It has long been suggested by historians that the city of Wiluša or Wilusiya mentioned in Hittite records, as early as around 1400 BC, is actually no other than legendary Troy, the setting of the famous Trojan War sometime (probably halfway) through the 13th century BC.
That said, I can personally bear testament to it definitely being the case after I recently demonstrated that the alternate name of ‘Ilion’ for Troy is actually the pronunciation of Aeolian ‘Αελιον,’ with an apparent Luwian root, from an earlier form of ‘ΑϜελιοv’ (with digamma ‘F’ pronounced as ‘w’) meaning ‘of Helios/the Sun.’
That equates to ‘Helion’ in the Attic and Ionian dialects and was actually voiced as ‘`I:elion’ in Aeolian since that ‘A’ at the beginning of the name was pronounced as a long ‘i,’ which overwhelmed and with time soaked up the sound of following ‘e’ to eventually render ‘Ilion.’
The earlier form ‘ΑϜελιοv’ shares the very same stem ‘-Ϝελ-‘ (wel) as ‘Wil-‘ in Wiluša (‘(-u)-ša’ meaning ‘city (of)’) which is also pronounced as ‘wel,’ apparently of also Luwian origin, carrying the same sense of ‘sun’ again and therefore the two names fully identify as ‘City of the Sun.’
And, of course, ‘Wiluša’ definitely doesn’t carry the sense of ‘pasture, meadow’ (in which case would have a pattern of ‘Wellu-ša’), in yet another unfortunate etymology given…
Today I am going to probe into a matter that I speculated for some years but couldn’t quite establish the necessary connection and accordance between the names until I recently noticed something important as regards the pronunciation of a certain letter in the ancient Lesbian (Aeolian) dialects recently.
It has got to do with the alternate appellation of Troy as Ilion and how exactly the latter translates even though both names are of Anatolian descent and seem to shape linguistic developments to renderings of the respective Hittite and Luwian names for the city-state.
There is also the possibility that they don’t represent exactly the same thing as Ilion could have been the name of the citadel of Troy more precisely. Both present great interest notwithstanding.
The name of Troy
To begin with, the name ‘Troy’ shapes the English rendering of Latin ‘Troia’ (pronounced as ‘Tr’oia’) and that in turn coming either directly from Luwian or through Doric ‘Τρωΐα’ (pronounced as ‘tr’uia’) or ‘Τροϊά’ (pronounced as Troi’a), with Doric showing an evident Luwian origin as dialects, and these ultimately from Hittite Taru-(ú-)iša (pronounced as Ta’ru(u)esa’) interpreted as ‘True/Strong City.’
Personally, all the same, I reckon that the first component ‘taru-‘ is most likely a Hattic loan and rather represents king god Tar(h)u, who is the same or equivalent to Hittite Tarḫun, to the sense of ‘City of (god) Tar(h)u’ for the name of Troy instead.
Tar(h)u was a major god in the various forms of his name such as Tarḫun among the Hittite, Tarḫunt among the Luwians or Teshub among the Hurrians over the entire Anatolia in the second millennium BC whilst such an interpretation of the city’s name is further backed up by the word ‘toro-ja’ (woman of Troy) that is attested in Linear B.
Semitic ‘toro’ is regarded as the root of ‘taurus’ (Latin) or ‘tauros’ (Hellenic, pronounced as ‘towros’) but as I have asserted in another post actually descends from the name of god Tar(h)u again, whose signature animal was the bull (taurus).
The name of Ilion
In its turn, ‘Ίλιον’ (Ilion) ought to have come from an earlier form of ‘Ϝιλιον’ beginning with a digamma (wau) (pronounced as ‘Wilion’) ultimately deriving on the Hittite Wil-uša (pronounced as ‘we’lisa’), for which there is no available etymology.
Approaching it on a different angle, yet, ‘Ήλιος’ (Helios) had the shape of ‘Αέλιος’ (Aelios) in Aeolian which originated from an earlier form of Αϝελιος (Awelios), starting with a digamma itself as well.
