December theme: Pre-Classical Mediterranean 🏝️

Introduction

Next week, the sister of Phoenix.

Teaser

Phoenicia, phoenix, Tisiphone

Full Text

• Egyptian fnḫ carpenter, woodcutter

  • Egyptian fnḫw woodcutters, Canaanites, Syrians ^[1]

    • Mycenaean Greek 𐀡𐀛𐀑𐀍 po-ni-ki-jo trade commodity of some sort ^[2]

      • Classical Greek φοῖνιξ phoînix Phoenician, purple or crimson, date palm, a guitar-like instrument from Phoenicia, phoenix

        • Latin Poenus a Phoenician, a Carthaginian

          • Latin Poenicus / Pūnicus Carthaginian, Phoenician

            • English Punic
        • Latin phoenīx phoenix

          • English phoenix
        • Classical Greek Φοινίκη / Φοίνῑσσα Phoiníkē Phoínīssa Phoenicia

          • Latin Phoenīcia

            • English Phoenicia

              • English Phoenician
        • Tamazight

          • Northern Tamazight

            • Kabyle afiniqi Phoenician
            • Kabyle ⵜⵉⴼⵉⵏⴰⵖ / Tifinaɣ Tifinagh ^[3]

              • French tifinagh

                • English Tifinagh ^[3]
          • Tuareg

            • Tamahaq ⵜⴼⵉⵏⵗ tfingh Tifinagh ^[3]
• Afro-Asiatic

  • Egyptian wbn to shine, to rise in brilliance

    • Egyptian bnw heron god of rebirth, phoenix

      • Classical Greek φοῖνιξ phoînix Phoenician, purple or crimson, date palm, a guitar-like instrument from Phoenicia, phoenix

        • Latin Poenus a Phoenician, a Carthaginian

          • Latin Poenicus / Pūnicus Carthaginian, Phoenician

            • English Punic
        • Latin phoenīx phoenix

          • English phoenix
        • Classical Greek Φοινίκη / Φοίνῑσσα Phoiníkē Phoínīssa Phoenicia

          • Latin Phoenīcia

            • English Phoenicia

              • English Phoenician
        • Tamazight

          • Northern Tamazight

            • Kabyle afiniqi Phoenician
            • Kabyle ⵜⵉⴼⵉⵏⴰⵖ / Tifinaɣ Tifinagh ^[3]

              • French tifinagh

                • English Tifinagh ^[3]
          • Tuareg

            • Tamahaq ⵜⴼⵉⵏⵗ tfingh Tifinagh ^[3]
  • Semitic

    • Northwest Semitic

      • Canaanite

        • Hebrew יפע yapaʿ to shine, to radiate, to be beautiful

          • Hebrew פועה Puah
    • Semitic

      • Central Semitic

        • Arabic فوة fuwwah madder, reddish-purple
        • Northwest Semitic

          • Canaanite

            • Hebrew פואה pūʾā madder
            • Hebrew פוה fuweh a clan name?
            • Phoenician

              • Mycenaean Greek 𐀡𐀛𐀑𐀍 po-ni-ki-jo trade commodity of some sort ^[2]

                • Classical Greek φοῖνιξ phoînix Phoenician, purple or crimson, date palm, a guitar-like instrument from Phoenicia, phoenix

                  • Latin Poenus a Phoenician, a Carthaginian

                    • Latin Poenicus / Pūnicus Carthaginian, Phoenician

                      • English Punic
                  • Latin phoenīx phoenix

                    • English phoenix
                  • Classical Greek Φοινίκη / Φοίνῑσσα Phoiníkē Phoínīssa Phoenicia

                    • Latin Phoenīcia

                      • English Phoenicia

                        • English Phoenician
                  • Tamazight

                    • Northern Tamazight

                      • Kabyle afiniqi Phoenician
                      • Kabyle ⵜⵉⴼⵉⵏⴰⵖ / Tifinaɣ Tifinagh ^[3]

                        • French tifinagh

                          • English Tifinagh ^[3]
                    • Tuareg

                      • Tamahaq ⵜⴼⵉⵏⵗ tfingh Tifinagh ^[3]
              • Arabic فوة fuwwah madder, reddish-purple
          • Ugaritic 𐎔𐎆𐎚 pwt madder

            • Aramaic פותה pūṯā

              • Arabic فوة fuwwah madder, reddish-purple
              • Hebrew פואה pūʾā madder
• Akkadian

  • Ugaritic 𐎔𐎆𐎚 pwt madder

    • Aramaic פותה pūṯā

      • Arabic فوة fuwwah madder, reddish-purple
      • Hebrew פואה pūʾā madder
  • Hittite 𒊺𒉿𒁕 puwattis color, paint, stain
• Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰen- to strike, to slay, to kill ^[4]

  • Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰonyós murderous, baneful

    • Hellenic

      • Classical Greek φοινός phoinós bloody, blood-red, blood thirsty, deadly

        • Classical Greek φοῖνιξ phoînix Phoenician, purple or crimson, date palm, a guitar-like instrument from Phoenicia, phoenix
    • Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰónos murder

      • Hellenic

        • Classical Greek φόνος phónos murder

          • Greek φόνος fónos murder
          • Classical Greek Τισιφόνη Tisiphónē Avenging-Murder, the Fury who punishes crimes of murder

            • English Tisiphone
      • Germanic *banô murder

        • West Germanic *banō

          • Old English bana murderer, causer of death

            • Middle English bane murderer, slayer, bane

              • English bane

Visual

Collected English words

Punic, phoenix, Phoenicia, Phoenician, Tifinagh, Tisiphone, bane

Footnotes

1. ^

   Egypt traded for much of its lumber from Canaan/Lebanon/Syria, thus the equation of Canaanites/Syrians with woodcutters.

2. ^

   There are many theories about what po-ni-ki-jo might refer to. In context, all that can be deduced for certain is that it is a trade commodity. But it is formally equivalent to later Classical Greek φοῖνιξ phoînix.

   φοῖνιξ phoînix means a number of things, but probably at heart means "Phoenician" and from there is used to refer to a number of things associated with the Phoenicians: Tyrean purple (the famous dye of the Pheonicians), date palm trees, dates, a Phoenician musical instrument, and the phoenix.

   It is probably a conflation of two or more etymologies, including Egyptian fnḫw: "Canaanites", Greek φοινός phoinós: "bloody, blood-red", Egyptian bnw: "a divine bird associated with rebirth", and/or a Semitic root which also gave Arabic فُوَّه fuwwah: "madder, reddish-purple". One or more of these sources might come from one of the others.

3. ^

   Tifinagh is a Tamazight writing system descendant of the Phoenician alphabet. The name is likely an Amazighified stem from "Punic", in the feminine plural (ti- is a feminine nominalization prefix in Tamazight languages); thus Tifinaɣ reasonably means "the Phoenician (letters)".

4. ^

   This is a very abbreviated treatment of PIE *gʷʰen-, which is a large and important family itself, and probably not the most important of the sources conflated into φοῖνιξ phoînix.