>Egyptians had really old cow traditions of their own, no need for IE
>borrowings.
As I said, the connection would be very indirect because the mediators of
this mythology would be the "Pelasgic" peoples around the Mediterranean,
whoever they might have been if not Tyrrhenian speaking. The creation of new
associations between existing traditions and that of a foreign population
can always happen.
Believe me, Egyptian-IE connections grate on my nerves as much as on yours
and probably many others on this List. Certainly anybody who has researched
enough about IndoEuropean and/or Egyptian knows that the IE language could
never have directly affected them at all. However, this doesn't mean that
the Egyptians can be categorically said to be impervious to prehistoric
European influence. The latter would be stretching things too far in the
opposite direction.
Max Dashu:
>But in any case, Hathor is Greek. The original Kemetic is Het-heru, >or
>sometimes Het-hert: house of falcon, the heavens.
I thought Hathor was actually Coptic... the descendant language of Egyptian.
I ask you: Who better than the Coptic to know how to pronounce the names of
their own deities?
Maybe you're thinking of "Athyr" which certainly looks ahelluvalot more
Greek than Hathor does... but whether a Coptic or Hellenized version, it's
still reflective of how the Egyptians actually pronounced the name.
Egyptologists, never quite sure of the original vocalism because of the fact
the Egyptians didn't write their vowels in hieroglyphic script, have
themselves added intervening e's just for easy pronunciation for the laymen
folk and to avoid contraversy. It doesn't mean that "e" was there at all.
The Coptic and Greek pronunciations are absolutely invaluable for
understanding the original Egyptian vocalism, while your "Het-Heru" is
simply a modern pseudo-reconstruction that says nothing in the end.
No cigar for you, young man. :P I'm afraid the pronunciation is quite real.
- gLeN
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