Proto-Namuno-Ethian mythology

Proto-Namuno-Ethian mythology is the body of myths and deities associated with the Proto-Namuno-Ethians, the hypothetical speakers of the reconstructed Proto-Namuno-Ethian language spoken from about 3570 to 1200 BNB. Although the mythological motifs are not directly attested–since Proto-Namuno-Ethian speakers lived in preliterate societies–scholars of comparative mythology have reconstructed details from inherited similarities found among Namuno-Ethian languages, based on the assumption that parts of the Proto-Namuno-Ethians' original belief systems survived in the daughter traditions.

Pantheon

The Proto-Namuno-Ethian pantheon includes a number of securely reconstructed deities, most of them cognates in name and associated with similar attributes and body of myths:

• the primordial beings, usually a monster resembling a serpent with the head of a feld, *Sneyn̥t (“the primordial” or “the zeroeth”), the soil itself, *Pánuh₂dunes ("soil-mother" or "pregnant earth"), and the ocean, *Sepʰaylʰos ("he who rolls on himself"),
• twins created from the primordial being as the first, god-like felds, *Seyrkunos and *H₄morkunos (“firstborn” and “secondborn”),
• morning sky and night sky deities born from the ashes of the slain primordial being, *H₄éwtos "morning sky" and *Rowfseǵʰes sometimes referred to with epithets, like *newh₂m̥h₁s "progenitor" or the Ethian *soǵʰh₄lor "of adorned heaven,"
• a series of gods born from the primordial entities:
  • the children of the morning sky, a sun god, *Loymam̥h₁s, and the white wandering star, *Wēnoys,
  • the children of the night sky, a moon god, *H₄amam̥h₁s, and the blue wandering star, *Lʰuldyos,
  • the children of the soil, gods representing the fruit and wines, *Logʰr̥nm̥h₁s, the grain and ales, *Kʷʰyonos, the livestock, *Boypʰr̥os, and the harvestable plants, *Yaros (or *Soylpʰr̥os, uncertain),
  • the children of the ocean, therefore the rivers, *Bentʰos, sea, *Ḱolʰtʰos, and lakes, *Seyntʰos,
• two gods born as forces of nature: *Bredʰm̥h₁s, a goddess of fertility, and *H₄sdonyol, a god of the dead,
• the twins’ children, usually two for each, *Kwh₄rartʰōs (“priest, elder”), *Kih₃l̥m̥h₁s (“orator”), *Boym̥h₁s (“herder”) and *Tēwmm̥h₁s (“warrior”).

Myths

Erotic oath story

A common story in various Namuno-Ethian traditions is commonly referred to as the erotic oath story. In the story, a mortal has sex with a god or otherwise non-mortal being. The social class and sex of the mortal varies in the daughter religions, but the original was most likely a ryadá man. Ascertaining which immortal being was present in the original myth proves to be difficult, as the role is filled by a variety of deities in the various NE pantheons (Ffion in the Mósdrist version, Bradham in Autanavism, a sakel in Dadanism...). The leading theory suggests that it might have originally just been a nymph or low spirit of some kind. This deity makes the mortal swear an oath of silence, lest they become cursed. The mortal agrees, but later breaks the oath and reveals his sexual escapades to a close friend, family member, or confidant of some sort. As punishment, the god reveals themselves disguised as the confidant, severs the mortal's genitals and transforms them into some kind of small animal, usually a rat.

Boy and wolf

Variations of this myth can only be found in Mósdr and the Nismi. A man is cursed by a priest to become a wolf after having murdered his own brother. The wolf struggles to hunt for food and is on the brink of starvation when a psur, son of a butcher, notices him laying on the forest floor. He decides to bring him rabbit meat, and this causes the wolf to become greatly attached. For the next week they meet at the same spot every day, as the young man brings the wolf food. One day, the psur doesn't show up, and the wolf is informed by a spirit of some kind that he is dying of an advanced illness. The wolf races to the psur's village and finds him bedridden. They get a final moment where the wolf turns back into a man, and the psur dies happily. He is buried at the spot where they used to meet, whereupon a flower sprouts. At this point, both extant versions diverge. In the Mósdrist version, the man dies of old age and is reunited with his psur in the Rowff a Nowth, where they become the stars Vaura and Is. In the Nismite version, the man is the hero Loarna, and he is instructed by the goddess Uonutun to ingest the flower for good fortune.