Re: [tied] Religion

Hello!

João Simões Lopes Filho wrote:

> OURANOS: The dialetal forms point to WORWANOS or WORHANOS
> There's the etymology *WORS-ANOS "he of the rain", as a Sky-God.
> VARUNA : Can be IE *Wer- or Wel-
> 1) Dumezil considered Varuna from *WER- "to bind". Indeed Varuna was a
> "Binder". Indeed, Ouranos "bind" his children, the Titans. Dumezil saw it as
> a IE myth, mixed with some Mediterranean myth.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Dumezil de-emphasize the
'binder-god' idea in his later works? I'm still working my way through
his books as I can get hold of them.

> 2) Other authors considered Varuna from *WEL-, like Lithuanian Velnias
> "devil", vele "dead", ON valr "dead", Slavic Volos, Veles . So, *Welunos
> would be a shapeshifting, terrible god, perhaps underworld.
>
> Personally, I don't believe Varuna was a subterraneous god. The concept of a
> Dark, Underworld God, facing the shining Sky-Father, is more a symmetrical
> concept than a mythical support.

Such a relationship would make Varuna the antithesis of the Sky-Father,
giving us something like the God/Devil pattern in popular Christianity
don't you think? Since we don't see this in IE mythology, I'd say we
can rule out the 'cthonic Varuna' altogether.

> In many IE people this Terrible Sovereign was absorbed by the Sky-Father
> *Dyeu- P@... In India, I think this god was influenced by Sumerian Ea and
> acquired a water-symbolism, turning into a Sea God.

I'd say that's a stretch. True, there were apparently Sumerian/Indus
Civilization contacts but I'd look for something more local and post-Vedic.

-- John

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‘Nothing on the face of this earth -- and I do mean nothing -- is half
so dangerous as a children’s story that happens to be real, and you and
I are wandering blindfolded through a myth devised by a maniac.’
-- Master Li Kao (T’ang Dynasty)
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