# Atlas



## maleconnevskiprospekt

Hi I am curious to where the name Atlas is derived from. I understand from "tla" to bear. Which is derived from "tel." Now I read different versions on the combination with the first character "a." Some say it makes it negative: not bear or not able to bear. 

Another writer says that A + Tlas makes it bearing. Who is right? And what is the original root of the word? Is it Phoenician? Is it the same as Tel Aviv? 

thanks so far...


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## Perseas

a+tla. In this case "a" strengthens the meaning of "tla", which relates to that of the v. "bear".
This is all I could find and say.


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## sotos

On the wait for bibliography about "tla = to bear", let's make the assumption that it may be related to "athlos".


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## sotos

Τλάω = _hold out, endure, be patient, submit. 
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper...phabetic+letter=*t:entry+group=40:entry=tla/w
_


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## Nikolaos_Kandidatos

maleconnevskiprospekt said:


> Hi I am curious to where the name Atlas is derived from. I understand from "tla" to bear. Which is derived from "tel." Now I read different versions on the combination with the first character "a." Some say it makes it negative: not bear or not able to bear.
> 
> Another writer says that A + Tlas makes it bearing. Who is right? And what is the original root of the word? Is it Phoenician? Is it the same as Tel Aviv?
> 
> thanks so far...



I quote the Greek-English Lexicon of Liddell and Scott: "*τλάω, a radic(al) form never found in pres(ent tense) ... bear, suffer, endure..."

This means there is a supposed verb τλάω with the meaning "bear, suffer, endure etc." not found in the present tense, but attested in other tenses, especially in the language of the epic poems of Homer et al., such as aorist ἔτλην and the participle-become-adjective πολύτλας "long-suffering" known as an epithet of Odysseus. The reconstructed root of the word is "tla" with a short a. I don't think there is anything to support a derivation from a form "tel". The form "tle", with long e, that the root takes in certain forms like the aorist, seems like an extension of the root "tla" due to a laryngeal (a hypothetical consontant postulated for Proto-Indo-European attested through vowel changes in derivate languages) or some other factor. There is nothing to suggest an Eastern origin - I don't know if there are cognates in other Indo-European languages, making it an IE word, or if it is a Pre-Greek loan. In Tel Aviv the Tel is an unrelated word meaning "mound" or "hill", see the Wikipedia entry for Tel Aviv - etymology.

As for the initial a-, this prefix has a variety of functions in early Greek, one of which is the negative, but since it would make little sense as Atlas was known as someone who could carry a heavy weight, I assume Liddell-Scott are correct in not understanding the a- as a negative prefix. They call it simply euphonic, meaning in essence it may have developed to make the phonological form of the word more suitable, without carrying any meaning. Hence I believe Atlas means something like "he who bears/endures". It is known from mythology Atlas wasn't too happy about his mission, and Heracles had to deceive him in order to avoid being stuck in his place. So the meaning "endure" with its connotation of suffering might be close to the mark.


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## Nikolaos_Kandidatos

Με πρόλαβες Σώτο


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## Perseas

Nikolaos_Kandidatos said:


> As for the initial a-,[...]


According to Babiniotis' dictionary, the initial a in Atlas is «αθροιστικό».
About the various functions of a

The meaning of the verb is "to weigh/lift" and metaphorically "to bear/endure"


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## Nikolaos_Kandidatos

Perseas said:


> According to Babiniotis' dictionary, the initial a in Atlas is «αθροιστικό».
> 
> About the various functions of a:
> http://el.wiktionary.org/wiki/α-



That's interesting! According to Bambiniotis, what does it refer to? How does he interpret the prefix's contribution to the meaning of the name?


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## Perseas

Nikolaos_Kandidatos said:


> That's interesting! According to Bambiniotis, what does it refer to? How does he interpret the prefix's contribution to the meaning of the name?


If there was some interpretation, I would have quoted it.


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