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Revision as of 05:13, 31 December 2007 editKhirurg (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users, Pending changes reviewers, Rollbackers31,687 edits "by some" weasel wording. you fool no one← Previous edit Revision as of 05:36, 31 December 2007 edit undoIreland101 (talk | contribs)473 edits removed inncorect vandlism, that in unsourced NPOV. If continued you will be blocked.Next edit →
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===Highlanders=== ===Highlanders===
The "highland view" is that Bryges belong to the "highlander" synonymy of the ] region. A recent work by Dr. John Shea presents their name as deriving from ] ''breg'', "hill, mountain".<ref>{{cite book|first=John|last=Shea|title=Macedonia and Greece: The Struggle to Define a New Balkan Nation|publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc.|location=Jefferson, North Carolina, and London|date=1997|page=page 46|id=ISBN 0786402288}}</ref> The "highland view" is that Bryges belong to the "highlander" synonymy of the ] region. A recent work by Dr. John Shea presents their name as deriving from ] ''breg'', "hill, mountain".<ref>{{cite book|first=John|last=Shea|title=Macedonia and Greece: The Struggle to Define a New Balkan Nation|publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc.|location=Jefferson, North Carolina, and London|date=1997|page=page 46|id=ISBN 0786402288}}</ref>
The connection of the word to the Ancient Macedonian is debated by some.
However, this word is unattested in the ] spoken at the time, being commonly used instead in the unrelated ]<ref></ref> and other modern ] of the region. As the ] did not enter the Balkans until the initial centuries AD, the Slavic form ''breg'' cannot be the correct one, but Shea may be partially correct in selecting a Slavic word that, instead of being the origin of the preceding name of the highlands, may in fact derive from it.


This view partially explains the similarity of the name to the names of distant tribes, such as the Celtic ], "highlanders" in that case, but a different highland and a different acquisition. The highland etymology of the Brig-/Breg- class of Celtic names is venerable and focuses on the hilly, or mountainous regions of the ], the ] and the ]. It was only a matter of time before a connection to the Bryges was made; for example, the Reverend Robert Owen postulating an ethnic substrate from Asia called the Kymry interprets Bryges as the same as ] brig-wyr, "hill-men."<ref>{{cite book|first=Rev. Robert|last=Owen|title=The Kymry: Their Origin, History and International Relations|publisher=W. Spurrell and Son|location=Carmarthen|date=1891|pages=page 230}}</ref> This view partially explains the similarity of the name to the names of distant tribes, such as the Celtic ], "highlanders" in that case, but a different highland and a different acquisition. The highland etymology of the Brig-/Breg- class of Celtic names is venerable and focuses on the hilly, or mountainous regions of the ], the ] and the ]. It was only a matter of time before a connection to the Bryges was made; for example, the Reverend Robert Owen postulating an ethnic substrate from Asia called the Kymry interprets Bryges as the same as ] brig-wyr, "hill-men."<ref>{{cite book|first=Rev. Robert|last=Owen|title=The Kymry: Their Origin, History and International Relations|publisher=W. Spurrell and Son|location=Carmarthen|date=1891|pages=page 230}}</ref>

Revision as of 05:36, 31 December 2007

Mount Cholomon, highlands in or near ancient Mygdonia.
Thessaloniki, location of ancient Mygdonia, Macedonian home of the Bryges.
  • Bryges, Brygi or Briges was said by Herodotus and others to be the name by which the Phrygians were known before they crossed the Hellespont(ca. 1200 BC) into Anatolia, possibly associated with the collapse of the late Bronze Age. The Brigi were supposed to have inhabited Mygdonia, which was conquered by Macedon in the 5th century BC. He also mentions that in 492 BC, some Thracian Brygoi or Brygians (Βρύγοι Θρήικες) fell upon the Persian camp by night, wounding Mardonius himself, though he went on with the campaing till he had subdued them.The last time Briges were quoted in history is in Brutus,(1st c.AD),Plutarch Parallel Lives,in the Battle of Philippi, as camp servants of Brutus.


Tribal Name and Origin

The Bryges either owned their name as a prehistoric tribe located somewhere else, such as the plains of Asia, or they received it at their Mygdonian location or near it. There is no certain derivation for the name and tribal origin of the Bryges. Speculations are long-standing and tempting, but they cannot all be right.

Because Armenian might descend from the language of the Bryges and Armenian is an Indo-European language the name of the Bryges is generally presented as Indo-European. In that case it can come only from a few roots, all of which have at one time or another been proposed. The major hypotheses are presented below.

Bryg-onyms

Free Men

The Lexicographer Hesychius (5th c.AD) relates that in the Indo-European, Anatolian lanuage of Lydians, neighbours of Phrygians, Βρίγες, Briges signified free men.(Original Text : Ἰόβας δὲ ὑπὸ Λυδῶν <ἀπο>φαίνεται <βρίγα> λέγεσθαι τὸν ἐλεύθερον. "Juba (1th c.BC) opines that (the) free (man) is called briga by Lydians".

