Talk:Adrastus

Comments

A while back I summarised the story of the second Adrastus (the Herodotus one), and I realised I didn't put any diacritic marks on the Greek transcription. If anyone knows how to do this, could they either tell me how, or edit it (acute accent on the initial alpha), or both? Please?

done. Njál 15:11, 16 September 2006 (UTC)

Etymology

“Adrastus” meaning "he who stands his ground", "he who holds his position", "the unescapable" are very popular etyma, indeed. I guess all the above are poetic interpretations of the Greek etymology ἄδραστος from the prefix ἀ- "non-" + the lexeme -δραστός "acted" (from the root of διδράσκω: δρα- IPA:[draː] "I act").
From the article on Adrasteia, one can retrieve this text:

Adrasteia "inescapable" [...] ''Adrasteia'' was also an epithet of Nemesis, a primordial Great Goddess of the archaic period.<ref>As ''a-da-ra-te-ja'' her name appears in Mycenaean Pylos (Margareta Lindgren, ''The People of Pylos: Prosopographical and Methodological Studies in the Pylos Archives: part II'' Uppsala 1973.</ref> The epithet is derived by some writers from Adrastus, who is said to have built the first sanctuary of Nemesis on the river Asopus,<ref>'''Strabo, xiii. p. 588.</ref> and by others from the Greek verb διδράσκειν (''didraskein''), according to which it would signify the goddess whom none can escape.<ref>Valeken, ''ad Herod,'' iii. 40.</ref>

At least, in this article, there are sources about the Greek etymology, and a hint that the name Adrastus may not derive itself from Greek. My point is this: it is possible that the purported etymology of Adrastus is spurious; the root adrast- is found in several names of mythological figures that don't fit the description of ἀδρανής "inactive". Furthermore, I've never come across a decent reference justifying its undoubtable Greek etymology, since the latter bumps into certain morphosemantic predicaments. On the other hand, it is a fact that several Pre-Greek names carried the suffix -st-: Ὀρέστης, Κάρυστος, Φαιστός, Ἥφαιστος, Ἀγδίστις, Ἄλκηστις, Θυέστης, Ἀκέστωρ etc.; so, in principle, why not Adrastus, too? Names such as Hestia, Aristaeus, and Procrustes are morphophonologically well-explained --especially the first two-- exceptions, of course, since they do derive from Proto-Indo-European roots; as for Nestor, Alastor, Castor, Jocasta, Epicasta, I'm not certain, based on my sources, but most likely they're Pre-Greek, as well. My references: Beekes (all his relevant ergography) and Papyrus-Larousse-Britannica, Greek Edition (1984-1996); see also what I wrote regarding a similar issue here. --Omnipedian (talk) 09:28, 10 October 2008 (UTC)