Talk:Herma

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[edit] The sense of the etymology

Both here and under the entry for Hermes, the name "Hermes" is said to come from the word "herma" used to describe a pillar depicting Hermes. The god would have to have been part of the lore before becoming the subject of these pillars. Doesn't it make more sense that the pillars would have been named for the god they depicted?

The only way I can imagine it otherwise is if "herma" was already a more general Greek word for a pillar, or for a pillar serving a particular purpose or bearing a particular kind of depiction. Then perhaps some other culture developed a custom of representing a particular deity of their own on similar pillars, and the Greeks applied the name "Hermes" to that god, i.e., "the god that those other people engrave on their hermai", and ultimately adopted the god as their own. —Largo Plazo 15:52, 18 November 2006 (UTC)

Indeed, as Walter Burkert says, (Greek Religion, p 156), "that a monument of this kind could be transformed into an Olympian god is astounding." His brief notes on hermai leading to that remark, and the references he gives, would be enlightening. --Wetman 19:33, 18 November 2006 (UTC)

Ah. Now I see that's quoted right there in the Hermes article.--Largo Plazo 19:56, 20 November 2006 (UTC)