 According to some linguists the name "Semele" is Thraco-Phrygian, derived from a PIE root meaning "earth".Julius Pokorny reconstructs her name from the PIE root "*dgem-" meaning "earth" and relates it with Thracian "Zemele", "mother earth".However, Burkert says that while Semele is "manifestly non-Greek", he also says that "it is no more possible to confirm that Semele is a Thraco-Phrygian word for earth than it is to prove the priority of the Lydian "baki"- over Bacchus as a name for Dionysos".