The surprise coming in over here, however, is that as I found out that ‘A’ at the beginning of Aeolian words isn’t voiced as ‘a’ as one would expect but as long ‘i’ instead (and usually accented).
Therefore, ‘Αϝελιος’ will be rendered as ”I(i)welios’ and its development of ‘Αελιος’ will be voiced as ‘I(i)elios,’ with a respective neutral form of ‘Αελιον’ (voiced as ‘I(i)elion’).
Where that long sound of ‘i’ at the beginning virtually overwhelmed that of the following ‘e,’ which was completely soaked up with time, so that eventual’Ίλιος’ (Ilios) and ‘Ίλιον’ (Ilion) came about respectively (pronunciation).
Thereby, ‘Ίλιον’ (Ilion) is the Aeolian sounding of ‘Αελιον’ which corresponds to ‘Ηλιον’ (Helion) in the Attic and Ionic dialects spelling ‘City of Helios (Sun)’ for Troy.
Pronunciation of Aeolian ‘A-‘
Let there be noted that, by implication, ‘Αίολος’ (Aeolos) or ‘Eolos’ (Eolos) is pronounced as ‘Iolos,’ ‘Αιολεια’ (Aeolia) or ‘Εολεια’ (Eolia) is voiced as ‘I’olea’ and ‘Αιολείς’ (Aeolians) or ‘Εολείς’ (Eolians) as ‘Ioles’ respectively.
By extension, that ‘-ϝέλ-‘ (-wel-) in ‘Αϝέλιος’ (Iwelios) is most likely/apparently the Aeolian rendering of Hittite/Luwian ‘wil-‘ in ‘Wil-uša ,’ which as I understand was voiced as ‘wel’ (had the same sound that is) carrying the sense of ‘sun’ again.
Something that reflects the Luwian and Anatolian roots of the Aeolian dialects.
PS All letters in Aeolian were capital while the suffix ‘(-u)-ša’ in Hittine means ‘city (of).’
As you may be aware, the Trojan Horse (Δούρειος Ίππος, pronounced ‘ðoúreios ippos’ in Greek) was a device construct in the shape of a large wooden horse as a gift by means of which the Achaeans (/Danaans) and their allies managed to ‘unlock’ the stern defence of Troy for an eventual victory after a (Trojan) war that lasted about ten years.
The Trojan Horse, for that matter, is not mentioned anywhere in Homer’s ‘Iliad’ which ends long before the war itself does but only briefly in ‘Odyssey’ later. In fact, it is in Virgil’s ‘Aeneid’ much later when there appears a more detailed account of the wooden horse-gift and the sack of Troy.
All the same, the form ‘Δούρειος Ίππος’ (ðoúreios ippos) for the construct doesn’t seem proper or correct, interpreted as ‘wooden horse,’ as it doesn’t shape a Hellenic appellation (there wasn’t such thing as ‘Greek’ in antiquity) in the first place but rather constitutes a virtual ‘sound’ adaptation in the so-called Koine (Common), which Hellenes (and not Greeks!) regarded as barbaric (foreign) and is the long ancestor of modern Greek.
This is given away by this ‘ου’ that appears in the first syllable to represent the sound ‘u’ since Hellenic dialects had two different vowels in their alphabets, a short and a long, to render it so wouldn’t present this sequence.
Which, in fact, would be pronounced by the successive sounds of the two respective vowels as ‘ow’ (as in ‘town’ in English) seeing that the letter ‘υ’ was rendered as ‘u’ (short or long riding on the dialect). Furthermore, given that Hellenes pronounced ‘δ’ as ‘d’ and ‘ει’ as long ‘ɛ’ then ‘Δούρειος’ would sound as ‘Dow’reos,’ which doesn’t seem to make any sense.
On the contrary, the name for wood for the Hellenes was ‘δόρυ’ (the same as the spear) pronounced as ‘doru:,’ the same as its proto-Indo European root, so ‘wooden’ would take the form ‘ΔΟΡΕΙΟΣ,’ pronounced as ‘Do’reos’ (the stress was usually substantially different in Hellenic compared to Greek), and the name of the wooden horse would be ‘Δόρειος Ίππος’ (‘ðoreios ippos in Greek vs ‘Do’reos Hippos’ in Hellenic) instead.
