[lit-ideas] Alala!, or the Battle Cry of the Greek Republic
- From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 8 Dec 2007 08:42:17 EST
We are considering different things, including the Pyrrhic Walk. This was
like the Lambeth Walk, only different.
Then it dawned on me that the war-cry, as quoted in the OED was the primeval
origin of language.
Listen to a soldier's war-cry. It's the phonetic apparatus at full blast.
It's the only occasion Man has to use his Phonic resources to the limit.
Doesn't matter what race, or ethnic, or whether you're a rich man or a poor
one. It's Henry V, and it's
Y A A R G H ! ! ! ! !
If one compares the sound production with other species -- it's surely the
war cry that relates to a dog's barking, or a robin tweeting.
It cannot be the love-song, because when males are in the love mood they go:
M M M H H H M M H H M M ...
i.e. a whisper, not a cry.
Now the burden for Geary is to prove how from "A A R G H H" you get to the
syntax of English.
1836 THIRLWALL Greece III. xxiii. 290
"The army followed with an appalling war-cry."
battle cry ophra -- pemphtheis hupo Troian doriktupon alalan Lukiôn te
prosmenoi kai Phrugôn N. 3.60
ê hote karteras Adraston ex alalas ampempsas orphanon muriôn hetarôn; (tês
machês, dia tas en autôi thorubôdeis phônas. S.) Iliad, Book 7.10
"Alale alala". Greek soldiers adopted this and would cry out her name as
their battle cry. It was reputedly the term is derived from the horrific sound
_owls_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owl) make.
In modern times the producers of Xena: Warrior Princess, played by Lucy
Lawless, used the war-cries "Alalaes", an alternate writing for Alale as a
war-cry for the titled character of the show.
"Harken! O Alala, daughter of Polemos! Prelude of spears! To whom soldiers
are sacrificed for their city’s sake in the holy sacrifice of death." -
Pindar, Dithyrambs, Frag.78
[Dor. Gr. a loud shout, hence a war-cry.]
A shout used by the ancient Greeks in joining battle; a (Greek) battle-cry.
1675 HOBBES Odyss. 299 More than half with alalaes up start. Iliad 214
With alalaes the mighty armies
cfr. battle cry
1814 SCOTT Ld. of Isles VI. xxxii, He shouted loud his *battle-cry, ‘Saint
James for Argentine!’ 1879 Pall Mall Budg. 12 Sept. 8 The noisy battle-cries
that are put into their mouths.
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