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EABC8972-576D-4878-8C33-C9EBD9D6F5A9
J. A. Coleman
EABC8972-576D-4878-8C33-C9EBD9D6F5A9
For Geoffrey, friend and mentor
Thanks to George Davidson for his exhaustive work on the
Chinese entries
Thanks also to Immanion Press for permission to reproduce
material from Charlemagne – Man and Myth
By the same author:
Beginner’s Guide to Cryptic Crosswords
Cassell Cluefinder - Dictionary of Crossword Clues
Collin’s Crossword Dictionary
Complete Guide to Cryptic Crosswords
Cryptic Crossword Cluefinder
Wordmaster - A Reverse Dictionary
Charlemagne – Man and Myth
Mythilarity
Arcturus Publishing Limited
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Slough, Berkshire SL1 5AP, England
ISBN: 978-0-572-03222-7
This edition printed in 2007
Copyright © 2007 Arcturus Publishing Limited/J A Coleman
All rights reserved
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data: a catalogue
record for this book is available from the British Library
EABC8972-576D-4878-8C33-C9EBD9D6F5A9 Printed in Singapore
CONTENTS
Introduction.................................................... 7
A .................................................................. 11
B .................................................................. 119
C .................................................................. 180
D .................................................................. 265
E .................................................................. 313
F .................................................................. 354
G .................................................................. 392
H .................................................................. 447
I .................................................................. 507
J .................................................................. 538
K .................................................................. 551
L .................................................................. 599
M .................................................................. 646
N .................................................................. 729
O .................................................................. 766
P .................................................................. 797
Q .................................................................. 856
R .................................................................. 861
S .................................................................. 894
T .................................................................. 978
U .................................................................. 1053
V .................................................................. 1068
W .................................................................. 1090
X .................................................................. 1109
Y .................................................................. 1112
Z .................................................................. 1128
EABC8972-576D-4878-8C33-C9EBD9D6F5A9
EABC8972-576D-4878-8C33-C9EBD9D6F5A9 6
INTRODUCTION
W hat is a myth? The Greeks knew and, as usual, had a word for it;
the word mythos which means word, story, talk, etc. So, for that
matter, did the tribes of North America – for the Chinook
ik!anam; for the Kwakiutl nayam; for the Thompson tribe spektakl; for the
Tsimshian adaox, while in Alaska it was adaork. And so, of course, did many
other cultures – and they had not only the word but the stories to go with it.
To most of them it was a story passed orally from one person to another,
from generation to generation, telling of some hero, some god, some
formulation of an abstract idea such as creation. Some of these became
written records and so survived for us to know them and such is their power
that, despite the disappearance of the cultures that gave rise to them, modern
literature abounds with allusions and direct references to these marvellous
tales, many of which are still endlessly retold – as they are in this book.
Although they probably represent the most well-known body of
mythological material, myths did not start with the Greeks. Many of the
myths included here predate the Greeks by many centuries and there can be
little doubt that men have constructed accounts to answer such questions as
‘What causes thunder?’ or ‘Where did we come from?’ ever since they were
capable of thought. This implies that myths go back not centuries but
millions of years but, since those early people could think and formulate the
questions to which they had no real answers but could not write either the
questions or the answers, we have no way of knowing what myths they
constructed. One thing, however, is abundantly clear from the records that
are available to us; the urge – the need even – to create myths seems to be
inherent in all cultures. Although it can be argued that each culture took over
and elaborated the stories of earlier cultures (as the Romans did, taking over
virtually the whole of the Greek pantheon and their myths), it is just as valid
to suggest that the many similarities between the major myths have no such
connections since they appear in cultures so widely separated by both
distance and time that no contact between them seems possible. Stories of
creation, of floods, of the mating of gods with mortals, of heroes who
EABC8972-576D-4878-8C33-C9EBD9D6F5A9 7
Introduction
brought fire – these and many others crop up in the myths of numerous
cultures throughout recorded time.
One can regard these ancient tales as simple tales of derring-do – the work of
a bygone Archer, Forsyth or Shute – or one can attribute to them the deeper
significance that almost certainly prompted their creation. Some maintain
that the similarities between many of the basic myths postulate a common
origin, others that these similarities prove only that similar questions, similar
phenomena, evoke similar answers in each culture. This book brings
together under such headings as creation, first humans, flood, etc many of
these similar stories but the significance of the similarities and the
interpretation of individual myths is left to those whose interests lie in those
fields and to the reader who is free to add his own interpretation – or none.
Scholars divide stories of the imagination into categories such as myth,
legend, fairy-tales, folklore, marchen and so on but, given that the stories
relate to postulated entities such as gods, real characters such as
Charlemagne, completely imaginary characters such as Ali Baba and
characters such as King Arthur who live in that shadowland between fact and
fiction, it is hard to see how one can slot all of them neatly into classes. Add
to this the fact that huge swathes of what passes in the study of the world’s
faiths as religion appear again in world mythologies and it is wise, in my view,
to take a much more relaxed view of what constitutes mythology. As a result,
this book contains entries that purists might well reject as being outside the
realms of true myth but it seems to me that, if a demon such as Ravana in
Hindu myth or the oni of Japanese stories are eligible for inclusion, there is
no good reason to exclude the whole host of demons which inhabit the
grimoires and demonologies of the western world.
