Editing Cerberus (section)

== Etymology ==
[[File:Hades-et-Cerberus-III.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Cerberus and Hades/[[Serapis]]. [[Heraklion Archaeological Museum]], [[Crete]], [[Greece]].<ref>''LIMC'' [http://www.iconiclimc.ch/visitors/treesearch.php?source=100&term=%22Kerberos+66%22 Kerberos 66]; Woodford, p. 29.</ref>]]

The etymology of Cerberus' name is uncertain. Ogden<ref>Ogden 2013a, p. 105.</ref> refers to attempts to establish an Indo-European etymology as "not yet successful". It has been claimed to be related to the [[Sanskrit]] word सर्वरा ''sarvarā'', used as an epithet of one of the [[Sharvara and Shyama|dogs of Yama]], from a [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] word *''k̑érberos'', meaning "spotted".<ref>{{cite book | last1 = Mallory | first1 = J. P. | author1-link = J. P. Mallory | last2 = Adams | first2 = D. Q. | author2-link = Douglas Q. Adams | chapter = Chapter 25.10: Death and the Otherworld | title = Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World | url = https://archive.org/details/oxfordintroducti00mall | url-access = registration | location = Oxford, GBR | publisher = Oxford University Press | date = 2006 | page = [https://smerdaleos.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/ie-mallory-adams.pdf] | isbn = 978-0-19-928791-8 | oclc = 139999117}}</ref> Lincoln (1991),<ref>Lincoln, [https://books.google.com/books?id=JY77EuSuLk8C&pg=PA96 pp. 96–97].</ref> among others, critiques this etymology. This etymology was also rejected by [[Manfred Mayrhofer]], who proposed an Austro-Asiatic origin for the word,<ref>Mayrhofer, ''Kurzgefaßtes Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindoarischen'' s.v. ''karbaraḥ''</ref> and by [[Robert S. P. Beekes|Beekes]].<ref>[[Robert S. P. Beekes|Beekes, R. S. P.]], ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'' (Leiden: Brill, 2009), 1:678.</ref> Lincoln notes a similarity between Cerberus and the [[Norse mythology|Norse mythological]] dog [[Garmr]], relating both names to a Proto-Indo-European root ''*ger-'' "to growl" (perhaps with the suffixes ''-*m/*b'' and ''-*r''). However, as Ogden observes, this analysis actually requires ''Kerberos'' and ''Garmr'' to be derived from two ''different'' Indo-European roots (*''ker-'' and *''gher-'' respectively), and so does not actually establish a relationship between the two names.

Though probably not Greek, Greek etymologies for Cerberus have been offered. An etymology given by [[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]] (the late-fourth-century commentator on [[Virgil]])—but rejected by Ogden—derives Cerberus from the Greek word ''creoboros'' meaning "flesh-devouring".<ref>[[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]] on [[Virgil]], ''Aeneid'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0053%3Abook%3D6%3Acommline%3D395 6.395]; Ogden 2013a, [https://books.google.com/books?id=FQ2pAK9luwkC&pg=PA190 p. 190]; compare with [[Fabius Planciades Fulgentius|Fulgentius]], ''Mythologies'' 1.6 (Whitbread, [https://books.google.com/books?id=73mJIuYfmzEC&pg=PA51 pp. 51–52]); [[First Vatican Mythographer]], 1.57 (Ogden 2013b, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Vv0Fxm6Amh4C&pg=PA73 pp. 73–74; Pepin, p. 36]); [[Second Vatican Mythographer]], 13 (Pepin, 106), 173 (Pepin, p. 171); [[Third Vatican Mythographer]], 13.4 (Pepin, [https://books.google.com/books?id=sE7WnkLLt2gC&pg=PA324 p. 324]). According to Ogden, 2013b, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Vv0Fxm6Amh4C&pg=PA74 p. 74], "''creoboros'' is a genuine Greek word and does indeed mean 'flesh-devouring', but it has no part to play in the genuine etymology of Cerberus's name, which remains obscure".</ref> Another suggested etymology derives Cerberus from "Ker berethrou", meaning "evil of the pit".<ref>Room, p. 88.</ref>