Axe of Perun

Very interesting 14th c AD axe found in Kaliningrad area of the Baltic. The head is made of bronze with iron blade inserted in. The axe is decorated with engraved Lion on one side and bull on the other. Summer starts in Taurus and ends in Leo, on the day of Perun, Slavic thunder god, whose main weapon and symbol was an axe...

This is very interesting. Zodiac symbols on Pagan Slavic axes???

All of Vedas

The syllable Om is first mentioned in the Upanishads, a part of the Vedas, ancient Sanskrit texts that contain some of the central philosophical concepts and ideas of Hinduism.

The concepts of Brahman (ultimate reality) and Ātman (soul, self) are central ideas of the Upanishads, and "know that you are the Ātman" is their thematic focus.

The Upanishads are commonly referred to as Vedānta. Vedanta has been interpreted as the "last chapters, parts of the Veda" and alternatively as "object, the highest purpose of the Veda".

The syllable Om has variously been associated with concepts of "cosmic sound" or "mystical syllable" or "affirmation to something divine", or as symbolism for abstract spiritual concepts in the Upanishads.

In the Aranyaka and the Brahmana layers of Vedic texts, the syllable is so widespread and linked to knowledge, that it stands for the "whole of Veda" (all there is to know).

The Brahmana layer of Vedic texts offers various shades of meaning to Om, such as it being that which is "mysterious and inexhaustible", or "the infinite language, the infinite knowledge", or "essence of breath, life, everything that exists", or that "with which one is liberated".

Vedic scholars state that Upanishads recommend Om syllable as a "tool for meditation". They say that the Om syllable may appear in the mind of the meditator as "highest concepts such as the cause of the Universe, essence of life, Brahman, Atman, and Self-knowledge".

Now this is very interesting.

In my article "Vowels" I talk about natural meaning associated with pure vowels "A, O, U, E, I" in Serbian language.

Here is the relevant bit:

I will finish with OM - the sacred sound of Vedas.

In Serbian "Budi" means "Be, Exist". "Budan" means awake.  Buda was the awaken one, he was Budan (awake).

Buda claimed that "being awake" was "all knowledge"...

The holy sound of Vedas which is said to represent "the whole of Vedas", is OM, pronounced as "AUM"

I actually believe that this sound was originally AOUM but that O was lost first only for AU to be later replaced with O.

AOUM consists of these vowels: 

A - outside
O - surface of the body
U - inside of the body
M - core. 

M is one of the only two sounds that can be made with your mouth closed. And the only sound that produces the vibration of the whole central cavity, our core. This is why M is the core sound of words that mean me, my, myself (me, mene in Serbian), the words whose meaning is directed inwards. 

So the above mantra brings our focus from outside into our core, (m)ind by using emotional discharge through descending vowels. 

The word for mind in Serbian is UM. This word derives its meaning from U + M = inside + me = mind. This is probably the old "AOUM" shortened down to the absolute minimum number of sounds necessary to convey the intended meaning of internal me, real me....mind, UM.

This is kind of incredible, right?

AOUM, through its inner natural meaning encoded in its sound, conveys all the above Vedic teachings. 

It is "All of Vedas". 
It is "The meditation tool".
It leads us to "Brahman (The Creator, God, The ultimate reality), Atman (Soul which is part of the Ultimate Reality), and Self-knowledge (Realisation that I am Brahman, God)...

Interestingly the root "UM" meaning mind is found in Sumerian language as the root for words related to knowledge, intelligence, ability, respect...

To use the words from one of my favourite songs by Amy Winehouse, "Me and Mr. Jones": "What kind of fuckery is this?"

Bescherkind

Bescherkind meaning Gift child in German, or Dzecetko meaning Child in Sorbian is a character from Sorbian (Baltic Serbian) folklore.

It is the oldest unmarried girl in the village, dressed up as a "bride". She is probably representing the young Spring Earth which brings presents of new crops, new food. She visits houses on last Wednesday before Christmas (originally probably on Winter Solstice day) accompanied by two or more girls dressed in traditional Sorbian dress, bringing good luck and sweets.

She carries a birch broom with which she strikes house and all the inhabitants "for good health". Slavs considered white slender birch sacred and associated it with spring, purity, natural beauty, and feminine qualities. Bescherkind also touches cheeks of all the children with her white gloves "for good luck". She never utters a word...

