Πίαω από τη λέξη ‘Χημεία’

Φαντάζομαι ότι όλοι γνωρίζετε τι σημαίνει ‘Χημεία’ και τι αυτή αφορά. Άλλωστε, λίγο πολύ όλοι θα έχετε κάνει το αντίστοιχο μάθημα στο σχολείο, αν όχι και παραπέρα.

Από που, λοιπόν, προέρχεται το όνομα της επιστήμης αυτής και πως αναλύεται; Εδώ υπάρχει μια μεγάλη εκπληξη!

Η λέξη ‘Χημεία,’ λοιπόν, προέρχεται και έχει τις βαθιές της ρίζες στο αρχαίο αιγυπτιακό ‘km.t’ που αποδίδεται κοινώς ως ‘κέμ-ετ’ και σήμαινε ‘μαύρη γη’ σε σχέση με το χώμα που αποτίθονταν και κάλυπτε τις πλημμυρικές ζώνες του ποταμού Νείλου κατά την εποχή των ετήσιων πλημμύρων του⁽¹⁾.

Το χώμα αυτό ήταν εξαιρετικά πλούσιο σε στοιχεία που έκανε τις ‘μαύρες’ αυτές ζώνες πολύ εύφορες και συνεπώς θα έδινε την εντύπωση κάποιου είδους ‘μαγείας’ ιδιαίτερα ευπρόσδεκτης για τους αρχαίους Αιγύπτιους ενώ το όνομα επεκτάθηκε για να χαρακτηρίζει τελικά ακόμη και την ίδια τους τη χώρα ως ‘Κέμ-ετ’ (‘Χώρα της Μαύρης Γης’).

Η πρώτη παρουσία της λέξης km.t φαίνεται να γίνεται τόσο παλιά όσο περίπου το 3100 π.Χ. και την Πρώιμη Δυναστική Περίοδο ενώ ως όνομα για την ίδια την χώρα δείχνει να εμφανίζεται κατά την βασιλεία του Mentuhotep II (2060-2009 π..Χ.) της ΧΙ Δυναστείας και μετάβαση από την Πρώτη Ενδιάμεση Περίοδο στο Μέσο Βασίλειο.

Μάλιστα, από ό,τι καταλαβαίνω, το όνομα ακόμη χρησιμοποιείται για την Αίγυπτο σε περιοχές της Μέσης Ανατολής και που αναλύεται σε ‘km’ (κεμ-), που σημαίνει ‘μαύρο/μαυρίλα,’ και το επίθεμα ‘.t’ (-ετ) που δίνει την έννοια της χώρας/περιοχής στο πρώτο, σε μια δομή που δείχνει σημιτική.

Από την άλλη πλευρά, φαίνεται να υπάρχει μια σύγχυση σε ό,τι αφορά την λέξη ‘χημεία,’ με αρκετά ‘δάνεια’ και ‘αντιδάνεια’ μεταξύ γλωσσών και περιοχών μέσα στους αιώνες, για το ποια ακριβώς ήταν η πορεία της διαμόρφωσής της και πότε πρωτοεμφανίστηκε.

Έτσι, σε άλλες πηγές φαίνεται να πρωτοεμφανίζεται στον 4ο αιώνα μ.Χ. σε μια πραγματεία του Ρωμαίου αστρολόγου και συγγραφέα Julius Firmicus Maternus ως ‘chemyia’ ενώ σε άλλες (αλλά λιγότερες) ότι εμφανίστηκε αρχικά γύρω στα τέλη του 4ου αιώνα π.Χ. ως ‘χυμεία’ στην Κοινή από το πρωτύτερο αρχαιο-ελληνικό ‘χύμα,’ με το τελευταίο ως συμφυρμό του ‘Χημία’ (Αίγυπτος) και ‘χημία’ (μαύρη γη).

