If he has seen something with his eyes,
or taken something with his hand,
or trodden something with his powerful foot. (CTH 760 V iv 1ff.)^133
Diyaúr, Vána ̄, Giráyo vr
̇ks
̇ákes ́a ̄h
̇.
The Sky, the Forests, the Mountains tree-tressed. (RV 5. 41. 11)
Tvás
̇t
̇a ̄, Savita ́ ̄, suyáma ̄ Sárasvatı ̄
Tvas
̇
tr
̇
, Savitr
̇
, easy-guided Sarasvatı ̄. (RV 9. 81. 4)
Daitya ̄na ̄m
̇Da ̄nava ̄nam
̇ca Yaks
̇a ̄n
̇a ̄m
̇ca mahaujasa ̄m.
Daitya ̄na and Da ̄nava ̄na and Yaks
̇
a ̄n
̇
a ̄ of great might. (MBh. 1. 2. 76)
Βη
σσα ́ ν τε Σκα ́ ρφην τε κα? Α1γεα $ρατεινα ́ .
Bessa and Skarphe and lovely Augeae. (Il. 2. 532)
Heoroga ̄r ond Hro ̄ðgar ond Ha ̄lga til.
Heorogar, Hrothgar, and Halga the good. (Beowulf 61)
Vara sandr né sær né svalar unnir.
There was not sand nor sea nor the cool waves. (Vo ̨luspá 3)
No ̄e, Ladru Lergnaid, luath Cuar.
Nóe, Ladru Lergnaid, the swift Cuar. (Campanile (1988), 29 no. 6. 3)
Simtiem dzina govis, ve ̄rs ˇus, | simtiem be ̄rus kumelin ̧us.
Par centaines elle menait les vaches, les taureaux,
par centaines les bruns chevaux. (LD 33957; Jonval (1929), no. 144)
Lı ̄go bite, lı ̄go saule, | lı ̄go mana lı ̄gavin ̧a.
Sing, bee, sing, sun, | sing, O my bride. (LD 53542)In the Indian, Greek, Germanic, and Celtic traditions we often find such
triadic lines within longer catalogues of names. Catalogues are typical of
heroic poetry, as they are of genealogical and other antiquarian verse. They
may have been a feature of Indo-European heroic poetry, and the augmented
triad a traditional device in them.
But triads also appear where there is no longer list but just a trio of names.
Sometimes it is explicitly noted that the last name is the third: Il. 14. 117
‘Agrios and Melas, and horseman Oineus was the third’, cf. 15. 188;
Campanile (1988), 33 no. 17. 3 f. ‘from a branch of Galian’s line (came) Find
fer Umaill (i.e. Find and his father Umall); an active hero was Trénmór as
third’;^134 Grípisspá 37. 3–4 ‘Gunnarr and Ho ̨ gni and you, prince, as third’.
(^133) Quoted by Watkins (1995), 251. (^134) So emended by Campanile, 57.
118 2. Phrase and Figure