Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

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p. Kretschmer's hypothesis
the first syllable being due to the intermediate sound of the Thraco-
Phrygian voweP and pointing to the conclusion that Dionysos is
^ von Hans ans ein Thraker! Greek dialects represent his name as
Dionysos, Didnysos and Dionnysos, thereby presupposing two original
forms, viz. Didnysos and *Diosnysos^, of which the one is a compound
Dio-nysos, the other a synthesis of the genitive Dios and
*nysos^. As to the meaning of the combination, Kretschmer insists
that the first half contains the name of Zeus, who—he holds—was
called Zei'is alike by Thracians and by Hellenes. The second half
he connects with Nysa or Nyse, the mythical place to which Hermes
brought Dionysos for the nymphs to rear^, and with Nysa, the
nymph who nursed the infant godl Raising the question whether
the nymph was called after the place or the place after the nymph,
Kretschmer decides for the latter alternative on the ground that
one of the fragments (fig. 176)° of a vase painted by Sophilos (c. 600
Ath. Mitth. 1890 XV. 338 no. i, Collitz— Bechtel Gr. Dial.-lnschr. iii. ^. 730 no. 5694.
So Dittenberger Syll. inscr. Gr.'- no. 744, 10 [Aioi']05os in a Rhodian inscription) and
AeocOos in an inscription from Thasos (E. Jacobs in the Ath. Alitth. 1897 xxii. i2off.
no. I, 2, O. Hoffmann Die Griechischen Dialekte Gottingen 1898 iii. 38 no. 74, 2 cp. ib.
p. 262 f., Collitz—Bechtel Gr. Dial.-lnschr. iii. 2. 604f.no. 5469, 2. Similarly Atoi-Oos
in an inscription from Olbia: Collitz—Bechtel op. cit. iii. 2. 66i no. 5553),
is gen. of
Aeovi^s=*Aeoj'utrtos. Aewi/cros (schol. Townl. //. 14. 325, et. mag. p. 259, 28 and 31),
L^^vvvst (Anakr./ra^. 2, 11 Bergk*), Li{)vv