Ωστόσο, η δεύτερη εκτίμηση δεν δείχνει ιδιαίτερα ‘στέρεη’ για κάποιους σημαντικούς λόγους όπως:

α) η κατάληξη ‘-ία’ στην περίπτωση του ‘Χημία’ (Αίγυπτος, η χώρα) θα ήταν ‘-εία΄ (γη, χώρα) ως προς τη μορφή ‘Χημεία’ και προφορά ‘Κεμέα’ ενώ στο ‘χημία’ (μαύρη γη) η προφορά θα ήταν ‘κέμια’ αντιθέτως (και έτσι θα διακρίνονταν και μεταξύ τους).

β) Το ‘χύμα,’ στα αρχαία ελληνικά προφερόμενο ως ‘κούμα,’ προερχόταν από το προ-ελληνικό ‘k(h)uma’ (δασυνόμενο ‘κ’) που είναι πιθανώς Λούβιο.

γ) To km.t (κέμ-ετ) φαίνεται ότι πολύ παλαιότερα προφερόταν ως ‘κούμ-ατ’ που υποδεικνύει την αντίστοιχη εξέλιξη του πρώτου συνθετικού από ‘χυμ-‘ σε ‘χημ-‘ (προφερόμενα ως ‘κουμ-‘ και ‘κεμ-‘ αντίστοιχα) και όχι το αντίθετο (βλέπε επίσης β παραπάνω).

Θα πρέπει να πούμε ότι φαίνεται ότι υπήρχε αιγυπτιακή λέξη ‘khēmia’ (‘κέμια’)⁽²⁾ που σήμαινε ‘μετατροπή της γης,’ δεδομένου μάλιστα ότι ο Ρωμαίος αυτοκράτορας Diocletian αναφέρεται σε αυτή, που δείχνει ότι η καταγωγή της λέξης ‘Χημεία’ μπορεί να είναι απευθείας αιγυπτιακή αλλά με κλίση περισσότερο προς την έννοια της Αλχημείας.

Μάλιστα, η λέξη αλχημεία⁽³⁾ προέρχεται από το αραβικό ‘al-kīmiyā’ όπου το δεύτερο συστατικό της λέξης προφέρεται όπως και το ‘khēmia’ παραπάνω, υποδεικνύοντας απευθείας αιγυπτιακή καταγωγή, και που αφορά και πάλι το αρχαίο όνομα της Αιγύπτου στην αιγυπτιακή γλώσσα σημαίνοντας ‘Αιγυπτιακή τέχνη’ ή ‘μαύρη τέχνη.’

Το ‘τέχνη’ (art) έχει να κάνει και με τη μαγεία να σημειωθεί επίσης.

Συνεπώς, η Χημεία ήταν βασίλειο πολύ πριν γίνει επιστήμη!

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(1) Οι πλημμύρες του Νείλου λάμβαναν χώρα μεταξύ Μαϊου και Αυγούστου κατά την εποχή του Akhet (άνοδος των υδάτων, πλημμύρα) ως αποτέλεσμα των ετήσιων μουσώνων που προκαλούσαν μεγάλες κατακρημνίσεις στα Αιθιοπικά υψίπεδα.

(2) Η δομή του ‘khēmia,’ ωστόσο, θα έλεγα ότι συνιστά μάλλον Φοινικική/Καναανίτικη προέλευση αλλά και πάλι ενδεχομένως να εμφανίστηκε μέσα στα όρια της Αιγύπτου δεδομένων των μεγάλων αριθμών από Σημίτες/Καναανίτες που ήταν εγκατεστημένοι στο ανατολικό Δέλτα του Νείλου ήδη από τους πρώτους αιώνες της δεύτερης χιλιετερίδας π.Χ.

(3) Το ‘αλχημεία’ ουσιαστικά αναλύεται αρχικά ως ‘η χημεία’ καθώς το πρόθεμα ‘αλ-‘ δεν είναι τίποτα άλλο από το αντίστοιχο αραβικό οριστικό άρθρο.

Ipet (or Ipy), a forgotten goddess

Although rather largely unknown today, Ipy was a very ancient Egyptian goddess that appeared to be held in high esteem and prominence in Upper Egypt with her cult carrying particular weight in the Theban realm.

