Re: [tied] Re: Names of a few Celtic Deities

From: Patrick Ryan
Message: 40969
Date: 2005-10-02

----- Original Message -----
From: "Daniel J. Milton" <dmilt1896@...>
To: <cybalist@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, October 02, 2005 11:56 AM
Subject: [tied] Re: Names of a few Celtic Deities


--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Patrick Ryan" <proto-language@...>
wrote:

> Nodonti cannot derive fro *nei-; and Netus cannot derive from
*(s)neudh-.
>
> You are dealing with divinities with two distinctly different
functions:
>
> 1) Ne:to: is the inspiration to battle frenzy; the Egyptian female
> equivalent is Neith, a blood-thirsty cheerleader.
>
> 2) Nuado is the 'raider'; the key to understanding his nature is the
epithet
> Airgeadlámh, 'Silver Hand', which is self-explanatory.
>
> What they do have in common is that both are connected to the
planet
> Mercury, the planet of thieves and ululating hysteria.
>
> ***
Can you substantiate any of these statements?
'Silver-hand', in the myths we have, doesn't refer to raiding for
silver (the Irish were more interested in cows anyway), but literally
to a silver prosthesis, Nuadu having lost a hand, like Tir or Mucius
Scaevola.
Dan Milton

***
Patrick:

Cattle-Hand might have been a little awkward, do you not agree?

Silver-Hand poetically expresses the greed for any material benefit very
nicely.

I cannot find in my references here the myth of how Nuadh lost his hand. Can
you refresh my memory?

Tyr is almost certainly a sun-god, and his association with the Thing
substantiates it; the solar divinity and law are almost always related. His
lost hand is the penalty for perfidy. Did he have a prosthesis? I cannot
remember one.

Could you also refresh my memory on Q. Mucius Scaevola, with a reference or
two?

***






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