Re: Nart stuff

From: tgpedersen
Message: 48664
Date: 2007-05-20

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "tgpedersen" <tgpedersen@...> wrote:
>
>
> Comment on Saga 28
> 'Wardana and Chwindizh Dwell in the White-Haired Forest' in
> 'Nart Sagas from the Caucasus'
> "
...
> Only two short tales
> in the entire seven-volume Circassian corpus refer to Nart Wardana
> or Wadana. Nevertheless, these two fragments throw light on
> far-reaching cultural relationships across ancient Eurasia. The
> "standard" etymology for this Germanic *Wo:ðanaz (Old English Wodan,
> Old High German Wuotan, Norse Odin) is to derive it from the root
> *wo:ð- 'rage', cognate with Latin va:te:s ' rage, possession, fury'
> (Puhvel 1987, 193).
...
> On one hand, Wardana, in its Shapsegh form of Wadana (pronounced
> "Wodéna"), offers a source for the late common Germanic god
> *Wo:ðanaz, which has been reworked under Gothic influence from the
> Germanic "Mercurius" noted by Tacitus in his Germania in the first
> century a.d. Roman interpretation of the Germanic gods. On the other
> hand, the Goths, with their steppe empire in the early centuries of
> the Christian era, link up with the Ancient Pontic Iranians (Alans
> and Sarmatians) and the ancestors of the Circassians, to borrow a
> hypothetical Iranian *War-dana, which itself would have been cognate
> with Indo-Aryan Vrddhana, "Giver of Booty," an epithet of the Hindu
> god Shiva, whose name in turn is an epithet of the Vedic god Rudra.
> Further, Wardana, like the Germanic Wodan, is fickle, killing all of
> his nephews but one, and is responsible for raising tumuli over
> them. In this latter function he assumes responsibility for dead
> heroes just as Wodan does. His horse, too, like Wodan's (Norse
> Odin's) Yggdrasil, is the fastest.
...
> "

Benveniste, Renou: Vr.tra et Vr.þragna,
(Chapitre IV, Vr.þragna hors la tradition Avestique)
propose to derive from the name Vr.þragna as loans in other languages
the following:

Artagnes,
in a multilingual inscription, Antiochus of Commagene proclaims his
fidelity to the cult of his ancestors, including Zeus-Oromasdes,
Apollo-Mithra-Heios-Hermes and Artagnes-Heracles-Ares,

Vahagn,
Armenian god, his descendants are called Vahe:vians, Vahnunians(?), a
race of priests,

Orþagne:s,
inscription on coin issued by Guduvraha (Saka, but loanword, East
Iranian, 1st cent. CE),

Varhra:n,
Pahlevi

Ooroerano,
royal name on coin, III century CE,

Os^laGno
coin, Saka

vas^aGne: BaGe:
"the god Vas^aGn", Sogdian

vunxa:n
from pehlevi *vurhra:n > *vunhra:n, loan for planet Mars in Sogdian text,

Ortono(par...), Orþono(bazos),
Parthian names,

Vahra:n,
Mandean

Vahra:m,
Armenian,

Vahra:m, Bahra:m,
pehlevi,

Guram,
Georgian


so I find it more likely the correspondence of Circassian Wardana is
with Vr.þragna, not Vrddhana. Note the similarity of Vahe:vians,
Vahnunians to Vangiones.


BTW, a quote
"
«An important question is raised by the etymology of this name
(Vrþragna), which is of course compared with the Vedic cult-title of
Indra Vr.tra-han. That is assumed to mean «slayer of Vrtra», but the
Iranian evidence makes it highly probable that the said demon is a
myth in more senses than one... It is clear that the Indo-Aryans
misunderstood the word, and invented a demon to explain a word which
on analogy might naturally mean «slaying x», the x in question having
gone out of use » (Moulton, Early Zoroastrianism, p. 427).
"


Torsten