Nevertheless, the primary capacity and function of the Trojan Horse wasn’t that it was wooden but that it was a gift – even if it was actually a trick! Meaning, therefore, that it would actually be ‘ΔΩΡΕΙΟΣ ΙΠΠΟΣ’ where ‘ω’ would be pronounced as long ‘u’ by Hellenes (Ionian, Attic) to the effect of ‘Du’reos Hippos’ (aspirated ‘h’ due to the use of daseia on ‘ίππος’) which would fall in accord with its rendering as as ‘Δούρειος Ίππος'(ðoúreios ippos) in Koine later.
Let there be noted that it gains ground a theory that the Trojan Horse wasn’t actually a wooden one but instead a ship and the idea may originate from adorned Phoenician ships that bore horseheads at their bow called ‘Hippoi’ (horses). In ‘Odyssey,’ at that, ships appear to be called ‘sea horses.’
The conclusion, therefore, out of the above is that ‘Δούρειος Ίππος’ (Doúreios Ippos) is a wrong rendering and the proper is actually ‘Δώρειος Ίππος’ (Dôreios Ippos, gift horse) since, first and foremost, it was a gift anyway and, secondly, falls in accord with its original pronunciation in Hellenic.
PS ‘Δόρειος’ και ‘Δώρειος,’ employing this accent, are adaptations of mine in modern Greek so that I can make it easier for you to understand their structure and meaning. Hellenes wrote only in capital letters, namely ‘ΔΟΡΕΙΟΣ’ and ‘ΔΩΡΕΙΟΣ’ respectively (as I present them above), while their proper accented form in Hellenic (using small letters) would be ‘Δορείος’ and ‘Δωρείος’ respectively again.
Σήμερα θα ασχοληθώ με κάτι που υπέθετα εδώ και μερικά χρόνια αλλά δεν μπορούσα να βρω την σύνδεση και αντιστοιχία του μέχρι που τυχαία παρατήρησα κάτι σε ό,τι αφορά την προφορά ενός συγκεκριμένου γράμματος στις Αιολικές διαλέκτους πρόσφατα.
Και αυτό έχει να κάνει με την εναλλακτική ονομασία της Τροίας ως Ίλιον και τι ακριβώς σημαίνει το δεύτερο αν και τα δύο ονόματα έχουν ανατολίτικη προέλευση και δείχνουν να αποτελούν εξελίξεις αποδόσεων αντίστοιχων Χιττιτικών και Λούβιων ονομάτων για την πόλη-κράτος.
Υπάρχει επίσης η περίπτωση να μην αντιπροσωπεύουν ακριβώς το ίδιο πράγμα ως ονόματα με το Ίλιο να είναι η ακρόπολη της πόλης της Τροίας πιο συγκεκριμένα. Και τα δύο έχουν ενδιαφέρον πάντως.
Το όνομα Τροία
Ξεκινώντας, το όνομα Τροία δείχνει να είναι εξέλιξη στην Κοινή του Δωρικού Τροϊά ή Τρωϊά (προφερόμενο ως ‘Τρούια’), τα οποία Δωρικά έχουν Λούβια προέλευση, και προέρχεται από το Χιττιτικό Taru-(ú-)iša που αποδίδεται ως ‘Αληθινή/Σθεναρή Πόλη.’
Προσωπικά, ωστόσο, θεωρώ ότι ότι αυτό το ‘taru-‘ ως πρώτο συνθετικό είναι πιθανώς Χαττικό ‘δάνειο’ και αντιθέτως αντιπροσωπεύει το θεό Tar(h)u, που είναι το αντίστοιχο ή ο ίδιος με τον Χιττιτικό Tarḫun, και να σημαίνει ‘Πόλη του (θεού) Taru’ αντιθέτως.
