Since the beginning of Indo-European Studies, linguists have attempted to reconstruct aspects of the Indo-European traditions that go beyond the ‘atomic’ dimensions of related languages, such as inherited aspects of Indo-European texts and traits shared by cognate pantheons and narratives. The chapters in this volume address these very aspects of cultural reconstruction.
Interdisciplinary case-studies on poetic features, religion and mythology of several ancient Indo-European languages (Ancient Greek, Latin and Italic, Hittite, Phrygian, Sanskrit, Avestan, Old Norse, Old Irish and Old Russian) work at the intersection of linguistic reconstruction and philology. The results of these investigations shed new light on a variety of aspects, ranging from obscure etymologies to the reconstruction of the genetic link among entire Indo-European myths.
Laura Massetti obtained her Ph.D. in Historical and Comparative Linguistics from the University of Cologne. She is a Researcher at University of Naples L’Orientale and an Affiliate of Harvard University’s Center for Hellenic Studies. Her scientific interests comprise Archaic Greek Literature, Historical Linguistics, Comparative Mythology and Religion.
List of Figures, Charts, and Tables
Introduction Laura Massetti
1 Ritual Speech in the Neo-Phrygian Funerary Curse Formulae Milena Anfosso
2 Homo homini lupus: Anatolian Echoes of Indo-European Ideology Michele Bianconi
3 Upholding Heaven and Earth, Upholding the Cosmos José Luis García Ramón
4 The Myth of Baldr’s Death and the Vedic Wounded Sun The Old Norse Theonyms Nanna Neps-dóttir (‘Maiden Sky’s-Daughter’) and Hǫðr (‘Darkness’) in Germanic and Indo-European Perspective Riccardo Ginevra
5 Hecate and Her Dogs Bjarne Simmelkjær Sandgaard Hansen
6 Homeric ἀνδρειφόντης and the Unraveling of an Unmetrical Verse Stefan Höfler
7 Mirror Images and Cross(dress)ing Some Indo-European Intersections between the Gesta Danorum and the Virāṭa Parvan of the Mahābhārata Stephanie W. Jamison
8 Thoughts of Gāthic Beginnings and Beginnings of Gāthic Thoughts Joshua T. Katz
9 From Kenning to Insult: Old Norse, Old Irish and Russian Carrions and Their Indo-European Background Claire Le Feuvre
10 Form in Latin and Umbrian Sacral Verse Angelo O. Mercado
11 Where All the Killed Dragons Graze: Luw. āla/i- wiluš(a)-, Ἠλύσιος λειμών and the PIE Concept of the Netherworld Rostislav Oreshko
12 An Underlying Divinatory Structure Common to Bharata and Semonides Kenneth Zysk
Index
Any reader interested in the comparative approach to ancient Indo-European languages and their mythologies: academic readership may include classicists, Indo-Europeanists, scholars in Ancient Near-Eastern Studies, but also readers with a broader linguistic or classical background.