ἄγγαρος 1 <Iranian?; Classical period>
👉 ἄγγαρος [probably --⏑ or, according to another view, -⏑⏑] m. – ‘royal mounted courier (in Persia)’ (Theopomp. Hist. 109; Jos., AJ 11.203; etc.); earlier attested as adjective ἄγγαρος ‘of courier, courier-like’ (Aesch., Ag. 282; Lib., Or. 18.143), but note that Aeschylus uses the word poetically in reference to communicating via beacon fires (ἀπ' ἀγγάρου πυρὸς – “from a courier fire”); ἀγγαρήιον n. ‘royal post consisting of mounted couriers in Persia’ (Hdt. 8.99); gen. pl. ἀνγαρείων ‘cursus publicus’ (IGBulg. 3.2 1690.e.62: 3rd c. CE). Cf. Hsch. α 393: ἀγγέριος· ἄγγελος – “angerios: messenger” and α 4554: ἀναρός· ἄγγελος. Ταραντῖνοι – “anaros: messenger. Tarentians”; EM 7: ἀγγάρους: ἀγγάριος. δοῦλος. ἢ ἄγγελος. – “angarios (means) slave or messenger”. See also Latin angarus m. ‘a public courier’, angaria, -orum n. (pl.) ‘compulsory services in connexion with the imperial post’.
⚠ Hdt. 8.99 describes the messenger system along the Royal Road; the crucial part of his description is the following: ῾Ο μὲν δὴ πρῶτος δραμὼν παραδιδοῖ τὰ ἐντεταλμένα τῷ δευτέρῳ, ὁ δὲ δεύτερος τῷ τρίτῳ· τὸ δὲ ἐνθεῦτεν ἤδη κατ' ἄλλον <καὶ ἄλλον> διεξέρχεται παραδιδόμενα (...). Τοῦτο τὸ δράμημα τῶν ἵππων καλέουσι Πέρσαι ἀγγαρήιον. – “The first rider delivers his charge to the second, the second to the third, and thence it passes on from hand to hand (...). This riding-post is called in Persia angareion” (trans. A.D. Godley); cf. Xenoph., Cyrop. 8.6.17-18. In the context of the story of Esther, Jos., AJ 11.203, mentions that the Persian king informed all nations about his wedding by sending so-called angaroi. Moreover, see Suda α 164: ἄγγαρος: οὕτως ἐκάλουν οἱ Πέρσαι τοὺς βασιλέων ἀγγέλους. – “angaros: the Persians call so messengers of the king”, as well as α 165 (= Phot. α 95): ἄγγαροι: οἱ ἐκ διαδοχῆς γραμματοφόροι. οἱ δὲ αὐτοὶ καὶ ἀστάνδαι. τὰ δὲ ὀνόματα Περσικά. (...) – “angaroi: the letter carriers in relays. They are the same as astandai. Both are Persian words. (...)” (cf. α 4220 s.v. ἀστάνδαι); Ael. Dion. α 16: ἄγγαροι· οἱ ἐκ διαδοχῆς γραμματοφόροι. οἱ δ' αὐτοί καὶ ἀστάνδαι. ἡ δὲ λέξις Περσική (...) – “angaroi: the letter carriers in relays. They are the same as astandai. A Persian word (...)”; EM 7: ἀγγάρους, ἡ λεγομένη Περσική ἐστι· σημαίνει δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἐκ διαδοχῆς βασιλικοὺς γραματοφόρους. – “angaroi (acc. pl.), said to be a Persian word: it means the royal letter carriers in relays”; Lex. Seguer. p. 325.2-6: ἄγγαρος· (...) παρὰ τοῖς βαρβάροις δὲ ὁ δημόσιος γραμματηφόρος – “angaros: (...) the state letter carrier among the barbaroi”. Cf. Hsch. α 374b s.v. <ἀγγάρους>; Theopomp. Hist. 109, without a context: κατέπεμψε πρέσβεις, οὓς ἐκεῖνοι ἀγγάρους καλοῦσιν. – “(Someone) sent the elders which they (probably the Persians) call angaroi”; Ath. 3.94/122a: τοὺς ἀστ<άνδας ἢ ἀγγ>άρους (cj.; mss.: τοὺς ἀστάρους) in a passage enumerating some Persian words in Greek; Claud. Cas. pp. 243f. and Lex. Rhet. Cantabr. pp. 82f., where ἄγγαρος is described together with three Iranian loanwords.
