Ἴυγξ in Greek Magic

Author(s): John B. Bury

Source: The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. 7 (1886), pp. 157-160
Published by: The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/623638
Accessed: 29-04-2018 04:04 UTC

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 Ivy? IN GREEK MAGIC. 157

"Ivry IN GREEK MAGIC.

THE strange word /vy? is familiar to all classic

from the first refrain in the 4PaptpaKce6rptat of T
from two passages in Pindar, and a line in the
Aischylos.
Theokritos II.:

Z vy 'XKETfe Tv 7vo deJv roVrt o a Tov v8pa.

Pindar, Pyth. IV. 213 (strophd t'):
,'rorvta S' 'vrarWcv /3XeOe
'rroKIXav ' vyya erTrpdval0ov O Xvyprigev
Edv aXvr' pegawo'a KVKXL).
(ant. ')
'awd8' pvtv Kvrwpoyeiveta cdpev
vrpo)Tov davp0ota-to XtXasr 7' T'naOtaSg eKL88aCTKVCeV
ro-46 Altovi8avw itc..X.
Pindar, Nem. IV. 35:
ivy7te 8' eKopLat STop veopLria Ot7yepev.
Aischylos, Pers. 988:
v y ya pot 8&7T
daya~ov eTarOv VWroLI.kv c)0eL iK.7.X.
Also, Aristophanes, Lysist. 1110:
6) ot TrpcoTot TCOv 'EEXVwv 7T a- X v eT !vy yt
avveXcopplav oo t al t KOw TacyKXi ,aa a 'nav E7rTpeJav
Diogenes Laert. VI. c. 2, 76:
TotavTrV qT rwpooQvY trvlvy? AtoIyeVOv Totq; XAyot;.
Lykophron, 310:
irvpfxp' f8E'XEN

'Ivy7 Ty ewv.
Schol. :

E'S tvry~
9pcora.&e Xe7eTat ~6 po 9caa Opreov T O pXPw-.Ua at appaicKl9

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 158 "Ivye IN GREEK MAGIC.

Xenophon, Mem. III. 11, 17 (Sokrates conver

Theodot) :
ei to' 0or ravra ov K avev roXXiv 'i X'rpov re Ical d'7r(o8&v
Kcati iyyo77v da-ri. Xptqov 'rolvp ,o, b? ( 0 eo'r), rv
vyya va ert a-ot TrpcjYrov gX/co aVTipv. 'AXX a A"l, bJ,

ovic avTo9 " XKe Oatlp~a0L" a \ Roi0koat X o~n 'aerrpo . '

7ropedveoOat.
Aelian, H.A. XV. 19:
?)o-av 8 eapa 6paTtK(Aj9 EXOVOIJ XeXCV ?V7Y7e9, ovK i8at /iua
Ala, o'a OedOcptTro9 r-v voI/evTr~Kv wrratlyvov vvO6'rq X)peti,
aXXh drwr6pprro w'7oa K c.X.
Hesychius (sub voce):

t'/v"y ciXTrpov c'7r\ 'v/vyyo Tro 0opv.ov, ro yap opveov 7ror6

acy elvat dertoj ellov 7A - pa9 y avela. ra. KaXerat 8 Ica\
ICtvai8Lov. aOt 8 IKat 'A po8ryvv a- -pixpoOat. Arb 8E
o70f pvEov Kat- ra caraTao-cevarCueva ei9 epworaa ?vyya9
KaXoaDov.
Aristotle in his 'History of Animals' gives a description of
the bird and uses Trpltev of its cry.
Anthol. Pal. 5, 205 may also be referred to; and the word
occurs, naturally, in the Scriptores Erotici.

We see from these passages (1) that ivvy was the name of a
bird, the wryneck, which stretched on a wheel was used in
magic rites, cf. especially Pindar Pyth. IV. 213, the scholion on
Lykophron, and XKoc av'r?7v in the passage of Xenophon:
(2) that t'vry was used in the sense of charm, cf. the passages
of Aelian, Aristophanes, Diogenes and Pindar Nem.: (3) that
'rvy~ meant love or desire, cf. Lykophron, schol., and Aischylos
Pers.

