Editing Poseidon (section)

== Etymology ==
The earliest attested occurrence of the name, written in [[Linear B]], is {{lang|gmy|{{script|Linb|𐀡𐀮𐀅𐀃}}}} ''Po-se-da-o'' or {{lang|gmy|{{script|Linb|𐀡𐀮𐀅𐀺𐀚}}}} ''Po-se-da-wo-ne'',<ref name=Posedao>Minoan.Deaditerranean [https://web.archive.org/web/20160318115428/http://minoan.deaditerranean.com/resources/linear-b-sign-groups/po/po-se-da-o/ po-se-da-o]</ref> which correspond to {{lang|grc|Ποσειδάων}} (''Poseidaōn'') and {{lang|grc|Ποσειδάϝoνος}} (''Poseidawοnos'') in [[Mycenean Greek]]; in [[Homeric Greek]], it appears as {{lang|grc|Ποσιδάων}} (''Posidaōn''); in [[Aeolic Greek|Aeolic]], as {{lang|grc|Ποτε(ι)δάων}} (''Pote(i)daōn''); in [[Doric Greek|Doric]], as {{lang|grc|Ποτειδάν}} (''Poteidan'') and {{lang|grc|Ποτειδᾶς}} (''Poteidas''); in [[Arcadocypriot Greek|Arcadic]], as {{lang|grc|Ποσoιδᾱν}} (''Posoidan''). In inscriptions with [[Laconia|Laconic]] style from [[Taenarum (town)|Tainaron]], [[Helos]] and [[Thuria (Messenia)|Thuria]] as {{lang|grc|Ποὁιδάν}} (''Pohoidan''), indicating that the [[Dorians]] took the name from the older population.<ref name=Poseidawn>Nilsson,''Geschichte'' Vol I, 444-445</ref> The form {{lang|grc|Ποτειδάϝων}} (''Poteidawōn'') appears in Corinth.<ref name=LSJ_Poseidon>{{cite web|author=Liddell & Scott |work=[[A Greek-English Lexicon]] |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D*poseidw%3Dn |title=Ποσειδῶν |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121009114528/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text? |archive-date=9 October 2012}}</ref>

The origins of the name "Poseidon" are unclear and the possible etymologies are contradictive among the scholars. One theory breaks it down into an element meaning "husband" or "lord" (Greek {{lang|grc|πόσις}} (''posis''), from [[PIE]] ''*pótis'') and another element meaning "earth" ''({{lang|grc|δᾶ}}'' (''da''), Doric for {{lang|grc|γῆ}} (''gē'')), producing something like lord or spouse of ''Da'', i.e. of the earth; this would link him with [[Demeter]], "Earth-mother".<ref>Pierre Chantraine ''Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue grecque'' Paris 1974–1980 4th s.v.; Lorenzo Rocci ''Vocabolario Greco-Italiano'' Milano, Roma, Napoli 1943 (1970) s.v.</ref> [[Walter Burkert|Burkert]] finds that "the second element ''δᾶ-'' remains hopelessly ambiguous" and finds a "husband of Earth" reading "quite impossible to prove".<ref name=Burkert1985Poseidon/> According to [[Robert S. P. Beekes|Beekes]] in ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'', "there is no indication that ''δᾶ'' means 'earth'",<ref>[[R. S. P. Beekes|Beekes]]. ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'', Brill, 2009, p. 324</ref> although the root ''da'' appears in the [[Linear B]] inscription ''E-ne-si-da-o-ne'', "earth-shaker".<ref name="Burkert1985Poseidon" /><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>

Another theory interprets the second element as related to the (presumed) Doric word *δᾶϝον ''dâwon'', "water", Proto-Indo-European ''*dah₂-'' "water" or ''*dʰenh₂-'' "to run, flow", Sanskrit दन् ''dā́-nu-'' "fluid, drop, dew" and names of rivers such as [[Danube]] (< ''*Danuvius'') or [[Don (river)|Don]]. This would make *''Posei-dawōn'' into the master of waters.<ref>Michael Janda, pp. 256–258.</ref><ref name=Poseidawn/>

[[Plato]] in his dialogue [[Cratylus (dialogue)|Cratylus]] gives two traditional etymologies: either the sea restrained Poseidon when walking as a "foot-bond" (ποσίδεσμον), or he "knew many things" (πολλά εἰδότος or πολλά εἰδῶν).<ref>Plato, ''[[Cratylus (dialogue)|Cratylus]]'', 402d–402e</ref>

[[Robert S. P. Beekes|Beekes]] suggests that the word has probably a [[Pre-Greek]] origin.<ref>Beekes, ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'', p. 324.</ref> The original form was probably the [[Mycenean Greek]] {{lang|grc|Ποτ(σ)ειδάϝων}} (''Pot(s)eidawōn''). "The inervocalic aspiration suggests a Pre Greek (Pelasgian) origin rather than an Indoeuropean one".<ref>van der Toorn, Karel; Becking, Bob; van der Horst, Pieter Willem (1999), Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible (second ed.), Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdman's Publishing Company, {{ISBN|0-8028-2491-9}}: [https://books.google.com/books?id=yCkRz5pfxz0C] p.659</ref>