Another feature of this book is that it attempts to encompass as wide a
coverage of the world’s mythologies as is reasonably possible within one set
of covers. If it opens a wider field to those whose reading has previously been
confined to the well-known mythologies of the Greeks, the Romans and the
Norsemen, it will have served the purpose for which it was conceived.
EABC8972-576D-4878-8C33-C9EBD9D6F5A9 8
Introduction
It is a common feature of language that meanings and spellings change
over time and distance and it is, therefore, no surprise to find that the
names of many of the gods and heroes occur in many forms. Marduk, for
example, is said to have 50 names, Ra 75, Allah 99 (or 400), Odin over 200
and Shiva over 1000. I have included all the different versions I have
encountered, cross-referenced as appropriate. These alternative names and
spellings appear in square brackets after the headword and the entries here
also include some favourite epithets and attributes together with
equivalents in other cultures. In the case of Chinese entries, there are often
significant differences in spelling depending on which of the several
transcription systems is used (Wade-Giles and Pinyin are the most
frequently used). In this book, all Chinese entries are Wade-Giles. The
majority of the entries also carry a label in italics giving an indication of
origins. These labels are not intended to indicate nationalties so much as
the mythology in which they are featured. Priam for example, though a
Trojan, has a Greek label since he appears in the stories of Greek
mythology and Lancelot, although French, appears with a British label
since he is a hero of the Arthurian saga.
Indexing in this book is based on word order rather than on a strict letter-
by-letter order. Some languages have unfamiliar letter groups that cause
problems in this field. Many Tibetan entries begin with such combinations
as dMu, sMan, bDud and so on and some African words begin with uG.
One normally finds the Tibetan words indexed under the second (capital)
letter but the African words under the first (lower case) letter. Since the
normal English practice is to index by initial letter, not sound – we don’t
index phoneticunder ‘f’ nor psalmunder ‘s’ – the word, however pronounced,
is indexed here under the first letter, whether capital or lower case.
J. A. Coleman
Penkridge, July 2007
EABC8972-576D-4878-8C33-C9EBD9D6F5A9 9
A
A1 Central American Aa1 Mesopotamian lost one breast in removing the serpent
a Mayan deity of uncertain identity [A-a.Ai.Aya:=Sumerian Serida] that was wrapped round the arm of her
referred to as god A: perhaps the a Babylonian sun-goddess wife husband, Caradoc.
god of death, Ah Puch of Samas Aalu Egyptian
This deity is depicted with exposed mother of Giru, Kittu, Mesharu [Aaru]
spine and skull-like features, wearing and Nusku the paradise of Osiris, far to the
a snail on his head and a pair of cross- AA2 Mesopotamian West
bones. a Chaldaean god of life To reach this land, the soul had to pass
A2 Mesopotamian A’a3 PacificIslands through many gates (versions of the
[Aa.Ai] a Polynesian god story differ between fifteen or twenty-
the Sumerian moon-god Aa4 (seeA2) one) each guarded by demons.
A-a (seeAa1) Aa5 (seeEa) Aamon (seeAmon2)
A Cholla mo Rùn Scottish Aac Central American Aani Egyptian
a musical legend that credits the a turtle: a Mayan prince an ape-headed god
Scottish bagpipes with the power son of Kan Aapep (seeApep)
of speech brother of Cay, Coh, Moo and Niete aart Egyptian
A-Mertat (seeAmeretat) He wanted to marry Moo but she a symbol of Ra
A-mi-t’o-fo Buddhist rejected him in favour of his brother When washed in a sacred lake, it
[Amito (Fo).A Mi To Fo.O-mi-t’ o- Coh. Their argument turned into war became the crocodile god, Sebek.
fo.Omit’o-fo.Omitofo.O Mi To and Aac killed his brother, renewing Aaru (seeAalu)
Fo:=Japanese Amida] his suit for Moo. Rejected for a second Aarvak (seeArvakur)
the Chinese name for Amitabha time, Aac made war on Moo who, when A’as Mesopotamian
(see alsoPu T’ai Ho-shang) her forces were defeated, escaped and a Hurrian god of wisdom
A-mong Burmese left the country. keeper of the tablets of destiny
a progenitor of the Karens Aager Norse Ab1 Egyptian
A-mong and Lan Yein descended from lover of Else the symbolic heart, as distinguished
heaven bearing the magic drum given He is said to have spoken to Else from from the corporeal heart Hati,
to them by Sey-ya and founded the his coffin, asking her to smile. judged at death
tribe. Aah (seeAh) Ab2 Mesopotamian
A-Murdad (seeAmeretat) Aah-te-Huti (seeAh) the Sumerian lord of wisdom
A-shih-to Chinese Aalardin British father of Abzu
[A-tzu-ta] a knight Ab3 (seeSahar1)
the Chinese version of Asita husband of Guigenor Ab Kin Xox Central American
(see alsoMi-lo-fo) He was a magician who provided a [Ppiz Hiu Tec]
EABC8972-576D-4878-8C33-C9EBD9D6F5A9 A-tzu-ta (seeA-shih-to) magic gold boss fo1r1 Guimer when she a Mayan god of poetry
