable us to reconstruct, a meaning with both a social reference and sentimental overtones. The uses, especially the Homeric ones, of Gr. phílos and its derivatives point in the same direction, however unsure we may be about the full… Read more
