πιργαλιός - περγαλιό: ετυμολογία;

[LRD]

Hello! My current research investigates sleep paralysis and the names associated with this condition in the classical literature, such as εφιάλτης, βραχνάς, πνιγαλίων, μόρα, etc. I have found an additional name in the online version of Liddell-Scott, which I cannot trace to its original reference:

πνῑγᾰλίων: -ωνος, ὁ, ἐφιάλτης, κοινῶς «βραχνᾶς» ἐν Κυζίκῳ δὲ «πιργαλ~ιός», Λατ. incubus, ἀπὸ τοῦ πνίγειν, διότι ὁ πάσχων αἰσθάνεται ὡς νὰ πνίγηται ἐκ τῆς στενοχωρίας, Θεμίσων παρὰ Παύλ. Αἰγιν. 3. 15· πρβλ. ἐφιάλτης.

After having exhaustively searched the available literature, including the cited work by Themison, I have been unable to find any mention of "πιργαλιός". I have searched various editions of Liddell-Scott, also with no success.

Would you happen to know which edition of Liddell-Scott contains πιργαλιός, and which reference they could have used?

Thank you so much!

[billberg23]

I have found an additional name in the online version of Liddell-Scott

Can you give us the URL for that version?  Can't find "πιργαλιός" under πνιγαλίων in any of the early versions 1846-1853 that L & S based on Passow. 

[spiros]

έφιάλτης, κοινώς «βραχνάς» έν Κυζίκω δε «πιργαλιός», Λατ. incubus
https://lsj.gr/wiki/%CF%80%CE%BD%CE%B9%CE%B3%CE%B1%CE%BB%CE%AF%CF%89%CE%BD
https://books.google.gr/books?id=Opa8BwAAQBAJ&pg=PA389&lpg=PA389&dq=%CF%80%CE%B9%CF%81%CE%B3%CE%B1%CE%BB%CE%B9%CF%8C%CF%82&source=bl&ots=xzwHmVl6sT&sig=ACfU3U0aIC2YEOcm9kOgM6swNbygHTQqVg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiU3eCT3LLnAhVJiqQKHY7PA-AQ6AEwAHoECAEQAQ#v=onepage&q=%CF%80%CE%B9%CF%81%CE%B3%CE%B1%CE%BB%CE%B9%CF%8C%CF%82&f=false
πιργαλιός

[billberg23]

Ah, so the terms βραχνᾶς and πιργαλιός are modern Greek and presumably appear from the first (1889) edition of the Greek version of Liddell-Scott through the eighth (? most recent) as translations of ancient πνιγαλίων.  Issue resolved, LRD.  Thanks, spiros!

[spiros]

I guess "έν Κυζίκω" means in the (ancient Greek) dialect of Cyzicus.

[billberg23]

"Commonly βραχνᾶς, except in Cyzicus πιργαλιός."  The two terms, mentioned in the same breath, seem both to be modern.  Bραχνᾶς certainly isn't ancient.  And the modern Greek dialect of Cyzicus is a subject of study, e.g. https://books.google.co.jp/books?id=3AE6AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA149&lpg=PA149&dq=Greek+dialects+%2B+Cyzicus&source=bl&ots=e1cPHyRT4s&sig=ACfU3U0hvrwg431LM6-bBS4Y_8q2TMr0XQ&hl=ja&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj94Yfq5bLnAhWZQN4KHYaKARQQ6AEwC3oECAYQAQ#v=onepage&q=Greek%20dialects%20%2B%20Cyzicus&f=false, note 4.

[spiros]

I am not aware of any Greek population in that part of the world. Apparently, there must have been until fairly recently:

Cyzicus remained a metropolitan see of the Greek Orthodox Church until the 1923 Convention Concerning the Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations emptied it of Greek Orthodox faithful, whether they spoke Greek or Turkish. The last bishop of the see died in 1932.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyzicus

Finds for ancient Greek dialects
https://books.google.gr/books?id=5vPnBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA167&lpg=PA167&dq=Cyzicus+Greek+dialect&source=bl&ots=7aShHOQ5eL&sig=ACfU3U2P59-VaUDhPGFdp65Tjl-dmfbVjQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjO5ce-7LLnAhUCNOwKHcKTAr4Q6AEwAnoECAwQAQ#v=onepage&q=Cyzicus%20Greek%20dialect&f=false
https://books.google.gr/books?id=7XoDDgAAQBAJ&pg=PT19&lpg=PT19&dq=Cyzicus+Greek+dialect&source=bl&ots=kRHdNCRmt9&sig=ACfU3U06BuAGUV6-ecKtmx7O7CsxJT3g1A&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjO5ce-7LLnAhUCNOwKHcKTAr4Q6AEwBnoECAsQAQ#v=onepage&q=Cyzicus%20Greek%20dialect&f=false

