dead (spirits)

PIE *nók̂ us, G *nék̂ us(/n̥ k̂ éus), Npl. *nók̂ wes, Gpl. *nék̂ wom / *nék̂ ōu(s), A *nék̂ owm̥ , Npl.
*nék̂ owes;
derivatives *nok̂ ewó- and *n̥ k̂ wó-
Ht. nakku- and nakkiwa- (two different types of) ‘(dead) spirits’(≠ akkandas istanzan- ‘soul of the dead’, a.o. KUB
xxxix 7 + xxxiv 57 + xxxviii 173 iii 59f); Av. nasu- ‘corpse’, A nasāum, Npl. nasāuuō; Pahl. nasā; Gr. nékūs
‘corpse, spirit, Mane’; Celtic *anku-: OIr. éc, W angau, Br. ankoù ‘death’; derivative Toch. A oṅk, Toch. B eṅkwe
‘man’ ← ‘mortal’.
■ (spirits of) the DEAD – PIE *nók̂ wes (Hittite, Greek, Celtic + Avestan) (Melchert 2014, Calin
2020)
○ Ht. KUB xxix 7+ Ro. 19ff+23-32 (purification ritual for the king and the queen) “then the
silallūhi novice offers one more gangati-plant to the Departed and to the living beings
(nakkuwass-a huiswanduss-a) in front of the Spirits (nakkiwas) (…); for these too she offers one
more gangati-plant (…) she holds the plant out in front of the Departed (nakkuwas piran) (…)
then she takes one more gangati-plant and she offers it to the living too (…) she speaks: ‘if a
dead or living being ([akk]anz nasma huiswanz) vilified the king in front of the (Night) goddess,
may the master of the ritual now be pure!”, KBo XXIV 49 ii 5,6,10,11 nakkuwas linkiyas /lāla-/
“tongue of the oath of the Departed”, KUB ix 4 iv 28 nakku[was] /lāla-/;
KUB ix 4+ iii 41ff ≈ KUB ix 34 iv 1f markistauwas hinkan sarkiuwaliēs nakkiwēs /kissan/
isharnuwandan dU.GUR /kissan/ “sudden death, the furious Spirits, blood red UGUR likewise”
(about sarkiuwaliēs, see Rieken/Sasseville 2014 ), KBo XXI 7 i 9f dUTU-i kāsa taknas dUTU-us
k[ruilius /sīm/us n]akkimuss-a mukiskim[i] “O Sun-god, here I am imploring the Sun-goddess of
the earth, the Prior Gods and the Spirits”, KBo XXIV 61 i 6 nakkimuss-a hui[ttiyanzi] “and they
draw the Spirits”, KUB xxxv 40 i 1 nakkiwēs, KUB xxxv 54 i 16 n]akkiwēs, KUB viii 44 6
nakkiwess-[a]
○ Gr. Il. 15.251 “I should behold the Dead (νέκυας) and the house of Hades”, Od. 11.29 “I
earnestly entreated the powerless heads of the Dead (νεκύων)”, Od. 11.93f “Why hast thou left
the light of the sun and come hither to behold the Dead (νέκυας) and a region where is no joy?”,
Theocritus, Idylls 29.38 “Cerberus, Watch-dog of the Dead (νεκύων)”, PGM IV 446 “when you
arrive in earth’s depths, in the home of the Dead (νεκύων), PGM IV 1451-1454 “O chthonic
Tartarus… O chthonic Charon and chthonic guides and Spirits (νέκυες) and deities and souls of
all the human beings!”
○ Gaul. Larzac Tablet 2b (see a.o. Delamarre 2003 p. 235, nepo-) antumnos nepon “Netherworld
of the Dead” (with nepon < *nék̂ wom)
○ Br. Ankoù, personification of Death in Breton legends, ≈ “Grim Reaper”
+ ○ Av. Nasu, a demon who sullies the dead bodies
+ comp. ○ Lyc. with a different expression: N 306.3f, N 309c.3f me-i mãhãi httẽm lãtãi “the
gods of the dead will be angry at him”, N 332.2f (Korba) mej-eti tubidi ebuϑis se mahãi lãtãi
“father Ebuϑis shall smite him, and the gods of the dead too!”
(DELAMARRE 2003, X., Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise, éditions Errance, Paris
MELCHERT 2014, H.C., Hittite nakku(wa)- ‘(spirits of) the dead’, in Munus amicitiae, Norbert
Oettinger a collegis et amicis dicatum, edd. H. C. Melchert, E. Rieken, T. Steer, Beech Stave
Press, Ann Arbor · New York, p. 219-227
RIEKEN/SASSEVILLE 2014, E./D., Social Status as a Semantic Category of Anatolian: The Case
of PIE *-wo-, in Munus amicitiae, Norbert Oettinger a collegis et amicis dicatum, edd.
Melchert/Rieken/Steer, p. 302-314)