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.
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] - time [suggested by Jane Connell]
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]
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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