We have seen the stem KAB in Kabeiroi (see section Cabeiri) where B represented the two orifices (mouths) of a tube. Whereas KYB is the transported good, KAB seems to be a transporter (compare English cab, cable, Latin caballus, working horse, Spanish caballo, horse, etc.; see section Kybebe). This opposition brings about another antonymy by rotation. In this case, Y (or its analogs V and U; empty, container; pointing down; weight) becomes A (filled, charged; pointing up, piled up). We will encounter plenty of examples of such antonymy. But, here, let us concentrate on some mythological aspects of the ‘cult’ of Cybele.
Strabo (64
or 63 BC – circa 24 AD), one of the greatest intellectuals of antiquity, admits being confused with regard to the gods worshipped in Samothrace (the
professions taught in general education), from one hand, and the Kurbantes, the
Korybantes, the Kouretes, and the Idaean Dactyls, from the other. Some authors
consider these terms as local alternatives of the same religious entities as
the Kabeiroi but are unable to tell who they are. Bremmer notices similarities
and differences among the various cults but the literature and epigraphical
evidence are insufficient to pin them down. One of the most striking
similarities is their association with ecstatic dance and music, with or
without weapons, as well as with madness. Their cult involves drinking and
eating. They are all mentioned at some point to be directly or indirectly
related to the cult of Cybele, the mother of the gods (cuisine, transport?), of
which they are occasionally the priests (cooks, transporters?). The main
differences are in their genealogy and geographical distribution
The question
that puzzles modern scholars is whether the various names are simple
dialectal or diachronic variants for the same mythological objects, or to
what extent do these represent nuances of meaning. Harrison, a distinguished
British classical scholar, and linguist wrote that besides being guardians,
nurturers, and initiators of the infant Zeus, the Kouretes were metal workers
and that the smith was ‘half medicine man’
Reading the mythemes at a first level, the myths are about drinking, eating, dance, and music, activities that are intensified to extremes (frenzy, madness) during festivals. This interpretation explains the relation of the ‘deities’ with Cybele, the cooking stove (see section Cybele), or their hereditary descent from Hephaestus, the chimney (see section Hephaestus – the chimney). It would also fit the association of the cult with Lemnos interpreted as a period of economic inactivity (see section Paris and Philoctetes) or, in this case, a public holiday or vacation when festivities are likely to occur. The marriage of Apollo, the bow (arc; see section Apollo and Artemis – the bow and the arrow), with Thalia, muse of comedy and architecture, makes up a Greek-style amphitheater for teaching and theatrical performances. The muse is depicted with a comedy mask. Thalia, the common noun meaning rich, plentiful, goodly portion, always of banquets, was also one of the three Graces, patroness of festive meetings. Apollo, the bow, is intimately associated with a chord, hence with string music. This is how he became the god of music. The marriage of that Apollo with Rhetia would inevitably give birth to the song, i.e., vocal music accompanied with chords, assuming Ῥητία[2] (‘Rētia; Rhetia; some erroneously spell it Rhytia) derives from ἐρῶ (erō; I will say, tell, speak) like ῥητός (‘rētos; that may be spoken or told), ῥήτρα (‘rētra; word) or ῥήτωρ (‘rētōr; public speaker).
Continuing
our superficial reading into detail, Korybantes has been suggested to be
related to *κορυβή (korybē), a hypothetical Macedonian version of κορυφή
(koryphē) meaning top, mountain peak
Much of the
above vocabulary may have been used to describe common festivities.
Alternatively, the authors who tried to interpret this vocabulary invented a
festive description of the mysteries because of the similarities with festival
terms. We might feel satisfied to have explained that music, dance, and theater
were included in the curriculum of Samothrace (sam-othr-akē; the general
education; see section The
mysteries and the Nike of Samothrace). This superficial interpretation
leaves many questions unanswered. The Cabeiri and the Dactyls do not fit in
this narrative. Neither do the Kouretes or Curetes (Κουρῆτες; Koyrētes),
currently glossed as armed and crested dancers who celebrated orgiastic rites;
what do arms have to do with theater and choral music? Why did not these terms
survive in modern languages? Or, did they, and in what sense? Stems like -bantes,
from Korybantes, are left unexplained. Most importantly, festivity being a
public behavior was known to everybody. There was nothing ‘mysterious’ about
it.