So much so that she was directly associated by name with both major temple complexes of Karnak, known as ‘Ipet-Isut’ (likely spelling ‘Sacred place of Ipet’), and Luxor, called ‘Ipet Resyt’ (meaning ‘the ‘Sanctuary of Ipet’)⁽¹⁾.

Further known as Opet or Apet, her cult is attested as early as the Pyramid era and the Old Kingdom regarded as protector of the Pharaoh oneself as well as the very mother of Osiris in the Theban theology.

She was usually portrayed as a hippopotamus but could also be depicted as a blend of hippo, crocodile, lion and human – maybe hinting at her being a shape-shifter…? – while holding the Ankh (symbol of life).

On top of that, she can be further seen holding a symbol reminiscent of the Tyet, also known as the Knot of Isis, but without the arms. The latter symbol is attested considerably before Isis herself so it may have not been originally attached to her.

Consequently, could have Ipy shaped a forerunner of Isis, consort and sister of Osiris, as well as potentially been linked to the underworld?

For that matter, her name might as well suggest itself as a likely root of the word ‘hippo.’

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(1) All the same, her name is controversially omitted in the modern interpretations of the names of both.

“Symphony No. 8” in C minor by Anton Bruckner

“Ariadne” by John William Waterhouse (1898)

Behind the name of London Part I – Roman Londinium

Let’s drift way down memory lane to track and unlock the etymology of the name of London, the capital of Britain and a major cosmopolitan hub of modern world.

To begin with, Londinium, the long ancestor of London, was established by the Romans on the site of modern City of London at a key ford on River Thames shortly after they gained a firm foothold and started expanding their rule over Britain between 47 and 50 AD, during the reign of emperor Claudius.

Following the suppression of the Iceni⁽¹⁾ revolt under Boudica (c. 61 AD), when razed to the ground, the Roman city was quickly rebuilt on a grid accompanied by an ever-present garrison in a built-in fort northwest (nowadays Cornhill) to grow rapidly as a major port and road hub⁽²⁾.

By the next century, further arrivals saw population figures rise sharply between 30000 and 60000 whilst the city obtained a forum, a basilica, a sizeable palace and other public buildings to eventually supplant Camulodunum, modern Colchester (Essex), as provincial capital.

The name Londinium itself, yet, is of uncertain to even unknown origin and etymology where the reconstructed suggested Brythonic form Londinjon as ‘place that floods’ looks as though guided more by patriotic feelings among British linguists and very shaky.

On the one hand, the suffix ‘-jon’⁽³⁾ looks either (Vulgar) Latin- (-giō, -jō) or even more so Franconian/Frankish-descended (-jǭ) spelling ‘fortification, castle’ while, on the other hand, ‘Lond’ looks as though Germanic and more likely Frisian in origin carrying also the nuance of ‘state, realm’ along with an intermediate suffix ‘-in’ that is an alternate of ‘-en’ in Norse with a likely Latin root again.

There were also other Latin variations of the name such as Lundinium, Londonium, Lundonium, Londonum or Londinum that show an interchange of ‘u’ and ‘o’ in the first and ‘o’ with ‘i’ in the second syllable – while Lundin is a Swedish name where ‘lund’ spells ‘grove’ and ‘-in’ adds a sense of ‘of, pertaining to.’

Therefore, the ancient name looks like Roman with a likely Germanic influence so, since the arrival of Germanic peoples and Norse took place only centuries later, an intriguing new question may arise: Did the Romans deploy Germanic troops in their military campaigns over Britain, with some potentially stationed in Londinium?

The Romans were known to have already drafted in good numbers of Germanic troops by the late first century BC and early first century AD in their campaigns against Germania, a trend that increased with time.

Following the withdrawal of the Romans from Britain, Londinium largely declined and by the end of the fifth century was all but deserted ruins.

Summing up, the closest rendering to the name of Londinium in modern English I feel would probably be ‘State Fortified City.

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(1) Ancient Celtic tribe that occupied a good part of nowadays East Anglia.

(2) Seven out of the fifteen known Roman routes running across Roman Britain crossed Londinium.