Find for modern Greek dialect
Makris, I. (1952) To glōssikon idiōma tōn chorion Vatka kai Chavoutsi, tīs eparchias Kyzikou [The dialect of the villages Vatka and Havoutsi in the Cyzicus District]. Mikrasiatika Chronika, 5: 197–215. (In Modern Greek)
https://journall.org/index.php/main/article/view/9

[billberg23]

Fascinating.  I notice that the dictionary entry is polytonic;  if we could find the first (1889) edition of this Greek LSJ, we might find this same entry -- in an age when the Greek population and dialect of Cyzicus was much more observable.

[LRD]

Ah, so the terms βραχνᾶς and πιργαλιός are modern Greek and presumably appear from the first (1889) edition of the Greek version of Liddell-Scott through the eighth (? most recent) as translations of ancient πνιγαλίων.  Issue resolved, LRD.  Thanks, spiros!

Thank you very much for this clarification! This is a fascinating observation, as I have found that in 19th century Zakynthos, the term περγαλιό is used to described a στοιχειό, which is also associated with sleep paralysis, and is likely to be etymologically related to πιργαλιός (this is part of my ongoing research, which will hopefully be published soon). However, I have failed to find  any etymology for this word, and it is absent from all the Greek (ancient and modern) dictionaries I have accessed.

[LRD]

έφιάλτης, κοινώς «βραχνάς» έν Κυζίκω δε «πιργαλιός», Λατ. incubus
https://lsj.gr/wiki/%CF%80%CE%BD%CE%B9%CE%B3%CE%B1%CE%BB%CE%AF%CF%89%CE%BD
https://books.google.gr/books?id=Opa8BwAAQBAJ&pg=PA389&lpg=PA389&dq=%CF%80%CE%B9%CF%81%CE%B3%CE%B1%CE%BB%CE%B9%CF%8C%CF%82&source=bl&ots=xzwHmVl6sT&sig=ACfU3U0aIC2YEOcm9kOgM6swNbygHTQqVg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiU3eCT3LLnAhVJiqQKHY7PA-AQ6AEwAHoECAEQAQ#v=onepage&q=%CF%80%CE%B9%CF%81%CE%B3%CE%B1%CE%BB%CE%B9%CF%8C%CF%82&f=false
πιργαλιός

Thank you very much indeed for finding the original reference!

[billberg23]

in 19th century Zakynthos, the term περγαλιό is used to described a στοιχειό, which is also associated with sleep paralysis, and is likely to be etymologically related to πιργαλιός

This is intriguing information.  Of course περγαλιό must be cognate with πιργαλιός.  Should we look for their etymology in Italian?  Or could they possibly be related to Turkish boğulur, "suffocation"?

[spiros]

Moving this to Greek monolingual; Dr Moshe is an etymologist, so he may be able to shed some light on this.

[Asdings]

The etymology is absolutely clear: πιργαλιός/περγαλιός both come from πνῑγᾰλίων, as mentioned on the top of the thread. The hard-to-pronounce cluster /pn/ was broken by insertion of an epenthetic /i/ (πιργ-), which turned into /e/ due to proximity to /r/ (περ-) (cf. πληρώνω > πλερώνω). The /r/ itself comes from /n/, which was automatically modified before /γ/, since /nγ/ is not allowed in Greek phonotactics. Finally, the morphological shape was remodelled to fit the second declension of nouns (cf. συμφέρον > συφέρο, Ναπολέων > Αναπολέος in the Heptanesian dialect).

[billberg23]

!! Δεν υπάρχει!  (-:  (-:   Σ' ευχαριστούμε!

[LRD]

The etymology is absolutely clear: πιργαλιός/περγαλιός both come from πνῑγᾰλίων, as mentioned on the top of the thread. The hard-to-pronounce cluster /pn/ was broken by insertion of an epenthetic /i/ (πιργ-), which turned into /e/ due to proximity to /r/ (περ-) (cf. πληρώνω > πλερώνω). The /r/ itself comes from /n/, which was automatically modified before /γ/, since /nγ/ is not allowed in Greek phonotactics. Finally, the morphological shape was remodelled to fit the second declension of nouns (cf. συμφέρον > συφέρο, Ναπολέων > Αναπολέος in the Heptanesian dialect).

Thank you very much for your comment. I agree with the obvious transition from πιργαλιός to περγαλιό, although I must say I feel less confident about πνιγ- shifting to πιργ-. Do you have any other examples? I do not see any difficulty with pronouncing πνιγαλιό, for example, and πν- is still used in modern Greek.