Artemis and Her Family.

The present contribution sumarizes and analyzes the main etymological attempts to explain the theonym Ἄρτεμις. With regard to vacillation in the root vocalism, the Mycenaean records and the predominance of worship of this goddess in Asia Minor lend precedence to the hypothesis of non-Greek origin. Regarding epithets mediated by ancient authors, it seems that most were transferred from Artemis' brother Apollo. A new solution is based on her epithet Τύχη "Fortune", known especially from numismatic legends from various cities Peloponnese, Lesbos, and Asia Minor as well as Gerasa in North Jordan. The hypothetical compound *Artemi- would mean "giving omen" in Hurrian, where both components are attested and safely interpreted, and this type of personal name is very frequent. This could have been adopted into Greek in three ways: (i) from a hypothetical language of West Asia Minor related to Hurrian, (ii) from a hypothetical pre-Greek substratum related to Hurrian, or (iii) from Hurrian with Luwoid mediation. It is significant that the names of her brother Apollo and mother Leto are also etymologizable on the basis of Hurro-Urartian languages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]