Inspired by Tamarian, here's a modest proposal for a mythometaphorical model language: Intermythic English. Intermythic English is English with the addition of the vocabulary below. - Jeffrey Henning, January 7, 1996 SAMPLE SENTENCES Yama can sarasvati Babel. "You can speak Intermythic English." The Minerva of Babel has Castor and Pollux. "The author of Intermythic English has twins." Yama and Nar can ahura mazda new Sarasvatis for Babel. "You and I can create new words for Intermythic English." PRONOUNS Personal pronouns are not inflected for number, gender or case. The first person pronoun ("I, me, we, us") is _Nar_ [from Narcissus], second person ("you") is _Yama_ [from the first mortal in Indian mythology], and third person ("he, him, she, her, they, them, it") is _Skanda_. LEXICON word [its ultimate known native culture] - its meaning as a verb, noun, adjective Words separated by a slash are the Greek and Roman forms (Artemis/Diana). Either is acceptable Intermythic. Achilles [Greek.] - to kill, one killed Adam [Jewish] - a man, masculine Adapa [Akkadian] - to think, a wise person, wise Aditi [Indian] - to bear a child, a mother, motherly Adonis [Phoenician] - to seduce, a seducer, seductive Aeneas [Greek] - to worship, a worshipper, worshipful Agni [Indian] - to ignite, a fire, fiery; to anger, an angry one, angry; to digest, a digester/eater, digestive Ahura Mazda [Indo-Iranian] - to create, a creator, creative Amaterasu [Japanese] - to rule, a ruler/monarch/emperor, imperial Amazon [Greek] - a matriarchy, matriarchial Amitabha [Bhuddist] - to save, a savior, saving Amma [Dogon] - Amun-Re [Egyptian] - to hide, an unknown, hidden Anahita [Persian] - Angel [Jewish] - to herald/convey a message, a herald/messenger Angra Mainyu [Persian] - to die, a dead one, deadly; to rot, filth, rotten Anna Perenna [Roman] - to feast, a feaster, festive Antigone [Greek] - Anu [Sumerian] - to judge, justice/a judge, judgmental Anubis [Egyptian] - to embalm, an embalmer Aphrodite/Venus [Greek] - to beautify, a beauty, beautiful Apis [Egyptian] - a bull Apollo [Greek] Ares/Mars [Greek] - to war, a war, martial Artemis/Diana [Greek] - a virgin, virginal; to hunt, a hunter, venereal [in hunting sense!] Arthur [Celtic] Ascelpius/Aesculapius [Greek] Aten [Egyptian] - to shine, the sun, solar Athena/Minerva [Greek] - to create art/write/compose/sculpt, an artist, artistic Baal [Phoenician] - to fight, a fighter, combative Babel [Jewish] - Intermythic English Balder [Norse] - to be gentle, one who is gentle, gentle Brahma [Indian] Buddha [Bhuddist] Castor [Greek] - a twin Pollux [Greek] - a twin Centaur [Greek] - to ride a horse, an equestrian Cernunnos [Celtic] - to run wild, a wild animal, wild Chac [Mayan] - to rain, the rain, rainy Cu/ Chulainn [Irish] Cybele [Phrygian] Demeter/Ceres [Greek] - to farm, a farmer, agricultural Dionysus/Bacchus [Greek] - to drink alcohol, an alcoholic drink/a drunkard/wino, inebriated dragon [various] - to hoard, a hoard, miserly Durga [Indian] Enki [Sumerian] Enlil [Sumerian] - to be true, truth, truthful; to take an oath, oath Epona [Gallic] Erinnye [Greek] - to punish, a punisher, punishing Eros/Cupid [Greek] - to love, a lover, loving Eve [Jewish] - a woman, feminine Faunus [Roman] Finn mac Cumhal [Irish] Freyja [Norse] Freyr [Norse] - to engage in an orgy, an orgy, orgiastic Ganesha [Indian] Genii [various] giant [various] Gilgamesh [Sumerian] Gorgon [Greek] - to terrorize, a terror, terrifying Medusa [Greek] - an ugly one, ugly Hadad [Assyrian] - to storm, a storm, stormy Hades/Pluto [Greek] Hanuman [Indian] harpy [Greek] - to kidnap, a kidnapper Hathor [Egyptian] Heimdallr [Norse] - to guard, a guard Helen [Greek] Hephastus/Vulcan [Greek] - a blacksmith Hera/Juno [Greek] - to marry, a married woman Heracles/Hercules [Greek] - a strong man, strength Hermes/Mercury [Greek] Hestia/Vesta [Greek] - to