🅔 Perhaps, two foreign homophones, i.e. ἄγγαρος ‘courier’ and ἄγγαρος ‘workman’ (see ἄγγαρος 2), blended together and interacted with each other. The former is probably an Old Persian or Median loanword, but its etymology is not clear. One can assume that it was deformed under the influence of Greek ἄγγελος ‘messenger, envoy’. There are many etymological explanations (without dividing into two lexemes): 1. Greek ἄγγελος ‘messenger’, Vedic άṅgira and άṅgiras ‘Aṅgiras, i.e. a Vedic sage (rishi); name of Agni; (pl.) descendants of Aṅgiras or of Agni; a group of priests’; ἄγγαρος would be originally an Old Persian word treated as Indo-European (earlier, it was linked additionally to Latin ambulō ‘to walk’); 2. Modern Persian hangār / hangārd ‘haste, speed; vehemence’, hangārīdan (praes. 3 sg. hangārad) ‘to exercise violence, to be sharp or stringent’; 3. Modern Persian angārīdan ‘to think, imagine’; 4. Akkadian agru(m) ‘hired man, hireling’, Jewish Aramaic ʾăḡîrā ‘hired labourer’, ʾăḡîr ‘hired man’ etc.; see ἄγγαρος 2; 5. Akkadian egertu / igertu or egirtu / igirtu ‘inscribed tablet; letter’, Official Aramaic ʾgrt / ʾgrh (abs.; cstr. ʾgrt, emph. ʾgrtʾ) ‘letter; contract’, Biblical Hebrew ʾiggereṯ ‘letter’ etc.; 6. Demotic hgr ‘Hagarite, Arab’ (according to an interpretation, also with the extended meaning ‘mounted courier’); 7. Iranian *Hgar- ‘to be awake’ (e.g. Young Avestan *γār- ‘to guard, watch’) with the prefix *ham- ‘together, with’ (Old Persian ham- ‘id.’) or *ā- ‘to, as far as’ (Old Persian and Old/Young Avestan ā ‘to’); 8. Iranian root *kar- ‘to do, to make’ (e.g. Avestan and Old Persian kar- ‘id.’) with *ham- ‘together, with’; 9. Iranian root with the meaning ‘to move’ (quoted as *kar-, but it is rather *čarH-, attested e.g. in Avestan car- ‘to come and go’) and prefix *ham- ‘together, with’; 10. Iranian root attested in Young Avestan kar- ‘to celebrate, praise’ and prefix *ham- ‘together, with’; 11. Old Persian *ang- related to Sanskrit áṅga- n. ‘a limb of the body’ with the suffix *-āra. Concerning the morphology, note that according to a hypothesis, the form ἄγγαρος is a back-formation from ἀγγαρήιον.
📖 Ref.: cf. Benfey 1839-42: II, 129f.; Brust 2008: 17-37; Bugge 1889: 62; CDD: s.v. hgr; CED: 358; DELG: 8; EDG: 9; Eilers 1961-62: 225, n. 31; GEW: I, 7f. and III, 16; Hemmerdinger 1969: 18; Hemmerdinger 1970: 41; Horn 1893: 28f., n. 3; Huyse 1993; Lagarde 1866: 184; Mancini 1995-96; Pontillo 1996; Rosół 2013: 156f.; Schmitt 1971: 97-100; Sethe 1916: 118-124; Zimmern 1917: 7 and 47