Ishara

Ishara is the Hittite word for "treaty, binding promise", also personified as a goddess of the oath. The word is attested as a loanword in the Assyrian Kultepe texts from the 19th century BC, and is as such the earliest attestation of a word of any Indo-European language.

Related Topics:
Hittite - Treaty - Goddess - Oath - Kultepe - 19th century BC - Indo-European language

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The name is from a PIE root *sh2ei "to bind (also magically)", also in Greek himas "strap" and Old Norse / Old High German seil "rope". Possibly also cognate is soul, and Welsh Gwen-hwyfar (Irish Find-abair, from Proto-Celtic *vindo-siabraid "white phantom", from a meaning "enchanted" of the extended root *sh2ei-bh-).

Related Topics:
PIE - Magic - Old Norse - Old High German - Soul - Gwen-hwyfar - Proto-Celtic

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As a goddess, Ishara could inflict severe bodily penalties to oathbreakers, in particular ascites (see Hittite military oath). In this context, she came to be seen as a "goddess of medicine" whose pity was invoked in case of illness. There was even a verb, isharis- "to be afflicted by the illness of Ishara".

Related Topics:
Ascites - Hittite military oath

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ishar (or eshar), oblique ishan-, the Hittite for "blood" is probably derived from the same root, maybe from a notion of "bond" between blod-relations (c.f. Sanskrit bandhu). The verb ishiya "to bind, fetter", "to oblige" is directly cognate to Sanskrit syati with similar meanings.

Related Topics:
Blood - Bandhu

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