Ο Tar(h)u ήταν κυρίαρχη θεότητα με τις διάφορες μορφές του ονόματός του ως επίσης Tarḫun (Χιττίτες), Tarḫunt (Λούβιοι) ή Teshub (Hurrians) σε όλη την Ανατολία τη δεύτερη χιλιετερίδα π.Χ. ενώ σε μια τέτοια πιθανή ερμηνεία του ονόματος της πόλης δείχνει να συνηγορεί το ‘toro-ja’ (γυναίκα της Τροίας) που εμφανίζεται στη Γραμμική Β.
Το σημιτικό ‘toro’ θεωρείται η ρίζα του ‘ταύρος’ που στα ελληνικά προφερόταν ως ‘τόουρος’ και έχω πει σε άλλο post ότι ουσιαστικά προέρχεται απο το όνομα του θεού Tar(h)u και πάλι, με τον ταύρο να αποτελεί το ζώο-σύμβολό του.
Το όνομα Ίλιον
Με τη σειρά του, το Ίλιον προέρχεται λογικά από μια προηγούμενη μορφή του ως ‘Ϝίλιον’ με δίγαμμα στην αρχή (‘Γουίλιον’) από το Χιττιικό Wil-uša για την πόλη, για το οποίο δεν δείχνει να υπάρχει διαθέσιμη ετυμολογία.
Προσεγγίζοντας το από μια άλλη γωνία, το ‘ήλιος’ στα Αιολικά ήταν Αελιος που προερχόταν από μια παλαιότερη μορφή ως Αϝελιος (Αγουελιος) με δίγαμμα.
Η έκπληξη εδώ όμως είναι ότι όπως διαπίστωσα αυτό το ‘Α’ στην αρχή των αιολικών λέξεων δεν προφέρεται ως ‘α’ όπως θα περίμενε κανείς αλλά ως μακρό ‘ι’ (και συνήθως τονισμένο).
Έτσι, το ‘Αϝελιος’ θα είναι ‘Ί(ι)γουελιος’ και η εξέλιξή του ως ‘Αελιος’ θα είναι ‘Ί(ι)ελιος,’ με αντίστοιχο ουδέτερο στο ‘Ί(ι)ελιον,’ όπου η μακρά απόδοση του ‘ι’ στην αρχή ουσιαστικά εξαφανίζει τον ήχο του ακόλουθου ‘ε,’ που με την πάροδο του χρόνου θα απορροφήθηκε εντελώς, για να προκύψει τελικά το ‘Ίλιος’ και ‘Ίλιον’ αντίστοιχα (προφορά).
Συνεπώς, το ‘Ίλιον’ είναι η αιολική ηχητική απόδοση του ‘Αελιον’ που αντιστοιχεί στο ‘Ήλιον’ (Χέλιον) στην Αττική και Ιωνική που θα αποδίδει ‘Πόλη του Ήλιου’ για την Τροία.
Η προφορά του Αιολικού ‘Α-‘
Να σημειωθεί ότι το Αίολος (ή Έολος) προφέρεται ‘Ίολος’ και το ‘Αιολεία’ (ή Εολεία) ως ‘Ιόλεα’ και το Αιολείς (ή Εολείς) ως ‘Ιόλε(ε)ς’ αντίστοιχα.
Κατ’επέκταση, το ‘- ϝελ-‘ στο ‘Αϝελιος’ θα είναι πιθανώς/εμφανώς η αιολική απόδοση του Χιττιτικού/Λούβιου ‘wil-‘ στο ‘Wil-usa,’ που από ό,τι έχω καταλάβει προφερόταν ως ‘γουελ-‘ (είχε τον ίδιο ήχο δηλαδή ουσιαστικά), με την έννοια του ήλιου και πάλι.
Κάτι που αντανακλά και τις γενικότερες Λούβιες και Ανατολίτικες ρίζες των Αιολικών διαλέκτων.
ΣΣ Στα Αιολικά όλα τα γράμματα ήταν κεφαλαία μόνο ενώ το επίθεμα ‘(-u)-ša’ στα Χιττιτικά σημαίνει ‘πόλη (του/της).’
Breaking through History 