It would be an omission to leave Samothrace
without revisiting the few cultural elements for which this island is best
known. The first is the cult of a group of enigmatic deities known as Cabeiri (Greek
Κάβειροι; Kabeiroi)[1].
They were closely associated with Hephaestus (god of fire, crafts, and
metallurgy) and celebrated in the north Aegean islands, especially in Samothrace and Thebes. It is thought that the origins of this cult may be pre-Greek or
non-Greek
The Kabeiroi come in various numbers
and various sexes in the literature. Since their cult was part of the mysteries
of Samothrace, their names and functions were kept secret. Or, because their
names and functions were never understood, the Kabeiroi were part of the
mystery around the Samothrace myth. There is, however, a couple of reports by Mnaseas
of Patara (or of Patrae; 3rd century BC) and Dionysodorus, two
historians of the Alexandrian Age, naming four deities, two male and two
female: Axieros (Αξίερος, associated with Demeter), Axiokersa (Αξιόκερσα,
Persephone), Axiokersos (Αξιόκερσος, Hades), Casmilos (Hermes). Casmilos
appears twice as such (Κασμίλος; Kasmilos), or as tonic variants of Καδμῖλος
(Kadmilos), Κάμιλλος (Kamillos; Camillus), or even as Κάδμος (Kadmos;
Cadmus), once each
These were variant attempts to name and
define the tubes and their connectors. Some authors had in mind a system of
irrigation pipes. Others talked about chimney tubes extending above (Samo-;
height) the fireplace (-thrace; burning coal). The letter K depicts a
narrow passage, a neck; K is |(, or |<. The A depicts a filling material,
such as water or smoke, passing through the neck. The B is a double P, i.e., a
double mouth representing the inlet and outlet orifice of the neck. Therefore,
KAB (kab-) is a narrow fillable passage with two orifices. The stem kab
forms the English word cab, a relatively narrow vehicle with two
doors (mouths, orifices), by the simple phonetic transliteration of K to C, |( to
(. The notion of shortness of space is also evident in English cabin,
cabinet, cabana, cabbage,
and caboose, while the length is
emphasized in cable, where cab- is followed by L. In
French, cabotage means transporting goods or passengers
between two points in the same country. This is also the function of pipes and
tubes to transfer material from one point of space to another. If we, next,
phonetically transliterate the Greek B into a V, we get a cave,
cavern, and cavity. But these objects
do not necessarily have two mouths (B) but one (V). With further phonetic or
semantic evolution, we get the French and English chambre
(or chamber, meaning sleeping room in French).
Returning to the Greek kab,
Hesychius glosses κάβις (kabis) as στενοχωρία (stenochōria;
steno-chōr-ia), narrow-space, from στενοχωρέω (stenochōreō; steno-chōr-eō),
to be straitened, confined (steno is narrow; chōr-os is space).
He also glosses a few other kab- words that provide keys to the meaning
of the stem and its derivatives. The verb καβλέει (kableei;
or καβλέω; kableō) means to gulp, swallow, swallow down.
Knowing that ἀλέω (aleō) is to grind, bruise, chew – hence ἄλημα
(alema; fine food) as well as English aliment and alimony
– the stem kab refers to the upper digestive tube. He explains κάββλημα
(kabblēma) as bed cover, counterpane, coverlet.
Like περίβλημα (periblēma; garment, cover, outer fitting), kabblēma
uses the verb βάλλω (ballō) in the sense of casting, putting, placing, laying
down, putting on, putting round. Therefore, kabblēma is a cover,
carefully cast, put around something.
Then, κάβηλος (kabēlos)
is who has had his foreskin circumcised, pulled back or apart (ἀπεσκολυμμένον; ἐσκολυμμένον
= ἀποσεσυρμένον; torn away, torn flesh, laid bare, stripped, skimmed off) or
one who has simply pulled his genital area (upper legs) apart. The ending
morpheme of this word stands alone as ἧλος (‘ēlos; archaic Greek ϝēlos),
Aeolic ϝάλλος (ϝallos), Doric ἇλος (‘alos; ϝalos), all
meaning stud. The Aeolic version, ϝallos, pronounced /valos/ or /falos/,
was probably the ancestor of φαλλός (phallos), phallus, as well
as of the Alexandrian καβάλλης (kaballēs), nag, Latin caballus,
and its European cognates, e.g., English cavalry, French cheval
(horse), Spanish caballo (horse), Modern Greek καβάλα (kabala),
on horseback, καβάλος (kabalos), the point of the pants
that surrounds and covers the genitals, and so on. The area of the
genitals, which characteristically tears apart for riding a horse, takes its
connotation from the penis, the only evident tubular (kab) organ of the
human body. The penis is also surrounded and covered by tubular
skin (kabblēma). In all these words, the central and most
ancient sememe, the tube, is described by the letters KAB: narrow (K) +
fillable (A) + double mouth (PP > B).
