Editing Demeter (section)

== Etymology ==
Demeter may appear in [[Linear A]] as ''da-ma-te'' on three documents ([[Arkalochori|AR]] Zf 1 and 2, and [[Kythera|KY]] Za 2), all three dedicated to religious situations and all three bearing just the name (''i-da-ma-te'' on AR Zf 1 and 2).<ref>Y. Duhoux, "LA > B da-ma-te=Déméter? Sur la langue du linéaire A," Minos
29/30 (1994–1995): 289–294.</ref> It is unlikely that Demeter appears as ''da-ma-te'' in a [[Linear B]] ([[Mycenean Greek]]) inscription ([[Pylos|PY]] En 609); the word {{lang|gmy|{{script|Linb|𐀅𐀔𐀳}}}}, ''da-ma-te'', probably refers to "households".<ref>Y. Duhoux and A. Morpurgo-Davies, Companion to Linear B, vol. 2 (2011), p. 26. But see Ventris/Chadwick, ''Documents in Mycenean Greek'', p. 242, B.Dietriech (2004), ''The origins of the Greek religion'', Bristol Phoenix Press, p. 172</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=da-ma-te |url=http://minoan.deaditerranean.com/resources/linear-b-sign-groups/da/da-ma-te/|website=Deaditerranean. Minoan Linear A & Mycenaean Linear B |access-date=13 March 2014 |archive-date=18 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160318004206/http://minoan.deaditerranean.com/resources/linear-b-sign-groups/da/da-ma-te/ |url-status=dead}} {{cite web |website=minoan.deaditerranean.com |url=https://www2.hf.uio.no/damos/Index/item/chosen_item_id/4560 |publisher=[[University of Oslo]] |title=PY 609 En (1)}}</ref> On the other hand, {{lang|gmy|{{script|Linb|𐀯𐀵𐀡𐀴𐀛𐀊}}}}, ''si-to-po-ti-ni-ja'', "[[Potnia]] of the Grain", is regarded as referring to her [[Bronze Age]] predecessor or to one of her [[epithet]]s.<ref>Inscription [[Mycenae|MY]] Oi 701.{{cite web |title=si-to-po-ti-ni-ja|url=http://minoan.deaditerranean.com/resources/linear-b-sign-groups/si/si-to-po-ti-ni-ja/ |website=minoan.deaditerranean.com |access-date=13 March 2014 |archive-date=20 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160320181315/http://minoan.deaditerranean.com/resources/linear-b-sign-groups/si/si-to-po-ti-ni-ja/ |url-status=dead}}{{cite web |publisher=minoan.deaditerranean.com |url=http://www.palaeolexicon.com/ShowWord.aspx?Id=16929 |title=The Linear B word si-to}} {{cite web |website=/www2.hf.uio.no |url=https://www2.hf.uio.no/damos/Index/item/chosen_item_id/5609 |publisher=[[University of Oslo]] |title=MY 701 Oi (63)}} Cf. {{lang|grc|σῖτος, Σιτώ}}.</ref>

Demeter's character as [[mother-goddess]] is identified in the second element of her name ''meter'' ({{lang|grc|μήτηρ}}) derived from [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] (PIE) ''*méh₂tēr'' (mother).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/mother|title=mother &#124; Origin and meaning of mother by Online Etymology Dictionary|website=etymonline.com}}</ref> In antiquity, different explanations were already proffered for the first element of her name. It is possible that ''Da'' ({{lang|grc|Δᾶ}}),<ref>{{LSJ|da{{=}}2|Δᾶ|shortref}}.</ref> a word which corresponds to ''Gē'' ({{lang|grc|Γῆ}}) in Attic, is the Doric form of ''De'' ({{lang|grc|Δῆ}}), "earth", the old name of the [[chthonic]] earth-goddess, and that Demeter is "Mother-Earth".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/demeter|title=demeter &#124; Origin and meaning of the name demeter by Online Etymology Dictionary|website=etymonline.com}}</ref> Liddell & Scott find this "improbable" and Beekes writes, "there is no indication that [''da''] means "earth", although it has also been assumed in the name of Poseidon found in the Linear B inscription ''E-ne-si-da-o-ne'', "earth-shaker".<ref>{{LSJ|*dhmh/thr|Δημήτηρ|ref|mLSJ}}.</ref><ref name="Beekes">[[R. S. P. Beekes]]. ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'', Brill, 2009, p. 324.</ref><ref>[http://www.csun.edu/~hcfll004/mycen.html Adams, John Paul, ''Mycenean divinities''] – List of handouts for California State University Classics 315. Retrieved 7 March 2011.</ref> [[John Chadwick]] also argues that the ''dā'' element in the name of Demeter is not so simply equated with "earth".<ref>Chadwick, ''The Mycenaean World'', Cambridge University Press, 1976, p. 87) "Every Greek was aware of the maternal functions of Demeter; if her name bore the slightest resemblance to the Greek word for 'mother', it would inevitably have been deformed to emphasize that resemblance. [...] How did it escape transformation into ''*Gāmātēr'', a name transparent to any Greek speaker?" Compare the Latin transformation ''[[Jupiter (mythology)|Iuppiter]]'' and ''Diespiter'' vis-a-vis ''*Deus pater''.</ref>

