David Hawkins (2013 [1]: 8-9) has expressed his scepticism about the interpretation of ancient Arzawan names such as Tarhun(d)aradu and Piyamaradu (Schürr 2002 [2]; Melchert 2013 [3]: 40-41), which are still a riddle for scholars, because the second member of these anthroponyms, -aradu-, remains obscure (Adiego 2007 [4]: 333, 385). Actually, this may simply depend on the little attention given to a contribution of Stefan Schaffner (2010-11 [5]) on the name of the most famous ancient spring, namely Arethusa (DGE 499, s.v. Ἀρέθουσα), which he connected to the Indo-European root *h₂redʰ- "hervorkommen, herauskommen" (Kümmel 2019 [6]), represented in both Hittite (hardu-) and Luwian (hartu-) language. According to Schaffner's reconstruction, the two Anatolian words, which mean "brood, descendance" (EDHIL 316-317), would derive from *h₂rdʰú- "der (aus einer Familie) Hervorkommende". The above mentioned personal names can make perfect sense if interpreted correspondingly as "Offspring of Tarhunt" (Tarhun(d)aradu, NH 177, § 1268) and "Given offspring" (Piyamaradu, NH 141, 317-319, § 981; Carruba 1968 [7]: 36-37). According to what Carruba (2003 [8]: 158) proposed about Ardys, a Lydian king, whose name he compared with Hittite hardu-, we might guess that the impulse to give a name like Tarhun(d)aradu came from mythology too, precisely from the second version of the Illuyanka myth, which introduces a son of Tarhunt, born from the marriage of the Storm-god with "a mortal maid, daughter of a poor man" (Güterbock 1997: 53). Moreover, the idea of intermarriages between gods and humans is nothing unheard of in different mythologies and in particular this case, the "daughter of a poor man" who meets the favour of a (son of) god, is present in Genesis 6: "the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of whomsoever they chose" (2). I tend to think that the name of Enoch's son, Irad, should be understood along the lines of Hittite hardu- and Arzawean -aradu, which both can support an extension of Schachner's etymology of Arethusa toward the interpretation of names such as the Biblical Irad or the Anatolian Ardeas (KPN 89, § 86-1; Alkım [9], U.B., et al 1951). A special attention should be devoted to Αρδαμωας (KPN 89, § 86-5), a name known from Oinoanda in the Kabalis (Naour 1980 [10]: 117, § 83. 84), to be compared with Ιρδαμουτας (KPN 204, § 482–1; Sterrett 1888 [11]: 59) at Artanada, in Isauria, Ιρδαουεξας (KPN 204, § 482–2) at Iotape, in Cilicia Tracheia, and Ιρδασιτας (KPN 204, § 482–3), in Isauria. Not to be discounted is Plato's witness about a Pamphylian tyrant Ardiaeus (Ἀρδιαῖος, Republic § 615c), who should have lived a thousand years before his own times.
Originally Published: May 19, 2021
Last Updated: May 19, 2021