--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Joao S. Lopes" <josimo70@...>
wrote:
> According to Dumézil, the most plausible Norse match
of........Vayu would be Thor, not Odin.
Dear Joao (and Patrick),
Sorry for the belated reply.
In my cybalist msg. # 39051 I had written:
<< Some functional equivalences have been further proposed between
Vâyu and Wotan (also etymological: PIE *wê- `to blow' > IA Vâyu
seems connected with *wet- `to blow, inspire, spiritually arose' >
OHG Woutan), keeping in mind that Wotan was the `shamanic god' of
the Scandinavian `mad warriors' (berserkrs, ulfedhnars). >>
I have now found the following excgange on another List:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PIEreligion/message/230
(by Konrad Oddsson)
<< *weyu- (EIEC gives *H2weH1yus) is attested in Lithuanian,
Avestan, and Old Indic; there is a possible Old Church Slavonic
cognate. I would hesitate to put a deity with this name in PIE times
with so limited an area of attestation. *H2weH1-nt- is quite well
attested, from Celtic to Indic, with Tocharian thrown in for good
measure, but I'm not seeing any forms that imply any sort of
personalization. If we can reconstruct a PIE wind god, though, it
would make a good name for him. Watkins has "wât- Also wet-. To
inspire, spiritually arouse. 1. Germanic *wôdaz in Old English wôd,
insane, mad: wood(2). 2. Germanic *wôd-eno-, *wôd-ono-
, "raging", "mad", hence "spirit," name of the chief Teutonic god,
in a. Old English Wôden, Woden: WODEN; b. Old English
Wôdnesdæg, "Woden's day": WEDNESDAY; c. Old Norse Ôdhinn. Odin:
ODIN. 3. Latin vâtês, prophet, poet: vatic. [Pok. uât- 1113.].......
[I]t seems to be widely accepted that the Vedic 'Vâta-' is the same
god. 'Vâta-' is wind-god of sorts, or at least a theonym for the
wind-god. On the basis of this, I am beginning to suspect that PIE
peoples used the root *wât- in at least one of their theonyms for
the wind-god. Does anyone have any thoughts or further theistic
connections to make to the PIE root *wât-? Is it attested beyond
Indic, Germanic, Latin? >>
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PIEreligion/message/234
(by Ceisiwr Serith)
<< The EEIC gives *w/eo:t-, with a primary meaning of "blow," and a
secondary one of "seer, poet." It doesn't give any etymology of
Woden as coming from this root, but I think we can take that as
given. It does, however, say that the meaning of "poet" "appears
confined to the extreme west of the IE world." It appears in Celtic
and Germanic; it is also in Latin, but not until the first century
BCE. Because of this, I would be hesitant to postulate a PIE deity
of wind. Rather, I would see both Vata and Woden as secondary
developments from the same root. Relevant also is the question of
exactly where Woden comes from. I don't know much about this; it is,
however, controversial. In The Lady with the Mead Cup, Michael
Enright seems to be suggesting that he originated on the continent
in an area where Celts and Germans overlapped, starting his career
as a god of prophecy. If so, the connection with "wind" would be
through the semantic connection between words for "wind, breath,"
and those for "spirit, soul, inspiration." This would reinforce my
suggestion that Woden and Vata were independently arrived at. I'm
not dogmatic on this, but I just don't think there is enough
evidence to postulate a PIE deity of the wind. >>
Any further comments by listmembers would be very much appreciated.
Thanks and best regards,
Francesco Brighenti