- Κέρβερος
- ΚέρβεροςGrammatical information: m.Meaning: `name of the dog that guarded hell' (Hes. 311, where he has fifty heads). -Origin: PG [a word of Pre-Greek origin]X [probably]Etymology: No etym. Since long connected with Skt. karbara-, śárvara- `spotted', as adj. śabála- of the two dogs of the lower world (RV. 10, 14, 10). Doubted by Mayrhofer KEWA s. karbaraḥ, where for the Skt. word, after Kuiper, Austro-Asiatic origin is considered (s. also III 297). So it has nothing to do with the Greek word. - After Pisani Riv. degli studi or. 18, 91f. Κέρβερος and śabála- are of Mediterranean origin. (Von Wilamowitz Glaube 1, 314 n. considers Κέρβερος as the creation of a poet; "man hört in ihm das Knurren eines bissigen Köters", which nobody accepted.) The old connection in Pok. 578. Lincoln (JIES 7, 1979, 273-285) follows Schlerath, who showed that there were two hellhounds in the IE conception; this is most clear in Armenian, where Spitak `white' is the dog of life, Siaw `black' the dog of death. He ends with unfounded speculations. He may come from the East, but we have no evidence. He may as well be Pre-Greek, but I see no indication for it.Page in Frisk: 1,828-829
Greek-English etymological dictionary (Ελληνικά-Αγγλικά ετυμολογική λεξικό). Robert S.P.. 2010.