HLEKTRA Electra
HLE astray, distraught, crazed, agitate
HLEK slow? (KELH fast), *slow
HLEKT beaming
sun, fire element, heat
LEK flat
dish, pot, pan, container
LEKT collect, put together, mix
EKT quality, except, accomplish
EKTRA wickerwork
EKTRA- make rough, ruin, pervert, lose
control
HLEKTRON Electron, amber
HLE astray, distraught, crazed, diffraction
LEKTR lying or leaning back, position in bed
LEKTRON couch, bed, double bed
EKTRO turn
KTRON stick,
strickle, wiper
EKTRA- make rough, ruin, pervert, lose
control
This is an example of iconic reading. Instead of giving up semantics and considering an unknown word to be a proper name, we should read letters like we do with cuneiform pictograms (see section The first writings). At first glance, Electra (Ēlektra; HLEKTRA) differs from ἤλεκτρον (ēlektron; amber, gold-silver alloy; HLEKTRON) only in gender, as specified by the ending morpheme; Ēlektra is feminine, ēlektron is neuter. Did the Greeks use a feminine form of ēlektron only to marry Zeus? This hypothesis would be simplistic. Amber and gold-silver alloys have similar pale yellow or yellowish-white colors. Perhaps, Electra had a similar color. Let us read HLEKTRA (Electra) stem by stem.
HL is the root of the verb ἠλαίνω (ēlainō)
with -ainō being a common verb ending morpheme. This verb means to wander,
stray, flit about, move swiftly and lightly, move about rapidly and nimbly. Therefore,
HL implies an adept movement. HLE also forms ἠλεός (ēleos),
distraught, deeply upset, agitated. Again, the -os ending has no specific meaning in Greek, other than the thing that, the person who, etc. By adding up these sememes, we get a
skillful agitation.
HLEK forms only one independent word –
where the stem is not followed by T - ἠλεκάτη (ēlekatē).
Unfortunately, this word has not been explained, but the meaning of the stem
can be predicted as an antonym of the inverse stem KELH, which forms κέλης (kelēs),
courser, riding-horse, or fast-sailing yacht, implying a certain speed. If KELH
implies speed, HLEK may be assumed to imply slow motion. If we add slow motion
to the sememes HL and HLE from the above paragraph, we have a slow, skillful
agitation.
HLEKT forms ἠλέκτωρ (ēlektōr),
the only word where the stem is not followed by R. This word means beaming sun,
fire as an element, both implying heating. So far, we have gathered slow, skillful agitation
and heating.
LEK gives many independent words (with LEK
not followed by T). The shortest or most frequent are λέκος (lekos)
or λεκάνη (lekanē), dish, pot, pan, λέκιθος (lekithos),
gruel or yolk of an egg, and λέκαιος (lekaios), accomplished,
come into being, completed, made through Hesychius' explanation from the verb τέλλω
(tellō). From gruel and egg yolk, we get a texture and viscosity notion. Thus,
we are reading: slow, skillful agitation and heating in a pot to accomplish a
gruel-like or yolk-like consistency (like making a bechamel sauce).
LEKT is the root of λεκτός (lektos),
gathered, chosen, picked out, capable of being spoken, to be spoken, predication,
later, expression, phrase including statements, questions, commands, wishes,
etc.). It comes from the Homeric verb λέγω (legō), to gather, pick up, choose
for oneself, pick out, count, tell, select, collect (also compare English elect or negative-lect, neglect; neg-lect). After
Homer, legō acquired notions of selection and collection
of words, meanings, expressions, phrases, and thoughts, say, speak, recite
what is written, maintain as a thesis, recollect, reflect, lecture,
and the nouns dialect and intellect. I think the notions
to keep from LEKT in the context of Electra are those of retaining, selecting, and collecting a list of ingredients written down and recited as an
authoritative command, i.e., a prescription.
LEKTR forms λέκτρον (lektron),
couch, bed; later, marriage-bed (double bed), the fruit of marriage, a child. A
cognate of lektron is used in the phrase λεκτρίτῃ θρόνῳ (at a pliable throne)
glossed by Hesychius as a throne that is bending back, has a back to lean
against. We have an object with two parts permanently bound
together to form a single flexible assembly. We thus get the notion of a bed, an essential sememe of medicine, as well as the notion of permanent pliable
bonding as in furniture, machines, and polymers.
