Indo-European Poetry and Myth

vocative, the other appended in the nominative with the copula ca or τε
(both from *kwe): RV 1. 2. 5, 4. 47. 3 Va ̄ ́yav Índras ́ ca;Il. 3. 276 f. Ζε πα ́ τερ
Ιn δηθεν μεδων, κ3διστε μγιστε, | Η, λιο ́  θ,, i πα ́ ντ, $φορ|ι κα? πα ́ ντ,
$πακο3ει; Aesch. Sept. 140, Supp. 26; Ar. Nub. 264 f. p δσποτ, Eναξ,qμτρητ,
Lρ ... | λαμπρο ́  τ, Α!θρ,σεμνα τε θεα? Νεφλαι ... | Eρθητε,φα ́ νητε. It is as
if the one god is treated as being in the second person, and the other as in the
third: ‘O Vayu, hear, and (let) Indra (hear)’; a dual or plural verb normally
follows.^4
Occasionally the poet begins with a question: which god shall we honour?
Or: how shall we praise him?

kásya nu ̄nám

̇

, katamásya ̄mr ́

̇

ta ̄na ̄m

mána ̄mahe ca ́ ̄ru devásya na ́ ̄ma?...

Agnér vayám prathamásya ̄mr ́

̇

ta ̄na ̄m

mána ̄mahe ca ́ ̄ru devásya na ́ ̄ma.

Whose now, of which of the immortals

do we bring to mind the dear god-name?

... Of Agni first of the immortals we
bring to mind the dear god-name. (RV 1. 24. 1 f.; cf. 4. 43. 1 f.)
qναξιφο ́ ρμιγγε μνοι,
τνα θεο ́ ν,τν, kρωα,τνα δ, Eνδρα κελαδσομεν;
@τοι Πσα μCν ∆ιο ́ ,κτλ.
My lyre-mastering songs,
which god, which hero, and which man shall we resound?
Pisa belongs to Zeus, etc. (Pind. Ol. 2. 2, cf. fr. 29; Ar. Thesm. 104)
katha ̄ da ́ ̄s ́ema Agnáye? ka ́ ̄ asmai | devájus
̇
t
̇
a ̄ ucyate bha ̄míne gı ̄ ́h
̇
?
How should we sacrifice to Agni? What praise-song is uttered to the divine taste of
him, the shining one? (1. 77. 1; cf. 43. 1, 120. 1; 4. 24. 1, 41. 1)
π; τα ́ ρ σ, 0μνσω,πα ́ ντω εOυμνον $ο ́ ντα;
How shall I hymn you, fit subject as you are in every respect? (Hymn. Ap. 19 = 207)

Praise of the god’s status and powers

In most of the above examples, whether Vedic, Avestan, or Greek, the god’s
name is at once accompanied by honorific epithets in apposition. Further

(^4) Cf. Pind. Ol. 10. 3 p Μο4σ,, qλλw σ7 κα? θυγα ́ τηρ | Lλα ́ θεια ∆ιο ́ , %ρθ|ι χερ | $ρ3κετον
ψευδων $νιπwν qλιτο ́ ξενον;PMG 884. 4 Παλλw Τριτογνει, Eνασσ, Lθην|, | Zρθου τνδε πο ́ λιν

.. ., σ3 τε κα? πατρ; Berthold Delbrück, Syntaktische Forschungen (Halle 1871–88), iv. 28;
Renée Zwolanek, Va ̄ ́yav índras ́ca. Studien zu Anrufungsformen im Vedischen, Avestischen und
Griechischen (Munich 1970).
8. Hymns and Spells 307