Hera, Eros, Iuno Sororia

Journal article

This article aims to provide the name of Hera, the Greek goddess of brides, weddings, and marriage, with an etymology that is satisfactory both from a historical and from a linguistic point of view. Earlier suggestions are rejected because they either disregard the central features of Hera's character or fail to do justice to the Mycenaean evidence favouring an etymon *Sē rah2. The latter is here explained as a well-formed vflrddhi derivative of an Indo-European root noun *sor(H)-/*ser(H)- 'woman, female', which has long been posited for independent reasons and which may belong with the verbal root *ser(H)- 'to attach' suggesting an original notion of 'female partner'. Since other derivatives of this root *ser(H)- may irregularly show no initial aspiration in Greek, a further connection with the name of the love god Eros is possible via an s-stem derivative *ser(H)-(o)s. Outside Greece, apart from a possible link to the Indian Goddess Sarasvati, the same formation seems to underly the epithet of the Roman divinity Iūnō Sorō ria, which - given the goddess's function as a protector of adolescent young women - can have nothing to do with the Latin word for 'sister', but must also refer to the young women's newly acquired ability and wish to enter a marital union.

Authors: Willi, A

• Publication status: Published
• Journal: INDOGERMANISCHE FORSCHUNGEN
• Volume: 115
• Pages: 234-267
• Publication date: 2010-01-01
• ISSN: 0019-7262
• Language: English