The very name of the Greek K, Kappa, starts
with the letter itself followed by -APPA. This sequence of characters is a
palindrome, reading the same forward and backward. If K is a tube, AP is its
inlet orifice (mouth, lip), and PA is its outlet. The AP/PA case is a simple
example of antonymy by inversion. The double P can also be written as B, as is
the case of kab, or as Φ, Ϲ|Ͻ, Ϙ, Q, q-p, to emphasize the
symmetric relation of the two orifices (mouths). This representation gives KAΦ,
which is similar to the name for the letter Q, archaic Ϙ, and the equivalent K,
in several Semitic languages – in Hebrew, qāf or qōph meant nape,
the back of the neck
For the name of the North Aegean deities, Kabeiroi
(Cabeiri; singular Kabeiros), Hesychius says it means καρκίνοι[2]
(karkinoi; singular karkinos; cancer) and explains that they were
sons of Hephaestus honored as deities
Was the tool named after the animal, or was
the animal named after the tool? It is tempting to choose the first answer. The
animal always existed, and man must have had a name for it before the tool was
invented. Maybe the tool was inspired by the crab pliers. If the animal was
named after the tool, however, the name did not exist before the invention of
the pliers. It is evident that people who have never seen a crab do not
have a name for it. Even those who have seen and eaten crabs do not need a name for them. We see a crab, catch it, crash it, eat it, finish the
story. Even a tube could not have been named before the invention of a drawing
and writing system. Why would anyone utter /kab/ to
indicate a tube if kab means tube? Why would anyone use the same utterance for a tube and a
crab? The solution lies in the second morpheme of Kabeiroi, -eir-,
from the verb εἴρω (eirō).
The Homeric verb εἴρω
(eirō) is glossed as having three distinct, yet semantically
interconnected meanings[6].
The first is to fasten together in rows, series (σειρά; seira;
meaning cord, rope, trace, a bandage, tail, edge, border, line, lineage,
series), to string, insert. It is frequently used in the context of speech and
wording to string (words) together or in a continuous, running style, i.e., not antithetic, with balanced periods, etc. It has also been attested, however, in a context of water transport as τὸ εὖ εἰρόμενον (to ey eiromenon),
a connected water (see section Ey)
system[7].
Note also that the aorist of εἴρω (eirō) is ἔρσα (ersa),
a stem that forms the endings of two of the Cabeiri names, Axiokersa and
Axiokersos. The other two meanings are related to speech, to say, speak,
tell, or ask, also implying the connection of speech elements in series.
Therefore, the Cabeiri were tube or pipe (kab) connectors. The elements
of the myth can serve for testing this hypothesis.
According to some versions of the myth, the
mother of the Cabeiri was Καβειρώ (Kabeirō; kab-eirō),
the tube-fastening-in-series, which was the motive for inventing pipe
connectors. If Hephaestus, (the god of) metallurgy or the (protector of)
metallurgist, was their father, then the Cabeiri were metallic pieces. If
their mother was Electra, the bright fire, and their father was Zeus, the
rainwater (see section Zeus – the
rain), the Cabeiri were made of cast iron, which requires melting,
casting, and cooling. Cooling is an essential part of cast iron manufacturing.
The cooling speed determines the microstructure of the iron alloy and the
properties of the final product, such as hardness, toughness, and resistance to
oxidation. Water (Zeus) is used as a cooler when rapid cooling is required.
Cooling solidifies the metal. Solidification may be perceived as stagnation,
inactivation, a condition that has been called Lemnos in The Iliad of
Homer (see section Paris and
Philoctetes). This is probably why the Cabeiri were 'celebrated' at (the
island of) Lemnos. The mytheme means that the cast iron pipe connectors were
finished (celebrated) when dipped in water (the island of). But, before then,
they were celebrated at Samothrace, i.e., at the top of the bright charcoal
fire (Mother Electra) where the iron ore was melted and mixed with carbon (anthrax;
see section Samothrace).
