>Do the constellations and star-lore of the Greeks, Aryans, Celts, and
> >other PIE-language groups show any similiarities? If so, have the >PIE
>names for the constellations been reconstructed? How about the >PIE names
>for the pantheon?
>
>Just got to wondering ...
Cool question. Unfortunately, I'm not aware of much to speak of concerning
stars in IE in any references I've seen. Surely, IndoEuropeans must have
looked at the stars. Afterall, a word exists for "star", *xster- (*H2ster-).
Interestingly, some linguists like to tease their reader with aggravatingly
vague mentions of similarities in vocabulary between IE and Semitic. Many
have noted the similarity between IE *xster- "star" and Semitic *`aTtar-
"Venus".
This gets people like me to concluding that if there is anything to say
about IndoEuropean knowledge of stars and constellations, it probably was
all adopted ultimately from the Middle East at a very early date, during the
spread of agriculture into Europe along with the other connectable terms
that will never go away, like *woinos (Semitic *wayn-) and *septm (Semitic
*seb`itum).
- gLeN
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