Editing Aphrodite (section)

== Etymology ==
[[Hesiod]] derives the name ''Aphrodite'' from {{Lang|grc-latn|aphrós}} ({{Lang|grc|ἀφρός}}) "sea-foam",{{sfn|Cyrino|2010|page=14}} interpreting the name as "risen from the foam",<ref>Hesiod, ''[[Theogony]]'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+173 190–197].</ref>{{sfn|Cyrino|2010|page=14}} but most modern scholars regard this as a spurious [[folk etymology]].{{sfn|Cyrino|2010|page=14}}{{sfn|West|2000|pages=134–138}} Early-modern scholars of classical mythology attempted to argue that Aphrodite's name was of Greek or [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] origin, but these efforts have mostly been abandoned.{{sfn|West|2000|pages=134–138}} Aphrodite's name is generally accepted to be of non-Greek (probably [[Semitic languages|Semitic]]) origin, but its exact derivation cannot be determined with confidence.{{sfn|West|2000|pages=134–138}}{{sfn|Beekes|2009|page=179}}

Scholars in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, accepting Hesiod's "foam" etymology as genuine, analyzed the second part of Aphrodite's name as *''-odítē'' "wanderer"<ref>[[Paul Kretschmer]], "Zum pamphylischen Dialekt", [[Historische Sprachforschung|''Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung auf dem Gebiet der Indogermanischen Sprachen'']], 33 (1895), 267.</ref> or as *''-dítē'' "bright".<ref>Ernst Maaß, "Aphrodite und die hl. Pelagia", ''Neue Jahrbücher für das klassische Altertum'', 27 (1911), 457–468.</ref><ref>Vittore Pisani, "Akmon e Dieus", ''Archivio glottologico italiano'', 24 (1930), 65–73.</ref> More recently, Michael Janda, also accepting Hesiod's etymology, has argued in favor of the latter of these interpretations and claims the story of a birth from the foam as an [[Proto-Indo-European mythology|Indo-European]] [[mytheme]].{{sfn|Janda|2005|pages=349–360}}{{sfn|Janda|2010|page=65}} Similarly, Krzysztof Tomasz Witczak proposes an Indo-European compound {{lang|ine-x-proto|*abʰor-}} "very" and {{lang|ine-x-proto|*dʰei-}} "to shine", also referring to [[Eos]],{{sfn|Witczak|1993|pages=115–123}} and Daniel Kölligan has interpreted Aphrodite's name as "shining up from the mist/foam".<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kölligan |first=Daniel |date=2007 |title=Aphrodite of the Dawn - Indo-European Heritage in Greek Divine Epithets and Theonyms |url=https://www.academia.edu/8880560 |journal=Letras Clássicas |volume=11 |issue=11 |pages=105–134 |doi=10.11606/issn.2358-3150.v0i11p105-134 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Other scholars have argued that these hypotheses are unlikely, since Aphrodite's attributes are entirely different from those of both Eos and the [[Vedic deity]] [[Ushas]].{{sfn|Penglase|1994|page=164}}{{sfn|Boedeker|1974|pages=15–16}}

Modern scholars, due to the believed [[Near East]]ern origins of Aphrodite's worship, have since proposed Semitic origins for the name.{{sfn|Beekes|2009|page=179}}{{sfn|Cyrino|2010|pages=26–27}} Some scholars, such as [[Fritz Hommel]], have suggested that Aphrodite's name is a hellenized pronunciation of the name "[[Astarte]]"; other scholars, however, reject this as being linguistically untenable.{{sfn|Cyrino|2010|page=26}}{{sfn|West|2000|pages=134–136}} Martin West reconstructs a [[Cyprus|Cyprian]] [[Canaanite languages|Canaanite]] form of the name as either {{Transliteration|sem|*ʿAprodît}} or {{Transliteration|sem|*ʿAproḏît}}, and cautiously suggests the latter as being an [[epithet]] with the meaning "She of the Villages".{{sfn|West|2000|pages=137–138}} Aren Wilson-Wright suggests the [[Phoenician language|Phoenician]] form {{Transliteration|sem|*ʾAprodīt}} as an [[Elative (gradation)|elative]] epithet meaning "unique, excellent, sublime".<ref>{{cite conference |url=https://www.academia.edu/40109930 |title=Venus's Name - The Divine Name Aphrodite as a Phoenician Epithet |last1=Wilson-Wright |first1=Aren M. |date=August 2019 |location=[[Warsaw]] |conference=European Association of Biblical Studies Annual Conference}}</ref>

