element has taken adjectival form (*neryo-). In the Vedas we find also the
nounnr
̇
mn
̇ám‘heroism, heroic deed’, and in Homer the phrase μνο or
μνε’α, νδρω
ν.^45
The strangest of the Greek formulae involving this noun is Tερ:ν μνο,
used periphrastically with a hero’s name in the genitive, Tερ:ν μνο
Lλκινο ́ οιο = Alcinous and the like. As in Ο, δυσση
ο Tερ^ A, Tερ^ _
Τηλεμα ́ χοιο, Tερω
ι $ν? δφρωι, Tερο ́ does not (or did not originally)
mean ‘holy’ but had a sense corresponding to that of Vedic is
̇
irá-, ‘strong,
impetuous’. The antiquity of the phrase is confirmed by the parallel of RV 8.
- 7 is
̇
irén
̇a... mánasa ̄‘with vigorous spirit’, as Kuhn already noticed in1853.^46
An implacable or unyielding person is said in Homer to have a heart of
bronze or iron, χα ́ λκεον 6τορIl. 2. 490; σιδ ρεο θυμο ́ 22. 357, 6τορ 24. 205,
521, κραδηOd. 4. 293; α, δα ́ μαντο θυμο ́ Hes. Op. 147; $ξ α, δα ́ μαντο N σιδα ́ ρου
κεχα ́ λκευται μλαιναν καρδαν Pind. fr. 123. 4. Similar images are common
in the Indian epics: MBh. 3. 28. 5 ‘he must have a heart of iron (a ̄yasam
̇
hr
̇
dayam), that man of evil deeds’, cf. Rm. 2. 17. 30, 35. 20. In MBh. 6. 15. 53
and 10. 1. 10 the adjective is adrisa ̄ramaya-‘of rocky nature’, in 6. 115. 4, 7. 8.
10 et al. as ́masa ̄ramaya-‘of stony nature’, in 12. 171. 23 and Rm. 2. 55. 9
vajrasa ̄ramaya-‘of adamantine nature’.
The striking Homeric expression $γλασσε δ οT φλον 6τορ (Il. 21.
389), $μ:ν δ’$γλασσε φλον κη
ρ (Od. 9. 413), ‘and his/my dear heart
laughed’, is used of someone who laughs internally on perceiving that things
have turned out as he hoped. It has a series of parallels in Germanic poetry. In
theÞrymskviða (31. 1–2), when Thor’s stolen hammer is laid in his lap as he
sits disguised as a bride, hló Hlórriða hugr í briósti, ‘Hlorridi’s (Thor’s) mind
laughed in his breast’. Attila’s does likewise when Gudrun’s chastity is proved
by ordeal (Guðrúnarkviða C 10. 1–2). So too in Old English: Beowulf 730 þa ̄
his mo ̄d a ̄hlo ̄g, ‘then his mind laughed’;Andreas 454 u ̄re mo ̄d a ̄hlo ̄h‘our
mind(s) laughed’;Solomon and Saturn B 336 næ ̄ ̄fre æ ̄ ̄r his ferhð a ̄hlo ̄g‘never
before (had) his spirit laughed’.
In the last chapter we met the ancient root wekw‘speak’ and the Graeco-
Aryan noun wekwes- (vácas-,#πο), used with particular reference to poetry.
Both in Vedic and in early Greek it can be characterized as ‘sweet’, and by the
same word, sva ̄dú-=]δ3, whose primary application is to sweet-tasting
things such as honey and mead. RV 1. 114. 6 idám... vácah
̇
sva ̄dóh
̇sva ̄ ́dı ̄yah
̇,
‘this utterance, sweeter than sweet’; 8. 24. 20 vácah
̇
ghr
̇ta ̄ ́t sva ̄ ́dı ̄yo mádhunas ́(^45) Schmitt (1967), 105–8; Durante (1976), 158.
(^46) Pisani (1969), 362; Schmitt (1967), 109–14; Durante (1976), 94 f. (with other parallel uses
ofis
̇
irá- and Tερο ́ ); Watkins (1995), 13.
- Phrase and Figure 89