To better
understand the cult of Cybele and its relation to the Mysteries of Samothrace
we must read deeper into the etymology of the ‘mystic’ terms. As an independent
word, the stem -ban of Korybantes is the 3rd plural of
the second aorist (βάν; ban)[3]
of the verb βαίνω (bainō), to walk, step, move on foot or on the ground, march
or dance, set out to go, stand or be in a place, be established or prosperous, go
away, depart, go on, advance, mount, go down (die), scan, come and go, come,
arrive. The form βάντες (bantes) appears in Homer as an aorist circumstantial
participle[4],
e.g., ἐφ᾽ ἵππων βάντες[5]
translates as having mounted the chariot[6]
or high-stepping horses[7].
Therefore, if Kory- is a cognate of κόρυς (korys),
crown, helmet, and of κορυφή (koryphē), head, top, peak,
the foremost one, i. e. best, eminent achievement[8],
Kory-bantes are those who go ahead, the foremost, the leaders, those who
go to the top, mount the top (e.g. steadily mount the last stones on a high
wall; the lifting gear, cranes, etc.). To be more accurate and respect the
Homeric grammatical form, Korybantes are those who have arrived at the top,
have come first; those are the best, the eminent ones. According to Pherecydes, there
were nine Cyrbantes (Korybantes?)[9],
i.e., as many as the disciplines of education (sam-othr-akē; Samothrace)
compiled by Varro (see section The
Mysteries and the Nike of Samothrace). If Cyrbantes is a synonym of Korybantes,
there would be one eminent achiever selected from each discipline (school,
art). Those top students could be crowned in a ceremonial fashion, perhaps
including a speech (Rhetia) and a ceremonial bow dance of the crowned winners
in an amphitheater (Apollo) and, together with their teachers, friends,
relatives, and colleagues, could understandably celebrate their achievement in
a frenzied manner.
It was
believed, in antiquity, that a wreath of ivy leaves around the head would
prevent one from getting drunk. The Greek god Dionysus and its Roman equivalent
Bacchus were often depicted wearing an ivy wreath and grapevines. Ivy was also
a symbol of intellectual achievement and triumph. Ivy wreaths were used, for
instance, to crown winners of poetry contests
The sememes
of βαίνω (bainō; to walk, step, come, go, etc.) are quite frequently
transferred to nouns as a -βάτης (-batēs) ending morpheme. For example,
one who steps softly is called ἁβροβάτης (‘abrobatēs), one who mounts is
ἀναβάτης (anabatēs), the mountain-ranger, the mountaineer, ὀρειβάτης (oreibatēs),
the acrobat, ἀκροβάτης (akrobatēs), and so on; there is no N in that
morpheme. There are at least 89 such nouns in the LSJ lexicon. In contrast,
there is only one noun finishing in -βάντης (-bantēs), καλλιβάντες (kallibantes),
glossed in the plural as a tool for eyebrow grooming (Hesychius). There is a
problem with the interpretation of Korybantes as a derivative of bainō
(to step, come, go). Either the term is an archaic form dating from Homer’s
times, the latest, or there are more than one stems in -bantes.
The ending
morpheme -άντης (-antēs; plural -antes) seems to be related with
the epic adverb ἄντην (antēn; synonym of the prefix anti-)
meaning against, over and against. Nouns that end in -antēs (plural -antes),
about four dozen of them, often refer to actions over or against norms in
either bad or good sense. For example, ἀνάντης (anantēs) means steep
up-hill, in the ascending scale, κατάντης (katantēs), steep
downhill, downwards, ἀσκάντης (askantēs), pallet, bier, ἐριδάντης
(eridantēs), wrangler, φάντης (phantēs) or συκοφάντης
(sykophantēs), common informer, voluntary denouncer, extortioner,
κτάντης (ktantēs), murderer, περάντης (peraantēs), paedicator,
προσάντης (prosantēs), arduous, adverse, repugnant, distasteful, unsuitable,
hostile, but also ῥεαντής (‘reantēs), polisher, ὑδροφάντης (‘ydrophantēs),
water-finder, χαρτυφάντης (chartyphantēs), maker of papyrus
sheets, ὑφάντης (‘yphantēs), weaver, κράντης (krantēs),
one that accomplishes. The bad connotations of the ending -antēs (plural
-antes) give Korybantes the reputation of madness and frenzy.