EKT and EKTR contribute their sememes to lectron (couch, bed) and Electra. The former forms
many compound words containing the prefix ἐκ- (ek-; out, out of, forth
from, from, after, upon, away, off) to express completion, like the English utterly.
Among the most frequent, ἕκτος ('ektos) means sixth. The sixth
finger is connected to the fifth but indirectly and from a distance. The
link has some freedom and flexibility because the sixth finger can move
independently, to some degree, from the fifth. The verb ἐκτείνω (ekteinō)
means to stretch out, spread out, straighten, prolong, put to the entire stretch,
extend, ἐκτίνω (ektinō), to pay off, pay in full, ἐκτίθημι
(ektithēmi), to set out, place outside, set up, exhibit, expose,
and ἐκτελέω (ekteleō), bring to an end, accomplish,
achieve, fulfill. In lektron, the double bed, ekt conveys the notion of opening
the pliable parts of a convertible couch. In Electra, it evokes the extension
of polymer molecules as new sugar units are bound together until the completion of
the polymerization reaction. Of course, the ancients were unaware of polymer
chemistry, but who knows? EKT lent its sememes
to modern extension chemistry terms, whatever it meant in antiquity.
EKTR gives ἐκτρέφω (ektrephō)
meaning to bring up from childhood, rear up, nourish, bring to birth, ἐκτρέπω (ektrepō),
to turn out of the course, turn aside, turn a person off the road, order a
person out of the way, turn away, turn, change, ἐκτρέχω (ektrechō),
to run off or away, spring up, grow, exceed, be born of, expire, come to an end. A few other cognates share the sememes out of, beyond, aside. Such sememes apply to the double beds for married couples and polymer
soups.
EKTRA is perhaps the most surprising morpheme of Electra. When it starts a word like in ἐκτρανόω (ektranoō), to signify clearly, ἐκτραχύνω (ektrachynō), to make rough, exasperate, or ἐκτραγῳδέω (ektragōideō), to exaggerate, declaim, describe impressively, unmask, it suggests a certain stiffness, inflexibility. The prefix EKTRA- is probably no other than the Latin extra-, meaning on the outside, without, external, additional, beyond, besides, except. The suffix -EKTRA, however, makes the word πλέκτρα (plektra; PLEKTRA), which means wickerwork. In wickerwork, independent elements are brought together to form a structural and functional whole. This noun derives from πλέκω (plekō), to knit, plait, twine, twist a rope, make by art, devise, contrive, compound, be involved, entangled. Therefore, -EKTRA would mean something like Latin intra-, inside, within. HLEKTRA differs from PLEKTRA only in the initial H replacing P. The archaic P was a curved-line grapheme, like ). I repeatedly argue that H is a double-I representing linear distance, significant width, or length. Therefore, while PLEKTRA involves intertwined elements, HLEKTRA would have linear elements somehow bound together. Almost certainly, the ancients did not know what polymers looked like at the molecular level. Still, the suffix probably refers to the common macro-properties of wickerwork and polymers, i.e., robustness, expandability, flexibility (elasticity), and smoothness.
TRA already contains these sememes. As a
suffix, -tra, conveys positive notions of robustness, expandability,
and flexibility (elasticity), or smoothness, like in μήτρα (mētra),
womb, φάτρα (phatra), brotherhood, φύτρα (phytra),
nature, ἐπιζώστρα (epizōstra), belt, girdle, and so on. As a starter
cluster, tra implies adverse properties of fragility, restriction, stiffness,
foul odor, or brut state, like in τραγίζω (tragizō), to break,
grow rough and hoarse, τραπέω (trapeō), to tread grapes, τραυλός
(traylos), mispronouncing letters, lisping, stammering, τραῦμα
(trayma), wound, hurt, damage, τραχύς (trachys), rough,
harsh, savage, τραγῳδία (tragōidia), tragedy,
etc.