The two last meanings are generally derived from the first.
From the particular charm of the wryneck the word would
easily come to mean a charm in general; and as the object of
the charm was to excite or attract love, the transition to the
third meaning is equally easy.
How are we to explain Zvym in the refrain of Theokritos ? It
does not here mean charm in general, but charm in its etymo-
logical sense - carmen, incantation; cf. Aelian, cs8al o'a?
1 "Iyngis torquillae " Linn., quae a schol. a-oru'yls " motacilla " vocatur.
Gallis le torcol, nune a Graecis ouv~ov- -FRITZSCHE.

pdSa vel KwAoooo-ra appellatur, falso a

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 "Ivy IN GREEK MAGIC. 159

Eoe;icpLTro c.T.X., and Virgil's imitation, mea carm

'ivy? would seem to have passed from a particular m
general and then again to another particular me
passage in Pindar's Fourth Nemean Ode, and an exam
the word itself may lead us to a different conclusion
Pindar says: though the TeBlO/O does not allow m
on certain matters, yet an 'ivy5 draws me to touch
on the new-moon festival. Why does Pindar use this
ivufy here ? Those who are familiar with Pindar's
use of words will not be disposed to admit that he u
no purpose or special appropriateness. When we rem
the lvyfi in Theokritos is an incantation of the moo
the other refrain is Opda~'eo /.ev T707 'pW' 05Oev IET
ZeXdva, we are led to conclude that Pindar used
account of veoCrvp7ia, and that 'vry? had the speci
oodn-charm and moon-song. A moon-charm was wro
Pindar at the new-moon feast. We shall find this int
confirmed by the word itself.
Substantives of the consonant declension ending i
closely related to forms of the O declension in -7yy
forms in -v(0)> are related to forms in -vOoq. W
example p~,4pwvOa, accus., implying a hypothetical
beside aptvOow noniin. (cf. 7rerptvp and relppo00o
may place ivy?, in point of form, beside oi'rry77oq,
a moon-song in Thessaly. This word is formed from
appellation of Artemis, evidently in her capacity
goddess (cf. Kallimachos, Hymn to Artemis, 204, O3
e~v=O saE-r6pe), and in exactly the same way I supp
to have been formed from 'I'. Io was a name of t
Argos, and however indisposed to commit ourselves
pretaticns of mythology, we cannot refuse to see in
Io a lunar legend. Sorcerers calling on the moon
''Icw 'i! would be said iv'ewv (just as those who cry
6ei, are said ite~v, et'ew, etc., or as ri'etv is used of
says r1 ri;), for v is latent in the (o of 'I&, as is prov
'Ioi3, ace. 'Io^v. And similarly those who called O
would be said o!vrl'hIev. To these hypothetical verb
o~erleV the nouns "'vy and o rrtryyo, bear the same
/oppeY and o-^rp7t to Ooppletv and ovpltev.
On this theory the explanation of the use of the w

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160 "Ivyy$ IN GREEK MAGIC.
magic rites becomes easy. The bird was called 6ivy f
call (ivwyput6) which sounded like 14 010; and it was u
lunar enchantments because it was supposed to be calling
the moon.

The close connexion of ivy4 with 1i and i1i6o in the con-

sciousness of the ancients is proved by the passage in the Persai
and that in the Fourth Pythian Ode.
In the lamentations of Xerxes 'vyyd ot 8-Tr' (988) responds
to io i~ SLO (973), as the first lines of antistrophe and strophe
xespectively. So it is not too much to suppose that Aischylos

intended to suggest a second sense of "vvy'-ivryp as well as

0rd'oq.
In the fourth Pythian Ode, Aphrodite uses the charm of the
wryneck to attract M~Ideia to Jason, that he might be enabled

to perform the tasks imposed by Aietis. -oKa, av gv77a are

the first words of the last line but one of the tenth strophe.
When Jason had succeeded in ploughing the field with the fiery
oxen, the effect produced on Aietes is described in 1. 237, the
last line but one of the eleventh strophe:

236LEpov'
237 . taT.t'v
? e..7rovo- E7rtaKTo
ev 85' a bv,7(p (7v ClXet
7rep Ep/raS flv7
avao-wv Airjav jTyao-yOelS.
Aietis i4vE'ev, cried i6; and it is important to note that t~'uv
occurs in the same line of the strophe and same part of the line
as 'vyya (cf. for this principle, Mezger's commentary on Pindar 1),

thus reminding us that this effect is originally due to the tvy7

and suggesting that Aietis is thus indirectly compelled by the
charm.

The theory, which I propose, that uvyT originally meant a

moon-song (a song to the moon-goddess 'I6) independently of
the wryneck, which on account of its cry was used in magic
moon-worship, will (1) account for this curious practice of using
a wryneck in magic rites, will (2) explain the appropriateness
of 'uvyy in Pindar Nem. I V. 35, will (3) elucidate the first refrain
in the moon-song of Theokritos.
JOHN B. BURY.

1 This verbal responsion and many others have been left unnoticed by Mezger

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