However, in its good sense, -antēs suggests skill and perseverance accomplish works beyond the norm. The Korybantes were probably skillful workers or
tools; but what did they exactly do? Let us examine other possible signifiers
in the word.
We have seen
the stem ban as an aorist of bainō, which we can interpret as moving
step by step. As a prefix, ban forms a few words meaning handicraft (βαναυσία;
banaysia), artisan, mechanical art, later fastidious (βάναυσος;
banaysos), follow a mere mechanical art (βαναυσουργέω; banaysoyrgeō),
handicraftsman (βαναυσουργός; banaysoyrgos), always in
combination with the verb αὔω (ayō), to light a fire. Thus
βαναυσία (banaysia) means every art requiring fire (Hesychius)
with ban representing only the sememe of art. With Y preceding ban,
yban probably implies ‘exterior art’, art to be seen, urban art or
‘upper art’, art placed on the top parts of buildings, high-end art (see section Kybebe). The next
meaningful stems are ryb which starts the word ῥυβός (‘rybos),
meaning curved, curling, convex – in English, this stem transliterates as a rub,
e.g., to rub – and ory, starting ὀρυά (orya),
pickaxe, a heavy iron tool with one pointed end, a chisel edge and a wooden
handle, ὄρυξις (oryxis), rootling, digging, ὀρυγή (orygē),
step, a stair of a dug staircase, ὀρυκτήρ (oryktēr), miner, ὀρυκτός
(oryktos), dug, formed by digging, dugout, quarried, of stone
or metal, or ὀρύσσω (oryssō), to dig, gouge, burrow.
The stem ryb
is found in French ruban, decorative ribbon, band, wreath.
In fact, ruban is found intact in Korybantes, while kor is
in decoration. In English, the curly form of a ribbon is
suggested by the double-B. The English and French synonyms of ribbon and
ruban, band and bande, respectively, are also found in
Korybantes considering that the Greek nt cluster is pronounced
/nd/. It looks like Korybantes is related to decorative arts.
Finally, the
semantic core of the word Korybantes is the stem kor. The
starting stem may be the semantic basis upon which the word is built.
Additional stems and morphemes function as determinants that add semantic
specifications. Because there are about 250 words starting with kor in
the Ancient Greek vocabulary, let us consider only the most frequent ones,
assuming that these are the most likely cognates of Korybantes.
The word κόρη
(korē) means girl, maiden, nymph, young wife, daughter, puppet,
doll, a female figure used as support in architecture, e.g., the Caryatids,
together with its variants Korē or Kora
(referring to Persephone, the young daughter of goddess Demeter), and their
masculine equivalent κόρος (koros-2), boy, lad, are by far
the most common kor-words, with almost 11000 occurrences in total. The
second most frequent kor-word, with less than 4000 hits, is the verb κορέω
(koreō), to sweep out, brush, with many derivatives
related to hairdressing both in Ancient and Modern Greek. Next comes κόρις (koris),
the name of a plant-like St. John's wort which was believed to be a universal
remedy from classical antiquity till much later; and it is still in the herbal
medicine market today[10].
It is clear that, at least in its most frequent use, kor- is about
youth, health, and beauty, all desirable properties of the human body.
The verb κορέννυμι
(korennymi) is to sate, satiate, satisfy someone, to fill
one with a thing, to fulfill, or to fill full, satisfy oneself, or saturate.
The remainder of this verb – with kor- taken out – ἕννυμι (‘ennymi)
means to dress somebody or oneself, put clothes on another, clothe oneself in,
put on, wear. It looks like korennymi referred to a
satisfactory ensemble of a dressed kor-. The missing kor- of ‘ennymi
is suggested by the aspirate diacritic (‘) which, at least in this case[11],
plays the role of an apostrophe. A kor- is the body without finish, ‘ennymi
refers to the finish and korennymi to the satisfactory
finishing of a body. Thinking the other way round, we may start with a
finishing (‘ennymi; mold) which, when saturated (korennymi),
will produce a perfect kor (body). This is probably how sculptors
thought. In any way, kor- seems to be in the heart of Latin cor
(heart), English core, Old French cors
(body), Modern French corps (body), and of hundreds of
cognates around the world including, perhaps, Quechua kurku
(body). Sometimes, in English, the core is what remains when
the surface layer is removed, because the whole thing may be described by an
inversion rock.
