ϝορθασία, Ὀρθια y Ἄρτεμισ Ὀρθια en Laconia

Abstract

An exhaustive review of the epigraphical forms attested in the Laconian Sanctuary of Artemis Orthia leads to the conclusion that they cannot be reduced to a single form, as it is usually assumed. In fact, they conceal forms belonging to two different roots, lE *ṷerdh- grow' and *Hṛdh- (from *ṛHdh-) '[set] straight', whose outcomes seem to have been confused from the Hellenistic period onwards, giving rise to a set of hybrid forms. To *ṷerdh- belong three forms attested in the early period: ϝορυασία, ϝορυαία (as the derivatives of *ϝορυά or *ϝόρυασις) and ϝορυεία, a variant of the last one (cf. Μαλεάτεια for Μαλεάταια): none of them occur as an epithet of Artemis, which suggests that they denote an old fertility goddess 'related with growth' or 'making grow'. On the other side, the form Ὀρυία is a derivative of όρυός 'straight' (*Hṛdh-ṷó-: av.ərəduuna-, lat. arduus), to be understood as 'straight' and, secondarily, as 'setting straight', which is attested (without ϝ) already in the VIIth Century and denotes an original healing-goddess protecting childbirth; its variants are attested also in later inscriptions, always as a surname of Artemis, the wild-nature deity who assimilated both Ὀρυασία and Ὀρυία at a later stage.