establish a home, a home/hearth, homely Horus [Egyptian] - sky Huang-ti [Chinese] Huitzilopochtli [Aztec] Inanna [Sumerian] Indra [Indian] Ishtar [Mesopotamian] - to make a really bad movie, a bad movie :-) Isis [Egyptian] - to make a really bad TV show Itzamma [Mayan] - a lizard, lizardly Janus [Roman] - to begin, a beginner Jason [Greek] Kama [Indian] Kami [Japanese] - nature, natural Krishna [Indian] Kumarbi [Hurrian] - to rival, a rival/rivalry Lakhsmi [Indian] Lares [Roman] Leviathan [Phoenician] - a monster, monstrous; a huge one, huge Loki [Norse] - chaos/disorder, chaotic/disorderly Lug [Irish] Maat [Egyptian] - a balance Marduk [Babylonian] Minos [Greek] Mithra [Indo-European] - to make a friend, a friend, friendly Modimo [African] Moerae/Parcae [Greek] - to determine the fate, fate, fatal Muse [Greek] - to sing, a singer/music [!], musical Nar Narcissus [Greek] - [first-person pronoun] I, me, we, us Narcissus [Greek] - self Nemesis [Greek] Nephthys [Egyptian] Nergal [Babylonian] Ninurta [Sumerian] Niobe [Greek] Njord [Norse] - to fish, a fish, fishy Norn [Norse] Nymph [Greek] Odin [Norse] Odysseus/Ulysses - to travel, a traveler Oedipus [Greek] Ogmios [Celtic] Orpheus [Greek] - to make poetry, a poet, poetic Osiris [Egyptian] Pan [Greek] - to herd sheep, a shepherd/a flock, pastoral Pandora [Greek] - to hope, one who hopes, hopeful; Esperanto Parasurama [Indian] Pelops [Greek] Perseus [Greek] - to develop software, a software developer/programmer/future millionaire Perun [Slavic] Phaethon [Greek] Poseidon/Neptune - to sail the sea, the sea, maritime Prajapati [Indian] Priapus [Greek] - a chauvinist Prometheus [Greek] Ptah [Egyptian] Purusha [Indian] Pwyll [Celtic] Qat [Oceanic] Quetzalcoatl [Aztec] Quirinus [Roman] Rama [Indian] Rhiannon [Celtic] Rod [Slavic] Rosmerta [Gallo-Roman] Rudra [Indian] - to redden, the color red, red Sarasvati [Indian] - to speak, a word/a speaker, verbal Saturn [Roman] Sekhmet [Egyptian] Seth [Egyptian] - to cause evil, an evil one, evil Shamash [Babylonian] Shango [African] Shiva [Indian] Sin [Sumerian] - the moon, lunar Siren [Greek] Sita [Indian] Skanda [Indian] - [third-person pronoun] he, him, she, her, they, them, it Soma [Indian] - to drug, a drug Sucellus [Gallic] Svarog [Slavic] Sventovit [Slavic] Tane [Pacific islands] Taranis [Gallic] Tengri [Mongol] Teshub [Hurrian] Teutates [Gallic] Tezcatlipoca [Aztec] - to sacrifice, a sacrifice Theseus [Greek] Thetis [Greek] Thor [Norse] - to hammer, a hammer Thoth [Egyptian] - to writer, a writer/scribe, written Tiamet [Akkadian] Tlaloc [Aztec] - a mountain Tlazolteotl [Aztec] - to lust, lust, lusty Triglav [Slavic] Tristan [Celtic] Isolde [Celtic] Tyr [Norse] Vahagn [Armenian] Valkyrie [Norse] Varuna [Indian] Vesta [Roman] Viracocha [Incan] Vishnu [Indian] Visvamitra [Indian] Wak [Egyptian] Xipe Totec [Aztec] Xiuhtecuhti [Aztec] Yama [Indian] - [second-person pronoun] you Yu ["Yu the Great", Chinese] - to engineer, an engineer Zanahary [Madagacan] Zeus/Jupiter [Greek] The source of the vocabulary and its origins is _The Wordsworth Dictionary Of Mythology_. Feel free to suggest meanings for the words above that are blank. The trick is that a lot of the gods and goddesses have similar senses (lust or thunder or fire or war) which have to be apportioned over a wider semantic space. THE PUNCHLINE! The punchline of all this is that Intermythic English is not really mythometaphorical. Sure, its vocabulary is derived from mythology, but all the words' meanings will become set and the mythological associations will be lost, just as they are in the 8 mytho- etymological words in the following English sentence: "Waiting in line to check out Ishtar and Apollo 13, Jason was annoyed by the sound of sirens in that musical jingle about panicking while deciding between a new Saturn and a used Mazda."
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