East Germany stamp depicting Bescherkind (Dzecetko in Sorbian)

Thunderer - Thunder

The most terrifying sight for any grain farmer anywhere. Angry thunder god about to destroy everything they worked for all year. I talked about this in my post "The power of thunder giant". 

In the past people were convinced that the sky was the domain of the sky father, sky (thunder) god. It was him who caused thunder and lightning. And so when people heard thunder and saw lightning, they would point to the sky and say with fear: "the sky (thunder) god such and such"...

This is why in some Slavic and Baltic languages the word for thunderbolt and for thunder god is the same: Perun. This was originally just the God's name, which people exclaimed in fear during thunderstorms, and only later, after Christianisation this became "only" a  thunderbolt.

This is the depiction of the god Perun holding his axe. Left of him is the so called "Perunika" (Perun's flower, or Perun's wheel), otherwise known as "Thunder mark". Thunder marks were engraved on buildings to protect them against lightning...

We find the same situation in Celtic culture, where thunder god Taranis eventually became "just thunderbolt". Welsh "taranu, taran", Breton: "taraniñ, taran", Cornish "taran", Gaelic "tórnach" all mean "to thunder and thunder"...

This is the depiction of the god Taranis holding both the solar wheel and thunderbolt...

In Slavic mythology, Thunder god Perun's wheel is blazing Sun god Svetovid's wheel...

In Slavic mythology this dual aspect of Sky God is preserved in the character of St Elijah the Thunderer. I wrote about him in my post "Thundering sun god"...

Finnish Sky (Thunder) god was Ukko and thunder is Ukkonen. Again the Sky god became "just thunder"...

In Germanic mythology there's something similar. In most Germanic languages the name of the thunder god and the word for thunder were (almost) identical. Proto-Germanic root for thunder was *þunraz and Proto-Germanic root for the thunder god was also *Þunraz...

This is a statuette of Zeus hurling a thunderbolt from Dodona, Epirus, Greece

Now here is the question: where does South Slavic word "sev, sijev" meaning flash (chiefly referring to lightning) come from? And does it have anything to do with Zeus (Zevs in Serbian, Zefs in early mediaeval Greek)? Maybe Balkan "Slavic" population originally pronounced the God's name as Sev which became the name for the thunder and lightning after the Christianisation? 

What is very interesting is this: The god's name in the nominative was Ζεύς (Zeús). It was inflected as follows: vocative: Ζεῦ (Zeû); accusative: Δία (Día); genitive: Διός (Diós); dative: Διί (Dií). 

A vocative expression is an expression of direct address. This is what we use when we are shouting someones name. In this case when we are shouting thunder god's name. So maybe I am right? People used to look at the rumbling sky and shout Ζεῦ (Zeû) = Sev...

Interesting indeed...

BTW, the official etymology of sevati is Limited to South Slavic, formed as *sijati (“to shine, to illuminate”) +‎ *-vati, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱeh₁y- (“to shine”)...

Iapodes

Croatian woman from Bosnia with traditional tattoos. 

This is a great picture. Croatian women from Bihac, Bosnia, showing their tattoos

Another great photo of two women with tattoos on both arms and chests, Bihac, Bosnia

Local explanation is that women were tattooed to protect them from Turks who hated cross so much they would not touch a woman with a cross on her skin...

But, Strabo (1st c. BC) says that the inhabitants of what is today Bosnia and Herzegovina "...are poor, and they have tattoos as other Illyrian tribes..."

The Iapodes (Japodes) were ancient people whose territory covered the central inlands of modern Croatia and Una River Valley in today's Bosnia. Archaeological evidence confirms their presence in this par of Balkans from 9th century BC 

Strabo also says that Japodes "...used Celtic weapons..."  

Here are reconstructions of Japode man and woman from the exhibition "Japodi, nedovoljno poznati narod" by Archaeological museum Zagreb . The reconstructions are based on archaeological finds from Japodes graves and folk tattoos worn by Croatian women who inhabit the territory once inhabited by Japodes

So, tradition preserved over 3 millenniums?

Neda

Neda (Νέδα) is a river in the Arcadia, Peloponnese, Greece. It begins on the southern slope of Mount Lykaion, near the village of Neda and flows into the Gulf of Kyparissia, a bay of the Ionian Sea. It is the only river in Greece with a feminine name. 

