What is it about?
Anttila's study is organized in nine chapters: Semantics of the Greek word ago:n 'assembly' and the enhancing particle aga- (as in aganniphos 'with much snow (Mt. Olympus); agathos 'good' and its relation to the games and culture; megas 'big', agape:tos 'beloved' and aganos 'mild, gentle'; Speaking-as-driving words (Greek imperative particle age, Latin aio: 'say', Greek ano:ga 'command'); Aggression and sustenance (killing *ag'-ro-/-a:, Hittite ak(k)- 'be put to death', non--killing *gwhen- 'beat'; agamai 'admire' and its entourage (age: 'wonder' and Umbrian ahtu 'divine force', Greek agos 'awe, guilt', agea 'temple mysteries, agauos 'admirable'); and parallels from Baltic Finnic ( Finnish ajaa 'to drive', akita 'take care', Finnish/Estonian oja 'brook cf. Greek okhthe: 'river bank, Finnish/Estonian ahav(a) 'wind', cf. Lithuanian oz'inis 'SE wind').
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Why is it important?
Anttila practices etymology as 'socio-cultural reconstruction' guided by the theoretical principle of 'pattern explanation'. His opus is veritably 'etymology in action': a constant dialogue between the notions from history, semiosis, hermeneutics, philology and historical linguistics. The highest ambition in this endeavor is the 'hermeneutic empathy', allowing the investigator to re-enact the past, to extend the speech communities of the past to the present.
Perspectives
The perennial appeal of etymology (the oldest subdiscipline of linguistics) resides in its (sometimes startling) sociocultural reconstructions and connections (or disconnections). . Some of the pieces used by Anttila in his opus based on the PIE root *ag'- 'drive' may be reordered in a new way or dismissed, but on the whole a number of exemplary etymologies and proposals of his possess a permanent value. It will only be a matter of time before they appear in etymological dictionaries and historical grammars of Greek, Sanskrit, Latin and other languages.
Dr Vit M. Bubenik
Memorial University of Newfoundland
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Review of Anttila (2000): Greek and Indo-European Etymology in Action: Proto-Indo-European *ag’-, Diachronica, December 2001, John Benjamins,
DOI: 10.1075/dia.18.2.07bub.
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