(3) Still tracked nowadays in placenames like French Dijon or French and Dutch word ‘donjon’ which means ‘fortified tower, (castle) keep.’

Guthrie Mansion, Tunnelton (Indiana)

The beautiful Italianate Guthrie Mansion, built in 1879, lies on Tunnelton Road on the east edge of the community of Tunnelton in southeast Lawrence County, southern Indiana.

It was raised by entepreuner Alfred Guthrie who made the most of the arrival of railway at Tunnelton and a fortune as he set up a general store that engaged the locals for miles around.

Nowadays, the mansion functions as a Bead & Breakfast (Guthrie Meadows BB).

What do the names of archangels mean?

Let’s look a little at the names of some prominent archangels that appear in the theology of Christianity, Judaism and Islam:

Micha-El: means ‘Who is like El?’ (rhetorical question), from Hebrew/Aramaic ‘Mikha’el’ (/mîḵāʾēl/).

Gabri-El: means ‘El is powerful,’ from Hebrew/Aramaic ‘Gabri’el’ /gaḇrīʾḗl/.

Rapha-El: means ‘El heals,’ from Hebrew/Aramaic Rap(h)a’el ‘ (/rāp̄ā ḗl/).

Uri-El: means ‘El is (the source of) light,’ from Hebrew/Aramaic ‘Uri’el’ (/ʾūrīʾēl/) – that first component of ‘ur-,’ with the same pronunciation, suggests Hurrian and even earlier Akkadian/Sumerian origin.

Sam(m)a-El: probably means ‘Venom (Dark side?) of El,’ from Hebrew/Aramaic ‘Sam(m)a’el’ (/sammāʾēl/).

Jophi-El: means ‘Beauty (wisdom?) of El,’ from Hebrew/Aramaic ‘Yop(h)i’el (/yōp̄īʾēl/).

Azra-El: means ‘Assistant of El,’ from Aramaic ‘Azar’el’ (/ăzarʾēl/).

Of course, as I have already mentioned before, ‘ang-El’ means ‘Messenger of El’ where El was the chief god of the polytheistic system of Judeans and Israelites through the second millennium and up to around tenth century BC.

Casa Fuster, Barcelona

The fabulous Casa Fuster, constructed between 1908 and 1911, is located on the upper end of the Jardins de Salvador Espriu and the prominent Passeig de Gracia in the affluent district of Eixample, central east Barcelona.

It represents architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner’s last work in the city, in tandem with his son Pere Domènech i Roure, that was fashioned on account of wealthy Mallorcan Mariano Fuster as a hefty gift to his wife Consol Fabra.

The edifice applies a subtle neo-Gothic touch to its modernista frame and features two façades bound through a cylindrical turret on the southwest corner as well as characteristic pink columns, trilobate windows and floral motifs shaping a fine example of Catalan Modernism.

Largely refurbished in 2004, it has been converted and operating since as a luxury hotel containing as many as a good 105 rooms.

Virtual tour of Thugga (or Dougga), Tynisia

The primordial Ourea (or more likely Ur-Ea)

The Ourea (/ˈu:rea/, or alternatively Orea /`orea/) were ten primordial deities offspring of Titaness Gaia (or Gaea) that preceded most of the Titans and corresponded to as many respective deified holy mountains as guardians that spanned most of the very ancient known world.

Mount Uludağ, northwest modern Turkey, the ancient Phrygian Mount Olympus or Ulympus

Albeit considered part of the Hellenic (more properly Helenic – and not Greek!) mythology, they are actually inactive characters therein and some only present some action in stories beyond its sphere which, along with the clearly Anatolian structure of the name, strongly recommends an origin from the east.

That said, both forms look most likely Phrygian in descent as the interchange between the sounds /u/ and /o/ as concerns the letter ‘O’ is conspicuous in Old Phrygian, stretching over the best part of their history, where ‘Ω’ and apparently also the diphthong ‘OY’ were introduced to render the former sound in New Phrygian, attested between the first and third century AD (if not earlier).