Strabo remarks that "Neda is the name of a river that comes down from the Arcadian mountains and its well springs were opened by Rhea who came there to get purified after she had given birth to Zeus" 

Interestingly Hebrew word 'Nida' denotes impurity of the woman during her menstruation period, or after giving birth, and in the scriptures we find expression "Nida waters" denoting unpurified waters??? 

Pausanias claimed "River Neda receives near Phigali the 'stream of impurity' Lumax which derives its name from the purification of Rhea". The Greek "lumax" is exact translation of the Hebrew "Nida"! 

Lumax (the river of impurity) flows into Neda (the river Rhea used for purification after giving birth to Zeus) near the town of Phigali. Pic: Temple of Apollo in Phigali, Karl Briullov Oil Painting 

According to Victor Bérard the name Phigali sounds like Hebrew word "Phigul" (stench, filth) which is synonymous with impurity (defilement)??? 

Jewish law, has very specific rules related to impurity after child birth. They are spelled out in Leviticus 12 entitled "Purification After Childbirth" 

So in Arcadia, Peloponnese, the river of impurity flows into the river of purification at the place of defilement??? All Hebrew words??? All connected with the ritual purification of Rhea??? Comments? 

Um

A ceramic vessel bearing the sculpture of a pensive-looking figure has been found in the Israeli city of Yehud. The vessel dates back about 4,000 years, according to the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA).

But this is not the only nor the oldest ancient "thinker" figurine. This clay figurine depicting a person deep in thought, which with the height of 49cm far exceeds the usual figurine size for the Neolithic period, was found in Larissa – Greece. It dates to the period 4500 – 3000 BC.

This is another figurine depicting a person deep in thought. This one, known as the "Thinker of Tarpesti" was made by people of the Cucuteni culture at some point between 4750 and 4500 BC. Cucuteni culture was a Neolithic - Chalcolithic culture from Romania - Ukraine. This one is interesting as it portrays an old man with a beard, and elder...

This is the so called "Thinker of Hamangia". It was made between 5250 and 4550 BC by people from the Neolithic Hamangia culture, a Late Neolithic archaeological culture of Dobruja (Romania and Bulgaria).

The first level of knowledge is experience. You experience things, and you learn what works and what doesn't. Basically you learn to survive. Then you pass this knowledge to your progeny so they can survive.  They will hopefully learn from your experience. Which is why in most cultures, elders were respected and used as advisors both in families and in societies.

The next level of knowledge is understanding of the reasons why something works and something doesn't work. This allows you to progress from "this works" to "this works because...".

The final level of knowledge is inventing new knowledge. This allows you to progress from "this works" and "this works because..." to "this new thing I just invented is better way of doing..."

Everyone (who is still alive) can learn from experience.
Some can understand their knowledge.
Very few can create new knowledge.

These precious few are depicted by the above figurines.

Without them we would still be animals...

What enables humans to learn, understand and invent is their mind, their "thinking machine".

Now here is something interesting.

The word "mind" comes from Proto-Germanic "*mundiz" (memory, remembrance), from Proto-Indo-European "*méntis" (thought), from Proto-Indo-European "*men-" (to think).

PIE "*men-" is the root of the word for mind in pretty much all Indoeuropean languages:

Proto-Indo-Iranian

mánas = mind, intellect, thought

Ancient Greek

μένος (menos) = mind, desire, ardor, wish, purpose, anger, courage, spirit, vigor, power, strength, force, violence

Latin

Minerva = goddess of wisdom

Proto-Celtic

manyetor = to think

Old Church Slavonic

мьнѣти (mĭněti) = think, assume, believe

And then in Slavic languages we have these words:

"um" which comes from Proto Slavic "umъ" which means mind, thought, understanding.
"uman" = wise, smart (one who has um) probably from "um" (mind) + "on" (him)
"razum" = ras + um = split, separate + mind = intellect, reason, understanding
"umeti" = to know how, to be able to (literally to have mind)
"umetnost" = art (literally to be really good at being able to do something)
"umešnost" = artistry, skill

Now the etymology of this word is uncertain. Officially it is "possibly from PIE *men- meaning to think"...

Deriving "um" from "men" is problematic. You could say that "um" (mind) was derived from "uman" (wise, smart) which is derived from "u" (in) + "men" (think) =  with thoughts inside...??? But that is very unlikely as we actually have the word "mineti" which is derived from "men". 

I would propose that it was actually the opposite. The PIE root "men" (to think) was derived from even older root "um" (mind)  through "uman" (wise, smart, able to think) by dropping "u" at the beginning. This root was preserved for some weird reason only in Slavic languages.

