From: Steve Woodson
Message: 2337
Date: 2000-05-04
> ----- Original Message -----Dennis,
> From: Manuel Rosario <indoeuropean@...>
> To: <cybalist@egroups.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, 03 May, 2000 12:58 AM
> Subject: [cybalist] Eri-danus
>
> > Hi:
> > Can the word Eridanus be analysed as *eri- *danu- and thus be generated
> from
> > the ancient contacts between Greeks and Celts (cf. Erin)?. In addition,
> its
> > snake mythological imaging can come from some serpent-like river in East
> > Europe LowLands.
> > Hope someone makes it clear,
> > Manuel
>
> I would have thought that any Celtic-Greek hybrids, or purely Celtic origins
> as proposed by Chris, would be unlikely due to the lateness (mid 1st
> millennium) of the kind of contacts that would be required between Celts and
> Greeks.
> Most Greek myths seem to date back to the Bronze Age (mid/late 2nd
> millennium), when, I believe (along with Herodotos) that the major cultural
> influences on the Greeks came from Egypt and the Middle East. So proceeding
> along these lines, and to summarise from my posting of 1st. May, I propose :
>
> 1. dan/danu/don etc. from Semitic roots found in /dane-ki/, attested from
> mid 3rd millennium Mesopotamia, signifying "far west", and /dny/ attested
> in mod.Arabic /dunya/ "lower world".
> Thus /dan/ etc. as a river, would originally refer to the great River of
> Okeanos
> (another Semitic word BTW), identified with Atlantikos, which was also seen
> as a great serpent.
> 2. /eri-/ from a Semitic root /Hrr/ (the H stands for the laryngeal h),
> "burn, scorch".
> Thus Eridanos would refer to the western ocean turning to fire at sunset.
> 3. Phaeton, perhaps from Egyptian /p3 'tn/, (Aten/Aton), the solar disc, an
> aspect of Ra or Horus, or even /p3 tm/, the evening sun.
> Phaeton, as the son of Helios, could perhaps also be seen as Horus,
> grandson of Ra by Osiris, who is reputed in Egyptian myth as having tried to
> take the place of Ra. His major myth is also of his battle with the serpent
> Apep/Typhon/Set. Apep is also the serpent who tries to prevent the passage
> of Ra through the underworld at night.
>
> Cheers
> Dennis
>
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