medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Er, Marjorie, does your Larousse really say _basilikos_ and not
_basiliskos_? The usual etymology preserves the 's' and makes the Greek
word a derivative of _basileus_ vel sim. ("king") plus the suffix
"-iskos". The latter is often a diminutive (cp. _asteriskos_, "little
star" or _paidiskos_, "young boy" or "slave"), hence the view
"petitroi", etc. seen in many explanations of the word.
The serpents called in Greek "basiliskos" (and hence in Latin
"basiliscus") are fabled creatures of the North African desert. Since
they were not of European distribution, the possibility exists that
their Greek name is either calqued on a non-Greek (probably Semitic)
serpent-name meaning "king" or "little king" or else represents a
phonetic transformation into Greek of a non-Greek serpent-same of
whatever meaning. But to judge from the silence of standard ancient
Greek lexicography on this point, no suitable non-Greek serpent name has
been found to substantiate such an hypothesis. The modern equation of
ancient _basiliskos_ with the Horned Viper (Cerastes cerastes) of North
Africa, Israel, and the Arabian peninsula relies on the latter snake's
being crested (hence, metaphorically, crowned). As far as I am aware,
that feature does not occur in any ancient Greek or Latin description of
a basilisk.
Another possibility is that the creature's name is of purely Greek
origin, expressing the notion that its extraordinarily powerful venom
makes it, though small, the metaphorical "king" of serpents.
To my very limited knowledge, G. _basiliskos_, Lat. _basiliscus_, or
Eng. _basilisk_ is not used before the Early Modern period as a gloss or
translation of the the OT _tsepah_ ("viper" or "adder"). Can anyone
adduce late antique or medieval instances?
To further bring this back to the scope of the list, one might note that
there are at least two early Greek martyrs named "Basiliskos"; cf.
http://www.rongolini.com/synindex.htm
s.v.; also a fifth-century Roman emperor of the same name:
http://www.roman-emperors.org/basilis.htm
http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/ric/basiliscus/i.html
Best,
John Dillon
**********************************************************************
To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME
to: [log in to unmask]
To send a message to the list, address it to:
[log in to unmask]
To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion
to: [log in to unmask]
In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to:
[log in to unmask]
For further information, visit our web site:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html
|