Latin Volcanus and Ossetic Værgon
From: liberty@...
Message: 7819
Date: 2001-07-06
In "The Pre-Christian Religion of the Alans" V. I. Abaev derives the
name of the Ossetic god of the forge Kurdalægon from an older Kurd-
Alæ-Wærgon meaning "The Alan Smith Wærgon." He claims that Wærgon
and the Latin Volcanus are cognates and derivatives of *wlkwo- "wolf"
and that "Apparently, among both the Alans and the Romans the cult of
the god of fire and the forge was related by descent to the totemic
cult of the wolf." Can anybody comment on this? Is Wærgon in fact
cognate with Volcanus and if so are there any other cognates of
Volcanus in Indo-Iranian?
-David