An Etymologist's look at Mayan Mythology.

Continuing on after my recent course on ancient languages, I thought it would be interesting to examine a selection of Mayan mythological figures and examine the etymologies for their names.

Acat is the Mayan god associated with tattooing, of all things, and a name which either describes a water reed or, if the pronunciation is 'ah-cat', then it would be 'He of the Storage Jar'. I do so hope it's the latter.

Awilix is the goddess of the moon, or the queen of the night, depending upon the source consulted. Similarly the name has two possible sources and two meanings, depending upon the language of origin: if the Nuahatal language of the Aztecs then this seems to be a place name; but if the Q'eqchi' Mayan language, then it represents the 'swallow' as in the bird.

Bacab is not one god but four. Tha Bacabs being the four associated with the interior of the world, the source of the soil and water deposits. The meaning of the name is uncertain, but what we do know is their names - Hobnil, Cantzicnal, Sacimi, and Hosanek - who held up the four points of the sky after escaping from the deluge which destroyed it. (Amazing how many ancient cultures have a story where the world was reset following a flood.)

Camazotz is a compound name, one formed from the K'iche' words kame meaning 'death' and sotz meaning 'bat', which is really good news as Camazotz is the god of death and bats.

Cizin has a name meaning 'stench', it is derived from the root ciz meaning 'flatulence'. As a Mayan god of death and earthquakes, and on a person's death he is said to burn their souls on his mouth and anus.

Gukumatz is derived from two K'iche' words q'uq the 'replendant quetzal' and kumatz 'snake'. This small Central American bird seems a rather odd choice for the head and wings end of a creature with a ophidian's body/tail.

Itzamna was original defined as 'lizard house, from the Yucatecan words itzam na. But latterly other suggestions have been put forward, including itz which covers several secretions such as sap, dew, and even semen, and also itzam meaning 'asperser, sorcerer'.

Jacawitz, the mountain god, probably gets his name from the Cholan languages where jacawitz means 'first mountain' (as in the first mountain of creation). That does make more sense than the alternative offering of Mam xq'aqwitz 'yellow wasp'.

Tepeu means 'sovereign' in the K'iche' language, and is one of the creation gods.

Yopaat, the Mayan storm god, gets his name from yop and aat which quite literally translates as 'leaf penis'.

An Etymologist's look at Egyptian Mythology.

Continuing on after my recent course on ancient languages, I thought it would be interesting to examine a selection of Egyptian mythological figures and examine the etymologies for their names.

Amun is the sun-god and his name means simply 'hidden'.

Anubis is actually the Greek rendering of the Egyptian name Anpu or Inpu which is said to be 'a royal child' and from a root meaning 'to decay' (no, neither can I see that link). The god is known by several titles, including First of the Westerners; Lord of the Sacred Land; He Who is Upon His Sacred Mountain; Ruler of the Nine Bows; Master of Secrets; He Who is in the Place of Learning; Foremost of the Divine Booth; and The Dog who Swallows Millions.

Horus is rendered in hieroglyphs as 'falcon', although etymologists also suggest his name means 'the distant one' or 'one who is above'.

Osiris is a Latin Translation of the Greek rendering of the original Egyptian, where the name is wsjr. This could be 'the Mighty One'; 'seat of the eye', 'something made', 'she who bears the eye', 'to make', or 'engendering male principle'. These varied explanations are down to the Egyptian hieroglyphs lacking vowels in translation - you can see the problems, for if the same applied in English it would be difficult to know if the word was net, nit, not, or nut.

Shu means either 'emptiness' or 'she who rises up'.

Sobek, the crocodile god, is the Egyptian for 'to impregnate'.

Bat is a cow goddess, whose name has the suffix 't', to represent a female, following the name Ba which seems to refer to 'the soul'.

Nut is thought to be named for her place of residence, as it probably translates as 'sky'.

Tefnut is a god of moisture and dew and rain, and some think the name (which has no suggestable etymology) is the onomatopoeia of the sound of spitting - this has nothing to do with the moisture aspect, but a reference to the mythological birth of this god when another god spat and created Tefnut and his sister. There is an alternative suggestion to spitting featuring other bodily fluids, but we'll gloss over that.

Nu is derived from nen 'inactivity', if it comes from Egyptian, or it could be Coptic noun 'abyss, deep'.

Amenhotep translates as 'Amun is satisfied'. Just why he was satisfied is extremely complicated and I lost interest halfway through reading.

Baal is from the Greek, previously linked to many Semitic languages such as Ugaritic, Phoenician, Hebrew, Amorite, and Aramaic, and which probably means 'owner', understood as 'lord'.

Imhotep translates as 'the one who came in peace'.

Tutu means 'image', although he's also known as 'Son of Neith', 'the lion', 'great of strength', and Master of the demons of Sekhmet and the wandering demons of Bastet'.

Homonyms, Etymologically Speaking: B

Many words have two meanings, sometimes more, which are often very different. Such words have identical spelling and pronunciation, they are known as homonyms. Here I continue an A to Z list of such words and look at how that word came to have two different meanings.

B is for band and also for bat. Taking 'band' first, clearly the earliest usage would have been as in the sense 'a flat strip, that which binds'. This word is seen in Old English bend, Old Scandinavian band, and Old French bande, and all with identical meanings. Clearly this monosyllabic word has been around a long time, and we can trace it back to the root word bhendh, meaning 'to bind' in Proto-Indo-European.

The second use of 'band' is as in the sense 'an organised group', particularly used when speaking of an armed group of men. It is not difficult to see how the 'binding' of a flat strip has been transferred to the 'binding together' of a group of individuals. This is also why a group of musicians are known as a 'band', and has been since at least 1660.

An examination of 'bat' looks at both the flying mammal and that used to hit a ball (or similar) in sporting contests. Taking the latter first, Old English batt was used to refer to a cudgel, and was a loan word from Irish bat and Gaelic bata, both having identical meanings. These come from the Proto-Indo-European bhat 'to strike'. Note the Middle English use referred to a 'lump, piece, chunk', the term surviving in terms such as 'brickbat'.

When it comes to the mammal, the creature was known in Middle English as bakke, this related to Old Swedish natbakka 'night bat', and Old Norse ledrblaka which might be used to mean 'bat' but literally translates as 'leather flapper'. This is also seen in the Proto-Indo-European bhlag 'to strike', this also the origin of words such as 'flagellate'. Old English hreremus was also used to refer to a bat, this from hreran 'to shake'.