According to Hawkins, no explanation proposed hitherto looks entirely plausible. He suggests to connect the theonym with Proto-Indo-European *wenh₁- (“to wish, love”), the same root of Latin Venus: this theory is interesting but not very convincing. Phonologically, the rendering of *u̯- as b- in Thracian seems to be indeed possible, but this etymology does not comply with the main and most essential characteristic of the goddess, her association with hunting. On the other hand, Tomaschek prefers connecting the word with Proto-Indo-European *bʰendʰ- (“to bind”), which is fully compatible with hunting associations. First, the name can be interpreted simply as "Binder" and refers to the goddess' ability to tame wild animals. Second, the meaning of *bʰendʰ- might develop to the notion of "catching": in this case, the name would mean "Catcher", "Huntress". A third, more speculative possibility would be to assume that in Thracian the development of *bʰendʰ- has taken a similar turn as in Old English bindan (“to bind”), bendan (“to stretch a bow”) and that at the base of the name lies a noun "bow": in this case Bendis would mean "Archer".[1]
Βενδῖς • (Bendîs) f (genitive Βενδῖδος); third declension
Case / # | Singular | ||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nominative | ἡ Βενδῖς hē Bendîs | ||||||||||||
Genitive | τῆς Βενδῖδος tês Bendîdos | ||||||||||||
Dative | τῇ Βενδῖδῐ têi Bendîdĭ | ||||||||||||
Accusative | τὴν Βενδῖδᾰ tḕn Bendîdă | ||||||||||||
Vocative | Βενδῖς Bendîs | ||||||||||||
Notes: |
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