NURÁGHE, NURÁKE

Too many linguists have thought in vain about this very ancient name. The word is considered by a lot of people an adjectival (stem nur- + theme -ake), but it isn't really breakable up.

People mean it as 'a stonebuilt (tower)'; this translation gained ground, in their opinion, in the Middle Ages, but formerly it should have been different. In order to reveal the enigma, there is need to move with caution, allowing the highly rated investigators to talk.

I start with Sardella (Il sistema linguistico della Civiltà Nuragica 325 sgg.), who censures the scholars who attribute the meaning of the stem nur- both to nuraghe and nurra and translate at the same time nurra as 'heap of stones' and 'void, hollow, chasm'. He mantains thatnuraghe and nurra aren't related, and gives to the nuragic tower the meaning of 'sanctuary brightness' (Sumeric nur-a-a-ak-k-i): a compound of which I accept (with certain reservation) only the meaning of nur- 'brightness'.

Semerano (Origini della Civiltà Europea 592) equally doesn't admit any link between nurra and nuraghe, but makes the problem more adventurous. In order to follow the eminent scholar, let's start from the second member of the word, which for him isn't a flexive stem but a word linked to the first member by a bound form. In Semerano's opinion, it should have the same basis of lat. arx < Akkad. arku 'high (house)', Hebr. ārōh 'high, tall', 'inaccessible place, fortified place'. Referring to the whole name, in Akkadian it should mean, in Semerano's opinion,na(w)u-arraku'arx, castle'. Nāwûm, as (supposed) first member of the compound nur-ake, means 'nomadic house, pasture', and has its Semitic expansion in the Hebr. nā’ā 'house, dwelling, pasture', allotropic shape of nāwe 'dwelling, house, pasture': to the same basis goes back the Greek denominative verb νάιω 'I dwell'. Semerano compares the entire word nuraghe to the Latin castrum, its synonim.

The Semerano's reconstructing effort doesn't hit the nail on the head. A third approach is needed. In Pittau's opinion (Lingua sardiana o dei Protosardi 163) the nurake form should be related with the murake form, which is lately present in the quadrilateral Macomer-Silanus-Abbasanta-Paulilatino-Bonarcado. However an objection is just raising for an equal consideration of the question: that's the authomatic equation mur-ake = mur-ge (Murge are the well-known high grounds of Puglia). But Murge haven't the basis arx (Akkad. arraku,arku 'high, tall') but, for the first member of the word, the lat. basis of mū-rus 'wall, high wall'.

Pittau gives an exaustive apparatus of the words that are anyhow affiliated to nuraghe, defining them «Sardian wreck related with lat. mūrus 'wall', with the Etrurian anthroponym Muru and with Toscan mora,morra 'heap of stones'». He doesn't admit the relation nurra-'chasm' with nurra-'heap, pile', and continues: «With regard to the basis nura/mura or nurra/murra... the name nuraghe/muraghe is an adjective used as a name, and its original meaning was 'stone (building)', 'stone (tower)'».

However the Pittau's seductive discussion is wrong, too. First of all, because he hasn't allowed for the toponym Nora, which indicates the well-known Phoenician town in Sardinia, that means 'light (of God)'. And now I return to Sardella, to his half-truth referring to meaning of nuraghe. I understand that to put the nuraghe etymology beside Nora is equivalent to disturb the quiet opinion of plenty of scholars, but it's necessary: everyone is needed to abandon the rigid stand taken about the nuraghes function. Until when people accept as obvious that nuraghes weren't fortresses but altars, upon summit of which the everlasting sacred fire shone, people will understand nothing even of the etymology.

The nuraghes, before being identified as a 'stonebuilt wall' (awful sense generated in Middle Ages by the Christian clergy, determined to dismantle the hinges of the preceeding religion), were simply the God's Light altars (altars of the sacred fire) and put their own name beside the Nora's one; of course without identification of the two words, which haven't the same etymology.

As a matter of fact, for nuraghe we must put on account the Babylonian word nuhar (*) 'high temple, ziggurath'. On this word arose the Sardian metathesis (nuhar > nuragh-e). So interpreting, we must admit, correctly, the elder antiquity of the unic Sardian ziggurath (Monte d'Accoddi, Sassari). It was the pattern (ideological and religious pattern, not architectural pattern) from which had an evolution the nuraghes as God's Fire altars.

The strong belief, that nuraghes had to be fortresses, has no one logic basis. In Sardinia thenuraghes amount to 10,000 and as defensive towers they had to be a huge number, an unbelievable number. At that time the Sardians (Shardana) were, in historians' opinion, at the most 300,000, that's 30,000 families, that's three families per nuraghe; amongst them a half were babies and boys, and the other half was composed fifty-fifty by women. So in every "tribe" remained seven men who had the task of build-making, pasture making, war-making...: a reciprocal war, neighbours aganist neighbours, cousins against cousins... It's absurde. It should be sufficient to lean a fire against a "tower" and make the "enemy" die by asphyxia. Stupid.

The nuraghes weren't castles but altars, a kind of circular zigguraths. The Shardana people never was into internal war but was tenaciously united. The Shardana were so religious, that helped one another to build an incredible lot of altars with an absolute perfection, and this presupposes a strong unity of the people. Since 4,000 years thenuraghes challenge the wind and the scholars' nonsenses.

With reference to the summoned stem NUR, I mantain that it was well-known to Phoenicians, and by NUR they named the town of Nōra, writing NGR (see Stele of Nora).Ngr adapts both to Nōra and to Nùgoro/Nugòro (that's the town Nùoro). In order to clear the question I make the following remarks.

In Logudoro Nùoro/Nùgoro is named Nùaru, and this toponym seems to repeat the ancient word nuhar (= nuragh-e) (*), with fall of the -h-. Instead it isn't so. The Log. Nùaru has the basis in the anc.Akkad. nawāru(m) 'to be(come) bright, shine' > adj. nawru(m),nauru(m) 'bright, shining', crossed with nuwwurum 'intensity (of light)'. Nùoro/Nùgoro, in its turn, has the basis in nuwwurum.

In the millenary persistence of the twin pronunciations (Nùgoro and Nùaru) a semantic relationship stand out between 'intensity of light' (nuwwurum regarding an attribute of the nuraghe) and nuraghe (nuhar) (*) as altar tout court; the contamination carried the "tower" to identify with its epithet. In the Nuorese dialect prevailed the toponym referring to nuraghe brilliance (as fire altar: nuwwurum), and the ancient semi-consonant /w/ was then assimilated to /g/ (the next velar). The /w/ instead is vanished in the toponym Nōra < Nū(w)rum.

Among the Phoenicians who stayed in Nōra (or who dealt in Nōra) prevailed the enforcement of the -ww- of nuwwurum, and they named Nōra as Ngr (named Nò(g)ora) while among the Shardanas inhabitants of Nōra prevailed the drop of -ww- (nuwwurum > Nu(ww)rum > Nu(ww)ra > Nōra).