Cho. 449; Hor. Epod. 17. 53 quid obseratis auribus fundis preces?; Virg. Aen. 5.
234, 6. 55.^51
Where we would say ‘for two days’, ‘for three days’, it is typical of Indo-
European narrative to say ‘forn nights and n days’, or ‘forn days and n
nights’.^52 It is remarkable, moreover, how often the number is three; this is a
formulaic period in Indo-Iranian, Celtic, and Slavonic. Thus RV 1. 116. 4
tisráh
̇
ks
̇ápas trír áha ̄‘for three nights (and) three days’;MBh. 3. 12. 4 tribhir
ahora ̄traih
̇
, 3. 61. 57 trı ̄n ahora ̄tra ̄n;^53 in Avestan, Yt. 5. 62, 10. 122 θri.ayarəm
θri.xsˇapanəm (at 10. 122 also bi.ayarəm bi.xsˇapanəm); in Greek, Od. 17. 515
τρε4 ... ν3κτα ... τρα δ’@ματα (with other numbers: 9. 74, 10. 142,
Hes. Op. 612); in Armenian, Sassountsy David 130, 136 ‘they fought for three
days and three nights’ (cf., with other numbers, 13, 28, 59, al.); in Old Irish,
Erchoitmed ingine Gulidi 10 trí lá 7 teora aidhchi,^54 cf. Táin (I) 1009, 2112/
2136, 3297, Táin bó Fraích 124, 135 Meid, Aislinge Áenguso pp. 52, 63 Shaw,
etc.; in a Welsh chronicle, Annales Cambriae sub anno 516, tribus diebus et
tribus noctibus; in a Russian bylina, Chadwick (1932), 38 lines 28, 33, 53, etc.;
in Serbo-Croat epic, pa tri dana i tri noc ́i ravne‘for three days and three whole
nights’.^55
Another noteworthy idiom relating to time is ‘all days’, meaning ‘day
after day’, often with the connotation of ‘for ever’. So in RV 1. 52. 11, 171. 3
áha ̄ni vís ́va ̄, cf. 3. 54. 22, 5. 41. 4, al.; Y. 43. 2 vı ̄spa ̄ aya ̄rə ̄;Il. 8. 539 (and often)
@ματα πα ́ ντα;Heiðreks gátur 19 (Edd. min. 113, Hervarar saga 10) of alla
daga.^56
The noise and shouting of the Homeric battle is described as reaching up to
heaven: Il. 12. 338 α, ϋτ^ δ’ ο1ραν:ν <κεν, cf. 14. 60; 13. 837 (χ^ δ’
α, μφοτρων κετ’α!θρα κα? ∆ι: α1γα ́ ; so of Ajax by himself, 15. 686
φων^ δ οT α!θρ’ κανεν. Similarly in the Indian epics: MBh. 5. 197. 8
divam iva ̄spr
̇
s ́at, the noise ‘touched the sky as it were’, cf. 6. 52. 22; 8. 7. 6;
‘rose up to highest heaven’,Rm. 2. 83. 15. In Irish saga too cries are ‘heard
even to the clouds of heaven’, and it is the same in Serbo-Croat epic: ljuto
pisnu, do neba se c ́uje, ‘she screamed in anger, and her cry reached the
heavens’;ode huka ispod oblakova, ‘the sound rose to the clouds’.^57
(^51) L. Kurke, JIES 17 (1989), 113–25.
(^52) So too in Hebrew, cf. West (1997), 241.
(^53) Ahora ̄tra- is a compound meaning ‘day + night’.
(^54) Ed. Kuno Meyer, Hibernica Minora (Oxford 1894), 67.
(^55) Salih Ugljanin, SCHS ii, no. 10. 30, cf. no. 13. 287. As I shall cite Salih elsewhere, it may be
noted here that he was originally trained as a singer in the Albanian tradition; he only learned
Serbo-Croat at the age of 30.
(^56) There is a similar expression in Hebrew: kol-hayya ̄mîm, ‘all the days’.
(^57) Aided Con Chulainn (version 2) 20 p. 88. 28 van Hamel; Salih Ugljanin, Song of Baghdad
(SCHS ii, no. 1) 1239; ibid. no. 18. 347.
- Phrase and Figure 91