There are several reasons why I think that this is the case.

1. The root "um" (mind) can be derived from "u" (in, inside) + "m" (me, myself) = inside of me, the inner me, mind.

I talked about this in my post "Vowels", in which I discussed the intrinsic values vowels have in Serbian. 

Here is the relevant excerpt: 

The holy sound of Vedas which is said to represent "the whole of Vedas", is OM, pronounced as "AUM"

I actually believe that this sound was originally AOUM but that O was lost first only for AU to be later replaced with O.

And here is something very interesting:


AOUM consists of these vowels: A - outside, O surface of the body, U inside of the body, M core. M is one of the only two sounds that can be made with your mouth closed. And the only sound that produces the vibration of the whole central cavity, our core. This is why M is the core sound of words that mean me, my, myself (me, mene in Serbian), the words whose meaning is directed inwards. So the above mantra brings our focus from outside into our core, (m)ind by using emotional discharge through descending vowels. The word for mind in Serbian is UM. This word derives its meaning from U + M = inside + me = mind. This is probably the old "AOUM" shortened down to the absolute minimum number of sounds necessary to convey the intended meaning of internal me, real me....mind, UM.

That this ancient root is not just my fantasy can be seen from the fact that we find it in derived words in Sumerian, which was already completely separate unrelated languages during the 5th millennium BC. 

umum, umun

umum  -  metalworker, smith, mold, raw form or material

I love the fact that ideas are linked to mold. Just like objects are created from ideas, metal objects are created from molds

umun - deep thinking, knowledge, scholarship, idea;
umun - title of respect (the knowledgeable one, the wise one, elder)
nam-umun-na: sovereignty (abstract prefix + "title of respect, elder" + nominative).

I love the fact that it seems that in Sumerian knowledge was respected to the point where "the wise one" became the title of respect which gave the root to the work sovereignty...

ki-umun-(m): "place of knowledge" (school)

And this is great:

umu, um: old woman; nurse; wise or skilful teacher.

Women were original preservers and passers of knowledge...

um-mi-a

um-mi-a = scholar, expert, craftsman

In Slavic languages "ume" = "he knows how"

umuš: discernment; intelligence; reflection, consideration; decision
umuš...kúr: to change one's mind ('discernment; decision' + 'to change').

That this is not just a "weird coincidence" can be seen from the fact that some other, pretty important root words, like the words for life and grain are also the same in Slavic and Sumerian languages. I wrote about this in my post "breath".

The million dollar question is still opened: How did Slavic and Sumerian, two totally unrelated languages, end up sharing these words? Considering that the meaning of the base root "um" (mind, my inner self) can be derived from the meanings of even simpler Slavic roots "u" (in, inner) and "m" (me) suggest that the borrowing went from PIE to Sumerian. When did this borrowing happen? Probably during metalwork expansion from the Balkans eastward into Mesopotamia, probably at the very beginning of the Sumerian civilisation. 

Interesting, right?

Finally where does the word "human" come from? Official etymology says from Latin "humanus" (humane) which comes from "humus" (ground, floor, earth, soil)...

Apparently:

"The phenomenon of a derivational relationship between the words for both earth and man is also seen in Semitic languages: Hebrew אָדָם‎ (adám, “man”), אֲדָמָה‎ (adamá, “soil”)"

I mean this is mad. Men, animals, plants are "of earth", born by Mother Earth...There is nothing special there about humans...


Is it possible that the root is "um" (mind, brain, intelligence) through "uman" (one who has mind, brain intelligence) = human, not animal???

And I think these ancient words prove that this indeed could be the case:

Enemy, malevolent. From dus (negative prefix) + (u)manas, (u)menas = bad human

Indo-Iranian: *dušmánas 
Hellenic: *dusmenḗs

Friend, benevolent. From hsu (positive prefix) + (u)manas, (u)means = good human

Indo-Iranian: *Hsumánas
Hellenic: *ehumenḗs

But this would mean that these words from "ancient" Indoeuropean language branches would have to be derived from a word root from "the youngest" Indoeuropean language branch...Not a very popular suggestion...



Sumerian sources: 

https://www.sumerian.org/sumlogo.htm

https://www.bulgari-istoria-2010.com/Rechnici/Sumerian_Cuneiform_English_Dictionary_12.pdf