“La belle Hélène”, a generic brothel, and the development of *CR̥HC sequences in Ancient Greek

Stefan Höfler

Abstract

Starting from a discussion of the name Ἑλένη and the root *√su̯elh1 ‘to glow with heat’, this paper investigates the outcome of accented *CŔ̥HC sequences in Greek. Most of the cases on record involve *CŔ̥h2C, resulting in Gk. CάRαC. In theory, this sequence could either represent a PGk. *CáRaC or a PGk. *Cə́RaC, which has led to two opposing views in the literature as to what the outcome of *CŔ̥h1C and *CŔ̥h3C would be, viz. either CέRεC and CόRοC, or CάRεC and CάRοC, respectively. Based on the examples Ion. ἀλέη f. ‘heat’ and Gk. (non-Att.) γάνεα n. pl. ‘female genitals’, I intend to show that the latter is the more likely assumption.
Original languageEnglish
JournalDie Sprache
Volume52
Issue number2
Pages (from-to)177-201
ISSN0376-401X
Publication statusPublished - 2019

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of '“La belle Hélène”, a generic brothel, and the development of *CR̥HC sequences in Ancient Greek'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this