The mother of [the] gods. Aalso [sc. attesteed is the verb] 'to tumble' [
kubistan] properly to throw oneself on one's head.
Homer [says]: "headfirst in the dust."[1] For madmen when they suffer in their heads become like this. Whence they also call the mother of the gods Kubebe from divine frenzy (enthusiasm); for being initiated is a cause of divine frenzy. There is also in
Phrygia a shrine of the mother of the gods.[2]
*kubh/bh: h( qew=n mh/thr. kai\ *kubista=n kuri/ws to\ e)pi\ kefalh\n r(iptei=n. *(/omhros: ku/mbaxos e)n koni/h|sin. e)pei\ oi( maniw/deis peri\ th\n kefalh\n pa/qous ginome/nou toiou=toi gi/nontai. o(/qen kai\ th\n mhte/ra tw=n qew=n a)po\ tou= e)nqousiasmou= *kubh/bhn le/gousin: ai)ti/a ga\r e)nqousiasmou= to\ muei=sqai gi/netai. e)/sti de\ kai\ e)n *frugi/a| i(ero\n mhtro\s qew=n.
The name in the headword is closer to the goddess's name in other Anatolian cultures, e.g. Hittite, than is Greek Kubele (
kappa 2586) or Cybele and may be the Phrygian name. The etymology from Greek
kubista=n (
kappa 2598) 'to tumble, turn cartwheels' is highly implausible (cf.
kappa 2602 and note [5] there). The Greek word from which we derive 'enthusiasm' refers to the presence of a god in the human body, as in the mystery rites of Cybele, Dionysus and other gods, perhaps caused by alcohol or other stimulants.
[1]
Homer,
Iliad 5.586, another implausible etymology from Greek
ku/mbaxos.
[2] An understatement for a country in which the rites of Cybele and Attis were widespread. The best known site was that at
Pessinus (
pi 1381), from which the Romans received the sacred black stone (perhaps cubic, cf. the outdated but still useful attempt of R. Eisler to link these words with a pre-Semitic root surviving in the sacred Ka'aba at Mecca:
Philologus 68, 1909, 118-151,169-204) installed in the temple of the Magna Deum Mater ('Great Mother of the Gods') on the Palatine, to which they attributed the victory over Hannibal.
David Whitehead (added keywords; restorative and other cosmetics) on 11 September 2002@09:54:44.
David Whitehead (tweaking) on 19 March 2013@10:06:46.
Catharine Roth (tweaked translation following a suggestion from Brady Kiesling) on 28 December 2016@23:13:45.
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