Highlanders

The "highland view" is that Bryges belong to the "highlander" synonymy of the Macedonia region. A recent work by Dr. John Shea presents their name as deriving from Macedonian breg, "hill, mountain". The connection of the word to the Ancient Macedonian is debated by some.

This view partially explains the similarity of the name to the names of distant tribes, such as the Celtic Brigantes, "highlanders" in that case, but a different highland and a different acquisition. The highland etymology of the Brig-/Breg- class of Celtic names is venerable and focuses on the hilly, or mountainous regions of the Grampian Mountains, the Alps and the Pyrenees. It was only a matter of time before a connection to the Bryges was made; for example, the Reverend Robert Owen postulating an ethnic substrate from Asia called the Kymry interprets Bryges as the same as Welsh brig-wyr, "hill-men."

On the other hand, if Brigantes were named after the goddess Brigantia, a form of the Celtic goddess, Brigid, other cultural factors may have been operant; after all, the Phrygians, an Anatolian offshoot of the Bryges, were noted for their worship of Cybele, a to them mountain goddess.

Neither the Kymry nor Brigit's status as a mountain goddess have stood the test of time. The linguist, Julius Pokorny, offered a derivation of many of the names from Indo-European *bhereĝh- "hoch, erhaben", English "high, elevated, noble, illustrious." The Brig-/Breg- forms must come from the zero-grade (drops the root -e-): *bhṛghu-, which is responsible for Armenian berj "altitude" and such names as Thracian Bergoulē,Berge and Illyrian Berginium. Pokorny mentions various others such as Gallic Brigantes, Germanic Burgundians, Pergamum,Perge and Bornholm but he happens to omit Bryges.

The history sources say that the Bryges substituted Phryges for Bryges on migrating to Anatolia. If this statement implies a linguistic change, and Bryges is "highlanders", then Armenian berj should not have retained the b, but other factors may have been effective.

Keepers of the sacred flame

On the eastern side connections between various identities of the Rig Veda and western tribes have been proposed, one of which is the Bhrigus. They fought in the Battle of the Ten Kings and were the source of the Vedic fire-priests of the same name. Their most likely etymology is the Sanskrit root *bhrij-, "to burn, roast", having especially to do with lightening. According to Lanman the etymology is the same as that of English flame, from Indo-European *bhel- "to shine, flash, burn." Noting that Greek phrugein, "to parch", comes from this root and that Brigid is a goddess of fire, one is tempted into a far-flung speculation of an Indo-European synonymy based on the worship of fire, which would include a large number of tribal names meaning "bright", such possibly as Hellenes. Apart from more limited connections the validating research remains to be performed.

Brigands

An alternative for Brigid is the goddess of war, Old Irish brīg and others from Celtic *brig-, from which English brigand, brigantine and brig. The root is the same as for the highland interpretation, but instead of the landforms being great the people are. "Warriors" would be one translation, as the people are great in war (which is consonant with the reputation of the Macedonians), but there is also a connotation of brigandage. The alternative etymology of the Dorians as the "people of the spear" (doru) would be relevant in this case.

Language

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Notes

  1. The Heroic Age By Hector Munro Chadwick
  2. The Cambridge Ancient History
  3. Herodotus 7.73
  4. Herodotus 6.45
  5. Plutarch, The Parallel Lives -Brutus
  6. The Argonautika by Apollonios Rhodios- Peter Green
  7. The Classical Gazetteer: A Dictionary of Ancient Geography, Sacred and Profane by William Hazlitt
  8. Epigraphical Database
  9. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography by William Smith
  10. The Dorian Aegean By Elizabeth M. Craik
  11. Rhodes in Ancient Times By Cecil Torr
  12. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography by William Smith, Mahmoud Saba Phrygia
  13. Shea, John (1997). Macedonia and Greece: The Struggle to Define a New Balkan Nation. Jefferson, North Carolina, and London: McFarland & Company, Inc. p. page 46. ISBN 0786402288. {{cite book}}: |page= has extra text (help)
  14. Owen, Rev. Robert (1891). The Kymry: Their Origin, History and International Relations. Carmarthen: W. Spurrell and Son. pp. page 230. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
  15. Pokorny, Julius. "Indogermanisches Etymologisches Woerterbuch". University of Leiden. pp. pages 140-141. {{cite web}}: |pages= has extra text (help) Do a search on Page 140. The notes are German-language but with German dictionary the English-only speaker should be able to translate the brief entries.
  16. Johnson, Linda (1999). The Living Goddess: Reclaiming the Tradition of the Mother of the Universe. Saint Paul, Minnesota: Yes International Publishers. pp. page 76. ISBN 0936663286. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
  17. Ragozin, Zenaide A. (2005). Vedic India as Embodied Principally in the Rig-Veda. Whitefish, Montana: Kessinger Publishing. pp. page 364. ISBN 1417944633. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
  18. ^ Lanman, Charles (1955). A Sanskrit Reader: Text and Vocabulary and Notes. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. pp. page 209 under *bhrāj-. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
  19. "bhel-(1)". The American Heritage Dictionary: Appendx I: Indo-European Roots.
  20. Partridge, Eric (1983). Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English. New York: Greenwich House. pp. Under Brigade. ISBN 0-517-414252.

See also

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