From: João Simões Lopes Filho
Message: 16953
Date: 2002-11-30
----- Original Message -----
From: Piotr Gasiorowski <piotr.gasiorowski@...>
To: <cybalist@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, November 30, 2002 2:52 PM
Subject: Re: [tied] Pramantha/Prometheus: a false etymology?
<prome:tHeus> and <epime:tHeus> are telling names in Greek: 'Forethought'
and 'Afterthought', respectively. The etymology is obvious, cf. Gk.
prome:tHe:s 'provident, thinking in advance'. Skt. pramantHa- (derived from
a verb meaning 'stir violently') does mean 'fire-drill', but it doesn't
quite match "Prometheus" formally; nor does it account for "Epimetheus". The
similarity, so cherished by theosophists, is accidental, except for the
<pro->/<pra-> part, which is the same inherited prefix in both cases (PIE
*pro- 'forth').
Piotr
----- Original Message -----
From: Jean Kelly
To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Saturday, November 30, 2002 5:24 PM
Subject: [tied] Pramantha/Prometheus: a false etymology?
It's often been claimed that the Greek name, Prometheus, was derived from
Pramantha, a fire-stick [Kuhn, Adalbert (1886), Die Herabkunft des Feuers
und des Gottertranks, 2nd ed., Gutersloh: 15 ff. Mayrhofer, Manfred. 1962.
Kurzgefasstes etymologisches Worterbuch des Altindischen. Heidelberg: vol.
2, 567 f; 578 ff.] But the theory has also been attacked [Pauly-Wissowa
Real Encyclopaedie Vol. XXXIII (i) (1957) p. 690. Roscher, W.H.:
Ausführliches Lexikon der Griechischen und Romischen Mythologie, B.G.
Teubner, Leipzig 1884-1937: 3033-3034].
As I'm not a linguist myself, I wondered what Cybalist's opinion was.
Jean Kelly
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