Laconian βοῦα 'Band of Boys' as a collective noun

Abstract

In his lexicon, Hesychius of Alexandria gives the following Laconian gloss: βοῦα·ἀγέλη παίδων. (“boũa: a band of young boys. Laconians”). This term is confirmed by epigraphical data from Sparta, see especially βο(υ)ᾱγός, later βο(υ)ᾱγόρ m. ‘leader of a young boys’ band at Sparta’ (IG V.1.257; 283; 292; etc.). The author explains the registered lemma from etymological and morphological points of view, accepting A. J. van Windekens’s etymology according to which the Laconian term βοῦα f. is related to the Lithuanian gaujà f. ‘flock, pack, herd, bunch, band, gang’. She reconstructs the Indo-European nomen collectivum *gu̯óu̯iā̯ f. ‘herd, pack, band’, originally ‘herd of cows, cattle’ (← IE. *gu̯ṓus f./m. ‘cow’), adding other reflexes taken from Latin and Indo-Aryan and Balto-Slavic languages, e.g. Latv. gauja f. ‘crowd’; Skt. (Pāṇini) gávyā f. coll. ‘cow-herd’; Vedic gávyam, gavyám n. coll. ‘herd of cows’; Oriya gāba ‘cattle’, also ‘a cow’; and so on.