The Encyclopaedic Meaning of Erythros in Koine Greek Toponyms. A Cognitive Approach to the Definition of the Ancient Colourscardinal Points System
The Encyclopaedic Meaning of Erythros in Koine Greek Toponyms. A Cognitive Approach to the Definition of the Ancient Colourscardinal Points System

Summary/Abstract: The cartographic and historiographic traditions interpreting the Greek toponym “Erythra” Thalassa indicate this expression could designate several water basins in classical historiography, though it is usually rendered univocally as the Red Sea. This research applies cognitive semantics to the history of geography to retrieve the encyclopaedic meaning of the term “erythros” in relation to its “dictionary meaning” “red”. Computationally generated lists of frequency from about 50 ancient Greek and Latin oeuvres denote a predominant toponymic use of the term and a “fixed collocation” in conjunction with “thalassa” “sea”. Additional statistical data extrapolated from the “Septuagint’ and the Greek New Testament reveal the tendency in the biblical tradition to use exclusively the inflected form “erythra” in “fully fixed collocations” with the term “thalassa”. The paper finds out that the specific shade of red denoted by “erythors” has been used since the seventh century BCE in a number of other toponyms and ethnonyms to convey the conceptual meaning of “southern”. To comparatively verify this hypothesis, several Greek toponyms incorporating the term “leukos” – “white” or “western” – are discussed in relation to their relative position in the oikumene. Based on comparative chronologies and diatopic attestations of the phenomenon, the hypothesis that the Turkic colour cardinal points system and the linguistic means to convey it was introduced to Greece during the period of contact with the Scythe people is proposed.

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