On the etymology of the Greek theonym Κρόνος: Notes on the morphological type in -όνο-
The article discusses the etymology of the Greek theonym Κρόνος (Cronus), qualified by all dictionaries as etymologically unclear. I argue that this name can be considered as a member of the small class of nouns in -όνο- with agent-instrumental semantics. Following an old proposal by H. D. Müller (later advocated by M. Janda), I adopt the analysis of this name as a derivative of the verbal root *κερ- (cf. κείρω ‘cut’, Arm. kʻerem ‘scratch, rub’, Old Norse skera ‘cut’, etc.), thus explaining the name of the harvest god Cronus as ‘the one who cuts; castrator’, referring to one of his main functions as well as to the myth of castration of his father Uranus by Cronus. The class of nouns in -όνο- (/ f. -ονη) arguably includes such nouns as θρ-όνο-ς ‘seat, chair’ (analysable as a derivative of *θερ- < PIE *dʰer- ‘fix, hold’), κλ-όνο-ς ‘excitement, throng’, φθ-όνο-ς ‘malice, envy’ (PIE *dʰegʷʰ- ‘almost reach’), βελ-όνη ‘needle’ (PIE *gʷel- ‘throw, pierce’); ἀκ-όνη ‘whetstone’ (PIE *h₂eḱ- ‘sharp(en)’). Possible correspondences of this morphological type outside Greek may include the Celtic type in -ono/ā- (cf. Nechtan, Mātronā) and Indo-Iranian formations in -āna- of the type yudhāna- ‘enemy’ (yudh ‘fight’) or budhāna- ‘sage, teacher’ (budh ‘awake; observe, perceive’), formally coinciding with the middle participles made from root stems and, probably, partly absorbed by them.