Just before
the frequency of kor-words reaches scree, we find the noun κορυφή (koryphē),
meaning top, head, top of the body (of anything), top of the head, crown, peak
of a mountain, summit, etc. The second part of κορυφή (koryphē),
ὑφή (‘yphē) means web, a spider's web; hence ὑφαίνω (‘yphainō),
to weave, ply the loom, contrive, plan, of all schemes, good or bad, which are
craftily imagined, create, construct, compose, write, and ὕφος (‘yphos),
web, net, style, text, of an author, texture, of a material. Thus, koryphē
may have originally meant the side of
the house-wall (kor) where the spiders haunt, the upper corner
(upp-cor <> yph-kor / kor-yph)[12].
Once again, the very ancient mind did not need a word for the uninhabited top
of a mountain but did need one for the corners of the ceiling.
The word κόρυμβος
(korymbos) resembles both koryphē and Korybantes. It is to
a certain extent synonymous with koryphē since it is glossed as uppermost
point, top (of the hill). It has been also used, however for the (curly?)
extremity of hairs, the fruits (or the curly stems?) of ivy, and once in Homer
as the high-pointed sterns of ships. Hesychius glosses it as a terminal ornament
of ship crowning either the sternpost or, more commonly, the stem-post. The
common part of these words, kory, is the most frequent four-letter starter,
found in about 38% of the kor-words. Second, comes kora with only 17%. Kory-
seems, therefore, to be a morpheme with a ‘popular’ meaning. The simplest kory-word
is korys (helmet).
The verb κορύπτω
(koryptō) is of particular interest because it is the
etymon of Korybantes according to Strabo[13].
This verb has been translated as to butt with the head[14].
Strabo derives Kory-bant-es from the verbs koryptō (‘butt
with the head’) and bainō (to walk, go) and explains that the Korybantes
were called so because they walked with butting of their heads in a dancing
way. Sculptors do butt at the core (kor-yptō) of
the stone – which often looks like a head (kory-ptō). They
do not normally butt the stone with their head but they do ‘butt their head’
(get demoralized) every time they make a mistake and spoil their work. Those
working the stone with a chisel and without any protection will inevitably
dance frantically of pain every time fragments shoot on them or they
accidentally hit their hand instead of the stone. Even in periods of peace, the
dust produced by grinding and polishing the stone will spoil their clothes. No
sculptor works without protective gear and adapted outfit (armor). These are
their weapons against the stone and the dust. So, how should we split koryptō?
Does -yptō mean to butt?
It may! But let us first take the
opportunity to exemplify yet another type of antonymy by inversion that
koryptō offers. When the stem ypt is found at the
beginning of a word, it means some type of exposure. For instance, ὕπτιος (‘yptios)
means laid on one's back, falling backward, the underparts, i.e. the belly, with
the underside uppermost, of anything turned downside up, with the hollow
uppermost, a half-wheel with the concave side uppermost, upside down, of land,
flat, horizontal, of the sea, smooth, metaphorically, supine, lazy, careless, relaxed,
of language, flat, tedious, dull; ὑπτιότης (‘yptiotis) is
a supine position, of leaves, flatness, of a river, supineness, calmness, slackness;
ὑπτίασμα (‘yptiasma), the attitude of supplication with hands
upstretched. The verb ὑπτιάω (‘yptiaō) means to lean
backward, lay back, and ὑπτιόομαι (‘yptioomai), to be upset.
Instead, as a verb ending morpheme, -yptō, -ypt
means covering, enfolding, as in κύπτω (kyptō), to bend forward,
stoop, hang the head from shame, with the head down, bow down under a burden, bow
forward, κρύπτω (kryptō), to hide, cover, cloak, cover in the
earth, bury, conceal, keep secret, be suppressed, lie hidden, δύπτω (dyptō),
to dive, γρύπτω (gryptō), become bent, καλύπτω (kalyptō),
cover, hide, conceal, ἐγκύπτω (egkyptō), stoop down and peep in, look
closely into, stoop to the ground, retract.