The Hellenes (more properly Helénoi, or Helénēs), on the other hand, did not use ‘OY’ to render the sound /u/ but ‘Y,’ or ‘Ω’ (Ionians), whereas it was the so-called Koine (Common) that did when it emerged in Anatolia around 330 BC, a ‘bastard’ dialect they didn’t reckon as Hellenic but barbaric anyway.

Which, in turn, spells that ‘Orea’ is the older and ‘Ourea’ a much later form of the appellation in writing though the former effectively contained the latter phonetically.

On top of that, not only the stem ‘or-‘ seems to feature well in Old Phrygian but there was further a similar word ‘ΟΡ-ΥΑΝ’ (voiced as ‘or-uan’ or ‘ur-uan’) that means ‘guardian’ or ‘warden,’ a trait that well fits that of the Ourea.

Nonetheless, the quest of the roots of the name most likely doesn’t wind up here but rather runs far deeper in the past and east among the very influential Hurrians, out of the ranks of whom the Phrygians look as though they may as well have emerged themselves.

Looking closer, the pattern and pronunciation of either Our-ea or Or-ea strongly suggest and reflect a most likely earlier Hurrian form as ‘Ur-Ea’⁽¹⁾ behind it; where ‘ur,’ pronounced as either /ur/ or /or/ just like Phrygian ‘Or-,’ carries the sense of ‘elevated/above ground,’ ‘primeval/primordial’ or ‘source of (divine) light’ whilst ‘ea’ spells ‘earth, ground, mound’ and therefore meets the profile a great deal.

Now, the ten Ourea, or Orea, are lined up on several websites as Aitna (or Aetna), Athos, Helicon, Kithairon, Nys(s)os, Olympus 1, Olympus 2, Oreios, Parnes, and Tmolus – yet a list that doesn’t fully add up on a couple of grounds.

First, there cannot be two (or more) of the same offspring that bear the very same name and yet the above list displays two Ourea under the appellation Olympus, which correspond to the respective mountains in ancient Phrygia and Thessaly. Therefore, one of them is not the original.

Second, the line-up on display doesn’t show Belos (or Belus), a confirmed Oureo⁽²⁾ (or Oreo), which is actually the original name of Mount Olympus in Thessaly (nowadays Greece). The name itself breaks down as Bel-os/us and forms the apparent Anatolian and Hellenic rendering of Bel, Belu or Ba’al (meaning ‘Lord,’ ‘Master’), a major Akkadian, Babylonian and Phoenician god (or gods).

For that matter, Herodorus recounts that Cadmus⁽³⁾ and his men drove away the Hestiaeans, apparently Leleges (Luwian speaking peoples out of Anatolia), from northwestern Thessaly which entails a Phoenician hold over the region, with storm god Ba’al (Zeus)⁽⁴⁾ set up on the ‘throne’ of the mountain, in the wake in deep ancient times.

On the other hand, the Phrygian Olympus is the genuine one as there was actually a Phrygian mountain god named Olympos, who may be the same as the namesake Oureo, that was an early consort of supreme goddess Cybele as well as considered the inventor of the flute and father of the flute-playing Satyrs.

The name Olympus, or alternatively Ulympus, is most likely Phrygian as well. But I will discuss the matter of Olympus, which is very intriguing, at far greater length in a separate post as it merits. For the time, let’s now look at the proper make-up of the Ourea:

Aitna (or Aetna), Athos, Helicon, Kithairon, Nys(s)os, Olympus (Phrygia), Belus (later Thessalian Olympus), Oreios, Parnes, and Tmolus.

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(1) Ea is also the name of the Akkadian and Babylonian god of the earth.

(2) Oureo (or Oreo) is most likely the root of modern Greek ‘όρος’ (`oros,’ mountain).

(3) Belus was also a legendary Pharaoh of Egypt of divine lineage who was further twin brother of King Agenor of Tyre (Phoenicia), father of Cadmus, and long ancestor of Perseus, the legendary founder of Mycenae.

(4) As I have reiterated, Zeus is an epithet (title) and not a theonym applied to king gods and Ba’al was a storm god that resembled the Zeus we have in mind a great deal at that.