A number of improbable non-Greek etymologies have also been suggested. One Semitic etymology compares Aphrodite to the Assyrian ''barīrītu'', the name of a female demon that appears in Middle Babylonian and Late Babylonian texts.<ref>''Chicago Assyrian Dictionary'', vol. 2, p.{{nbsp}}111.</ref> Hammarström<ref>M. Hammarström, "Griechisch-etruskische Wortgleichungen", ''Glotta: Zeitschrift für griechische und lateinische Sprache'' 11 (1921), 215–216.</ref> looks to [[Etruscan language|Etruscan]], comparing ''(e)prθni'' "lord", an Etruscan honorific loaned into Greek as [[Prytaneis|πρύτανις]].{{sfn|Frisk|1960|page=196f}}{{sfn|Beekes|2009|page=179}}{{sfn|West|2000|page=134}} This would make the theonym in origin an honorific, "the lady".{{sfn|Frisk|1960|page=196f}}{{sfn|Beekes|2009|page=179}} Most scholars reject this etymology as implausible,{{sfn|Frisk|1960|page=196f}}{{sfn|Beekes|2009|page=179}}{{sfn|West|2000|page=134}} especially since Aphrodite's name actually appears in Etruscan in the borrowed form ''Apru'' (from Greek {{Lang|grc-Latn|Aphrō}}, clipped form of ''Aphrodite'').{{sfn|Beekes|2009|page=179}} The medieval ''[[Etymologicum Magnum]]'' ({{circa|1150}}) offers a highly contrived etymology, deriving ''Aphrodite'' from the compound ''habrodíaitos'' ({{lang|grc|ἁβροδίαιτος}}), "she who lives delicately", from ''habrós'' and ''díaita''. The alteration from ''b'' to ''ph'' is explained as a "familiar" characteristic of Greek "obvious from the [[Ancient Macedonian language|Macedonians]]".<ref>Etymologicum Magnum, Ἀφροδίτη</ref>

In the [[Cypriot syllabary]], a syllabic script used on the island of Cyprus from the eleventh until the fourth centuries BC, Aphrodite's name is attested in the forms {{Script|Cprt|𐠀𐠡𐠦𐠭𐠃𐠂}} (a-po-ro-ta-o-i, read right-to-left),<ref>{{cite book |page=80 |title=A Student's Commentary on Ovid's Metamorphoses Book 10 |first=Shawn David |last=O'Bryhim |publisher=[[Wiley (publisher)|Wiley-Blackwell]] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l5EvEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA80 |date=22 June 2021 |isbn=9781119770503}}</ref> {{Script|Cprt|𐠀𐠡𐠦𐠯𐠭𐠂}} (a-po-ro-ti-ta-i, samewise),<ref>{{cite web |title=The Cypriot Syllabic Script word a-po-ro-ti-ta-i |url=https://www.palaeolexicon.com/Word/Show/18235/ |website=palaeolexicon.com |access-date=24 April 2023}}</ref> and finally {{Script|Cprt|𐠀𐠡𐠦𐠯𐠪𐠈}} (a-po-ro-ti-si-jo, "{{linktext|Aphrodisian}}", "related to Aphrodite", in the context of a month).<ref>{{cite book |pages=135–136 |title=Kypriōn Politeia, the Political and Administrative Systems of the Classical Cypriot City-Kingdoms |first=Beatrice |last=Pestarino |isbn=9789004520332 |date=8 August 2022 |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a7uAEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA135}}</ref>