Interestingly, τύπτω (typtō)
means to beat, strike, smite, split, disperse, wound, sting, beat pots and pans
(to make a noise), throw missiles, or beat, strike oneself, be beaten, struck,
wounded, receive blows or wounds; θρύπτω (thryptō), to break in
pieces, break small, enfeeble, corrupt something or someone, be enervated,
unmanned, display moral weakness. When we strike an object, the object is meant to
bend. When we beat the surface of a stone, the stone breaks into pieces and its
surface becomes concave, it enfolds. The sememe of enfolding exists, thus, in
both typtō and thryptō. The verb ῥύπτω (‘ryptō)
is related to the Homeric noun ῥύπος (‘rypos; dirt, filth) and may mean
both, to cleanse, wash, wash oneself, and get dirty, spoiled, because washing
necessarily implies uncleanness. The stem ryp, from ‘rypos,
means dirt, filth, untidiness, sordidness, meanness, lack of quality or
attractiveness, shabbiness, corruption.
Therefore, koryptō could split into kor-yptō,
core-bend, body-bend, suggesting the way the Korybantes danced and the way they
made repetitive percussion noise (music!). Alternatively, merging kor
with ryptō would produce core-cleaning, body-washing with reference to
the artisan getting dirty; or, rather, core-spoiling with reference to the
artisan making a fatal error and irreparably losing (part of) the surface (R)
of the core of the artifact. That would explain the notorious Corybantian
frenzy and fury[15].
In English, kor and ryptō would be simply agglutinated to produce
kor-ryptō; then, end-trimmed, and commonly transliterated as cor-rupt
(corrupt). In Greek, one of the R’s would be omitted as a reminder of
the loss of the core’s surface; a double-R would inappropriately suggest
intensity, strength, or multiplicity, which is not the case in corruption.
Therefore, kor and ryptō would rather be merged as ko‘ryptō,
i.e. koryptō, with (kor; core) losing its surface
(R).
For comparison, the current PIE-origin
theory for corrupt takes Old French corropt, unhealthy, corrupt, uncouth
(of language), directly from Latin corruptus, past participle of corrumpere,
to destroy, spoil, figuratively corrupt, seduce, bribe, from assimilated form
of com-, here probably an intensive prefix + rup-, past
participle stem of rumpere, to break, from a nasalized form of PIE *runp-,
to break, the source also of Sanskrit rupya-, to suffer from a stomach-ache,
and Old English reofan, to break, tear[16].
Massive historical evidence supports that the Romans could have taken their corruptus
directly from Greek kor-ryptō with straightforward transliteration.
Otherwise, one has to explain how, when, why, and by whom, did com-
turned to cor-, *runp- became rump, rump became rup,
and rup became rupt.
To conclude, the Korybantes were artisans,
including high-end stone workers (since they were priests of Cybele,
the stone; see section Cybele),
most probably sculptors trained by the Ministry of Education (Sam-othr-akē),
School of Great Professions and Public Works (Great Goods; e.g. Great-Gods
University of Samothrace), Faculty of Architecture, Department of Sculpture and
Decorative Arts. It was logically them who manufactured the Nike (Victory) of
Samothrace and not an isolated genius who had never been to school. It is
surprising to me that Greek literature, as interpreted today, speaks about
spiritual orgies, unimaginable monsters, incredible battles, and interminable massacres,
and tells us nothing about the people who physically built the pyramids in
Egypt, watered Athens, or those who decorated the Parthenon. Nobody was
impressed by those achievements!