Another place where the Cabeiri were much appreciated (celebrated) was Boeotia,
the building industry (see section Peleus
– the clay). The earliest cast-iron artifacts were found in Jiangsu, China, dating to the 5th century BC. In ancient China, cast iron was used for architecture, agriculture, and warfare
The individual names of the Cabeiri and
their associations with other known deities indicate the shape, arrangement,
and function of the corresponding pipe components and connectors. The first, Αξίερος
(Axieros), is associated with Demeter. Demeter is deciphered here as the
irrigation network (see section Demeter
and Ares – irrigation and defense). Axieros consists of the morphemes ax,
ier, and the widespread ending os. As an independent
pronoun, the ὅς (os) means he who,
the thing that (see section Vowels
and diphthongs). As soon becomes apparent, A is used as filling most of
the time. The ‘Phoenician’ Tāw (X) has almost always meant a point, a
mark, and gave rise to Greek Chi (X) and Ksi (Ξ, Latin X). It will also
be argued that ἱέραξ (‘ierax; hierax;
falcon), designates the vertical dimension, a fall (see section Anthropomorphism). It
starts with an aspirate diacritic (‘) as a sign of omission, deficiency,
hardship (ellipse; ellipsis, ἔλλειψις). Axieros bears the same morphemes in
opposite arrangement, ‘ier-ax | ax-ier-. Let us try this. If the
vertical fall of the falcon for caching its prey is described as vertical fall
(‘IER) + filling, feeding, prey (A) + point (X), then, Axieros would mean the
filling, feeding (A) + point (X) + vertical fall (IER) + thing (OS). The
concepts are graphically opposed in Fig. 1.
The A-shaped part represents the point of
value (water, food, etc.) combined with the vertical axis (|, I). In Axieros, the container (A) is at the top, and the content can fall freely. In ‘ierax (the falcon), the
predator performs a free fall to catch its prey. A may be seen, here, as an arrow.
We may also note another type of antonymy by inversion. As it turns out, the
IER fall is not free. The falcon (‘ierax ) does not fall
freely but actively, in an exact way and for an exact purpose. The
reverse reading of IER gives REI, which is found in the verb ῥείω (reiō),
to flow, stream, fall, drop off, to be in perpetual flux, run (of ink)[9],
leak. Also, ῥεῖα (reia) means easily, lightly, pleasantly. Falling from
the top (R) is effortless, whereas lifting to the top or stopping the flow requires effort. R is the letter signifying the top in all its senses (see section R). When R starts a stem,
things happen downwards, from top-down. Things go upwards towards the top when it is found at the end of a stem. In the case of Ax-ier-os, the valuable
object (water) does not run freely; that would be REI. Instead, it is prevented
from flowing, a task that requires effort (IER). Axieros is, thus, explained as
a flow stopper that creates a reservoir. A water reservoir formed with the aid
of a stopper (Axieros) is obviously associated with an active irrigation system
(Demeter; see section Demeter and
Ares -irrigation and defense), as the mytheme explains. Of course, all these
may be taken only as informed hypotheses until evidence adds up.
While εἴρω (eirō; aorist ersa)
means to fasten things together in a row, connect, κείρω (keirō;
aorist ekersa) means to cut short, shear, clip, crop, cut down, pull
things apart, disconnect. Here, K plays the semantic role of shortening,
reducing, )(. The ax morpheme of Axiokersa is the same
as in Axieros, the filling (A) point (X), the A-container
or reservoir filled with water, food, or other distributed goods. The kersa
morpheme means shortening. The central morpheme, io, is an I/O, on/off,
open/closed (line) control. Thus, Axiokersa, read as Ax-I/O- k-ersa would signify a device by which a flow from a pipe or container can be
controlled, a tap, faucet, stopcock, valve, or the like. Axiokersos is a very
similar object in terms of function but differs from Axiokersa in design. Axiokersa is associated with Persephone, the filtered, short,
dripping, tap water (see sections Aphrodite
and Adonis – the sand and the filter and Demeter and Ares -irrigation
and defense), while Axiokersos is associated with Hades, the soil (see section Hades – the soil).
Axiokersa is for home use, and Axiokersos is for soil irrigation.
Axiokersa is female; the tube passes through it. Axiokersos is male; it is
inserted into a pipe. All three devices, Axieros, Axiokersa, and Axiokersos,
are cast metal (bronze or iron). Their brother, Casmilos, seems to be a
different kind of object.
References
Beekes, Robert S P. 2004. “The Origin of the Kabeiroi.” Mnemosyne 57 (4): 465–77.
Bonfante, Giuliano. 1955. “A Note on the Samothracian Language.” Hesperia 24 (2): 101–9.
Hesychius, and Moritz Schmidt. 1867. Hesychii Alexandrini lexicon. Editio alt. Jenae: Sumptibus Hermanni Dufftii (Libraria Maukiana).
Wagner, Donald B. 1993. Iron and Steel in Ancient China. Vol. 9. Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 4 China Series. Leiden: Brill.
Wood, Travers, and Henry Craven Ord Lanchester. 1913. A Hebrew Grammar. London: K. Paul, Trench, Trübner & Company.
“Κάβειροι.” n.d. In Wikipedia (Greek version). Wikimedia Foundation.
[9] Sometimes ink does not run freely but, in the context of ink, run
suggests that ink is meant to do so.