Ruby's Greek Thread

[Ruby Novacna]

Word EVA aral

The word aral has 19 occurrences in the manuscript, but only one as a nymph label, on the Cancer page (<f72r3.32,&Lz> <!07:30>).



I read this word as arai and there are several possibilities in Greek:

• ἀραί, sg dat/ pl of ἀρά – prayer, vow, curse, imprecation;
  
• Ἀραί, sg dat/ pl of Ἀρά, personified as the goddess of destruction and revenge; Ἀραί, the name of the Erinyes, goddesses of vengeance;
  
• ἀραί, sg dat/ pl of ἀρή – bane, ruin;
  
• ἀραί, conjugated form of ἀράομαι – pray to a god;
  
• ἀραί, conjugated form of ἀράζω – snarl, growl, of dogs (onomatop., = make the sound ἀρα, ἀρρα);
  
• ἀραί, aorist infinitive of αἴρω – lift, raise up; take up, in various uses: draw water; gather food; pluck herbs; take up and carry or bring; take up and bear, as a burden; wear clothes; raise, levy; rear a child; raise up, exalt; raise by words, hence, praise, extol; lift and take away, remove; make away with, destroy; Med., lift, take up for oneself or what is one’s own; Medic., to be swollen.
  

Which of these options suits the nymph-star?
Personally, I lean towards « raise up, exalt, grow », but it is too early to draw a definitive conclusion.