Table 1. Semantic analysis of KORYBANTHS (korybantēs).
|
core,
corpus, corporal, body |
|
|
pickaxe,
chisel, dig |
|
|
convex,
curl, curve (carve?), rub (polish) |
|
|
YB |
|
|
art |
|
|
doers,
makers |
|
|
BANTES |
artisans,
bands (decorative, musical, etc.) |
|
YBAN |
fine
(upper, high) art, decorative art, urban art |
|
RYBAN |
ruban
(French), ribbon, wreath, frieze |
|
RYBANTES |
decorative
frieze artists |
|
helmet,
protective armor |
|
|
KORYBANTES |
specialized
masons, sculptors, top goers |
It cannot be missed that this method of word-making is not a simple agglutination. The signified develops in front of the reader’s eyes as they move forth and back (Table 1). In arithmetic, to write 1569 one could agglutinate 1000, 500, 60, and 9, but we don’t. Like arithmetic operations, such literal synthesis requires a solid medium to be worked out. Without it, we would still be able to communicate for our vital needs, but we wouldn’t have gone to the moon.
The Korybantes were not the same as the Cabeiri. The Cabeiri were also graduating from the School of Great Professions and Public Works of the Great Gods University of Samothrace but were rather affiliated to the Faculty of Civil Engineering, Department of Irrigation Networks and Agriculture. The Cabeiri were priests of another Cybele, the goddess of rain collection, transport, and distribution (see section Kybebe).
Demosthenes sites a bricolage of three
verbs referring to initiatory rituals of the Corybantian mysteries in his
attempt to slander Aeschines
The third verb, apomassō, may be
considered as proof that the Korybantes were the sculptors, also validating
our linguistic method and conclusions. It means[20]
to wipe off, wipe clean (leave magical[21]
ceremony connotations out of this discussion, please!), especially of clay
(loam) and bran, or – most importantly – to take an impression of, to model as
a sculptor, copy, imitate, model oneself upon. The sculptor’s molds were
probably made of clay (loam) dredged with a thin layer of bran to prevent the
clay from sticking to the casted material too firmly. Clay and bran had to be
methodologically (‘ceremoniously’) removed from the surface of the final
product to avoid irreparable damage (corruption).
Claims
Korybantes = decorative artists, sculptors, frieze sculptors
Cognates
Korybantes: core, corrupt, band, ribbon
Oppositions: core/rock, ypt-/-ypt
References
Bedigan, Kirsten Madeleine. 2008. “Boeotian Kabeiric Ware: The Significance of the Ceramic Offerings at the Theban Kabeirion in Boeotia.” University of Glasgow.
Bremmer, Jan N. 2014. Initiation into the Mysteries of the Ancient World. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG.
Cook, Arthur Bernard. 1914. Zeus: A Study in Ancient Religion. Vol. 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Harrison, Jane Ellen. 1912. Themis: A Study of the Social Origins of Greek Religion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Woodland Trust. 2021. “Ivy.” Grantham, UK: woodlandtrust.org.uk. 202.
[4] Approximately equivalent to English past perfect tense; an action
was completed (finished or perfected) at some point in the past before
something else happened.
[7] Hom.
Il. 18.532 A.T. Murray’s translation.
[10] St.
John's Wort and Depression in the National Center for Complementary and
Integrative Health (NCCIH), USA; accessed 6 May 2021.
[11] This thesis will be extensively documented herein.
[12] It is widely documented herein that letter duplication in one
language corresponds to phoneme aspiration in another, and that in Greek Phi is
a double archaic P, ) > () > (|).
[13] Strab.
10.3.21 in Greek.
[14] Strab. 10.3.21 translated by Hamilton
and Falconer, 1903, or by Jones,
1924.
[17] Koryba-s
(-ntos) in LSJ.
[18] A mixture of sand, clay, and other materials, is used in making molds
for large castings, often without a pattern.
[21] I do not intend to fully analyze the word magical, but
it seems to me that, at least, in this case, western translators did not
consider the semantic drift of magic from the ancient meaning
of mixing recipes and procedures to medieval magical ceremonies. The
word μαγεύς (mageys) means one who kneads, one who wipes
(like a sponge). It is cognate of Attic μάγειρος and Doric μάγιρος (mageiros
or magiros; cook), μαγίς (magis; any
kneaded mass, cake, bread, plaster, etc.) all deriving from the verb μάσσω
(massō; to knead, press into a mold; compare mass,
massage). Apomassō (apo-massō)
is an antonym of massō meaning to ‘de-mass’,
to remove the mold from the cooked preparation. Medieval magic was also
about mixing ingredients, but for a different purpose.