[[Martin Litchfield West|M. L. West]] has proposed that the word Demeter, initially ''Damater'', could be a borrowing from an Illyrian deity attested in the [[Messapian language|Messapic]] goddess ''Damatura'', with a form ''dā-'' ("earth", from PIE ''*dʰǵʰ(e)m-'') attached to -''matura'' ("mother"), akin to the Illyrian god [[Deipaturos|Dei-paturos]] (''dei-'', "sky", attached to -''paturos,'' "father"). The Lesbian form ''Dō-'' may simply reflect a different colloquial pronunciation of the non-Greek name.<ref>West 2007, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZXrJA_5LKlYC&pg=PA176 p. 176]: "The ∆α-, however, cannot be explained from Greek. But there is a Messapic Damatura or Damatira, and she need not be dismissed as borrowing from Greek; she matches the Illyrian Deipaturos both in the agglutination and in the transfer to the thematic declension (-os, -a). (It is noteworthy that sporadic examples of a thematically declined ∆ημήτρα are found in inscriptions.) Damater/Demeter could therefore be borrowing from Illyrian. An Illyrian Dā- may be derived from ''*Dʰǵʰ(e)m-''"</ref>

Another theory suggests that the element ''De''- might be connected with ''Deo'', an epithet of Demeter<ref>[[Orphic Hymn]] 40 to Demeter (translated by Thomas Taylor: "O universal mother Deo famed, august, the source of wealth and various names".</ref> and it could derive from the [[Crete|Cretan]] word ''dea'' ({{lang|grc|δηά}}), Ionic ''zeia'' ({{lang|grc|ζειά}})—variously identified with [[emmer]], [[spelt]], [[rye]], or other grains by modern scholars—so that she is the mother and the giver of food generally.<ref>Compare sanskr. yava, lit. yavai, Δά is probably derived from δέFα :Martin Nilsson, ''Geschichte der Griechischen Religion'', vol. I (Verlag C.H.Beck) pp 461–462.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/prolegomenatostu00harr|title=Prolegomena to the study of Greek religion|last=Harrison|first=Jane Ellen|date=5 September 1908|publisher=Cambridge [Eng.] : The University press|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> This view is shared by British scholar [[Jane Ellen Harrison]], who suggests that Démeter's name means ''Grain-Mother'', instead of ''Earth-Mother''.<ref name="sacred-texts.com">{{Cite web|url=https://sacred-texts.com/cla/mgr/mgr14.htm|title=Myths of Greece and Rome: Demeter and Persephone (Ceres and Proserpine)|website=sacred-texts.com}}</ref>

An alternative Proto-Indo-European etymology comes through Potnia and [[Despoina]], where ''Des-'' represents a derivative of [[PIE]] ''*dem'' (house, dome), and Demeter is "mother of the house" (from PIE ''*dems-méh₂tēr'').<ref>Frisk, ''Griechisches Etymological Woerterbuch''. Entry 1271</ref> [[R. S. P. Beekes]] rejects a Greek interpretation, but not necessarily an Indo-European one.<ref name="Beekes" />