TRON implies round (O) movement (N; see section N), a turn. In fact, tron and turn are very similar. The latter may have derived from the former by inversion of the central cluster (RO/OR) and subsequent trivial conversion of OR to UR. In Old French, to turn was torner, from Latin tornāre. An obvious Ancient Greek cognate is τόρνος (tornos), carpenter's tool for drawing a circle, like our compasses, or a turning-lathe. With Archaic graphemes, the T would correspond to X and symbolize a center of turning. N is always for movement. The Greek TORN-os suggests that the inversion RO/OR was not simply phonetic but semantic because TRON and TORN existed simultaneously. An ichnographic reading of XORN (TORN) would be: center (X/T) + circle (O) + surface (top; R) + movement (N). TRON would read, instead, as: center (X/T) + surface (top, radius; R) + circle (O) + movement (N). The inversion corresponds to the semantic opposition turner/turned. TRON is a turning object (compare french rond, round, where the center of turning is not specified). TORN is an object that turns on something else.
As a suffix, -tron refers to turning or curved objects. Among the most familiar and most iconic examples, we have θέατρον (theatron), theater (Greek-style theaters and their orchestras were always round), ἄστρον (astron), star, ἄροτρον (arotron), plow, εἴσοπτρον (eisoptron), looking-glass, mirror, ἄγκιστρον (agkistron), fish-hook, σῶτρον (sōtron) wooden felloe of the wheel, θέριστρον (theristron), sickle, ξῦστρον (xystron), scythe, or the Greek-born English cyclotron, electron, etc. Sometimes, -tron and -tra are (erroneously) interchangeable. For example, in ἐπιζώστρα (epizōstra), girdle, -tra refers to the flexibility and expandability of the perimeter of the object whereas in ζῶστρον (zōstron), belt, girdle, -tron refers to the round movement for wearing the object.
Ēlektra
is a filling for tubes, containers, wounds, skin surfaces, and about
the feeling of appeasing after its application. In contrast, ēlektron refers to the harsh round movement of rubbing and polishing amber and the
light reflecting properties of the final product. Many Greek words ending
with -tron signify cleaning and polishing tools, materials, or fees (returns)
for services. The rest, ēlektr, refers to the shared gummy nature of the
constituent polymers.
We may conclude that Electra was a method
of polymerization of prescribed ingredients (recipe) by slow, skillful
agitation and heating in a pot to accomplish a gruel-like or yolk-like consistency
(soup or sauce making) primarily used for skin healing. Her daughter
Harmonia was of Samothracian origin (born in sam-othr-akē; Samothrace; higher education)
because the pharmacy was part of the medical professions taught along with medicine
(Greek ἴασις, iasis, healing, mode of healing, remedy, mending, repairs;
Iasios, the medic) in higher education institutions (see section The Mysteries and the Nike of Samothrace).
The mytheme of the marriage of Cadmus with Harmonia may easily be solved now. At later and more advanced stages of medical practice, a doctor prescribes remedies to the pharmacist in writing to avoid misunderstandings and to be able to trace the occasional error. But even in earlier stages, when medicine and pharmacy were applied by the same professional, remedy preparation required marking of the ingredients to be mixed, the volumetric tools, etc. The pharmacist would usually keep stocks of the most common ingredients, e.g., flower powders, salts, ground herbs, oils, solutions, etc., and identify them long after preparation or purchase. Symbolic writing with pens and inks (Cadmus) would be indispensable to the professional remedy maker. The names of the ingredients would also be taught as part of the curriculum of the Samothracian Mysteries. When sam-othr-akē grew up from its founder School of Medicine (Iasius being the founder of the Mysteries of Samothrace; see section Harmonia and her brothers) to become a full-blown University, Cadmus (the writing) 'established a colony in Samothrace'. 'He' was adopted by all other schools (letters and semiotics, geometry and mathematics, music and architecture). But, almost simultaneously, Cadmus appears in the literature to have moved on to Boeotia, established Thebes with a fortified acropolis (walls), and ruled the area as its founder king (see section Cadmus in Boeotia and Thebes).
Claims
Electra = pharmacy, medication, medicinal preparation, prescription
Cognates
Electra: elect, select, collect, neglect
Electron: astron, cyclotron
Oppositions
lect-/-lect, ektra-/-ektra, HLEK/KELH, TORN/TRON, HLEKTRA/PLEKTRA