Le ὀφημίαρχος de Kérinthos en Eubée. Une interprétation linguistique

Abstract

Two inscriptions found at Kerinthos (territory of Chalcis), dating to the 4th and 3rd century BCE, document the noun ὀφημίαρχος, which refers to a local official unknown elsewhere. The present paper claims that the first constituent of ὀφημίαρχος is * ὄφημος or * ὀφήμιος, a compound which combines * ὀπί, an old variant of the preposition ἐπί ‘ on’, and the neuter ἧμα ‘ a throw’ > ‘ projectile’, a deverbative noun from ἵημι “ to throw”. From both a derivational and a semantic point of view, * ὄφημος / * ὀφήμιος is accounted for as a hypostasis of the phrase * ὀφ’ ἥματι / ἥματος ‘ over the projectile’, where the preposition indicates ‘ control’ or ‘ supervision’. According to this hypothesis, the ὀφημίαρχος was the leader of the * ὄφημοι or * ὀφήμιοι, originally the ‘ supervisors of the projectiles’, who probably were members of a group called * ὀφημία (Ionic * ὀφημίη).