Re: [tied] Primordial Man, Ymir, *Yemos, PIE cosmogony

From: Glen Gordon
Message: 17914
Date: 2003-01-22

Joao:
>I agree with David. It is valid to Norse Ymir, but also to Indian Purus.a,

The issue I have here is that Ymir and Yama spring from the name *Yemos.
Now, granted, the functions of *Yemos and those of Ymir and Yama could
have evolved over the years but where is there any trace of a cosmic
motif behind Yama? At best, he might be seen as chthonic... but is he
truely "cosmic" (ie: the _entire_ universe)?

How can you relate Purusa with *Yemos? How do we know if Purusa has
anything to do with *Yemos or not? Maybe Purusa is a totally seperate
entity, introduced from elsewhere.


>1. Primordial Man *Yemos, hermaphrodit, giant, sacrified to originate the
>world.

Okay, Ymir is a hermaphrodite, but is Yama? Was *Yemos truely sexless?
Granted he was sacrificed, and being the "earth" he would have to be
large. He wouldn't need to be the _entire_ universe from what I see.


>2. The First Man *Manus, progenitor of manking, ruler of dead, king of
>Underworld, born from Earth (homo/humus).

No, I don't see an underworld link with First Man at all. The opposite!
The underworld link is clearly seen in *Yemos since Yama is the god
of the dead! What evidence for *Manus having such a motif?


>3. The Earth Mother *DHeg^Hom

Are you sure the earth is female in Indo-European mythology? Granted we
do find Gea but the Greek mythologies were affected by native preIE
Balkan beliefs as well as beliefs imported from across the Mediterranean.


>4. The Primordial Bovine, (hermaphrodit bovine? bull? cow? a couple? a
>cow and a calf?) From Cow's udder came the Primordial Rivers (Audhumla
>and Aditi).

Yes, I think I'll call her *GWou-Xanax for lack of a better name.


>We might add the World Tree to this scenario.

I want to call it the "Egg Tree". Yggdrasil would be one descendant of
this concept.


- gLeN


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