From: Mark Odegard
Message: 3628
Date: 2000-09-12
From: Glen GordonJoao:
>What were the bases for this pair *Nepo:t and *Pexwrgnnos ? What IE >gods
>were the reflexes of these two PIE gods?
*Xepom Nepo:t "Grandson of the Waters"
- god of water & the Underworld
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Indic Apam Napat
Roman Neptunus
Celtic Nechtain
*Pexwrgnnos "Fire-Born" (<- my interpretation)
- god of war & the warrior caste
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Norse Fjo"rgynn (mother of Thor)
Indic Parjanya
The 'child of the water' myth is obscure. The Greek reflex is Theseus plunging into the sea to recover a ring, then being escorted to the court of Amphitrite. Vergil, in one of his Georgics, the one about Aristeus, also preserves elements of this. There are reflexes in Avestan and Sankrit. It also seems to come part-and-parcel with a 'fire in water' myth. Whatever it means, it would seem to be of PIE status.One thought is to see it as a reflex of an ancient adoption/marriage ceremony, where a foreign male (a Steppe nomad perhaps) is adopted/married into a matrilineal clan. Here, the old matriarch would take an adopted grandson/nephew into the family.Mark.