Langue poétique, hyperdialectalismes et langue de chancellerie. Le cas des textes thessaliens et l’origine de ἕνεκα

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The attestation, in Thessalian dialect inscriptions of the 3rd–2nd centuries BCE, of forms that are unexpected from an etymological point of view may be explained as the result of two converging factors: the influence of literary (Attic and Ionic) prose, and at the same time a tendency to give these forms a Thessalian colouring. This phenomenon is visible even in the case of three forms that show unexpected geminates. In enneka, the geminate reflects the Thessalian adaptation of Hom. Ion. Att. eíneka, which goes back to the Homeric metrical lengthening of Proto-Greek eneka (cf. Myc. e-ne-ka / (h)eneka/). A new etymology of the form is proposed in support of this view. The same explanation applies to the theonym Ennodia (as against the neuter plural enodia ‘paths’ in the same inscription), which reflects Eínodíā (Hes. +), Hom. eínodios. Likewise, the place name Gonnoi (Gonnos) reflects Hom. Gouneús, gounos ‘hill’, which shows the phonetic outcome of gʷon-. The irregular spellings <enn>, <onn> thus turn out to reflect an artificial Thessalianisation of Ionian–Homeric <ein>, <oun>, whatever their original source might have been—at a time when Thessalians persisted in writing in their dialect as a manifestation of regional identity.