Cosmogony Etymology

[sdi]

Let's look at some names from the Heliopolis and Hesiodic cosmogonies!

• Atum (tm) means "completion."
• Tefnut (tfnwt) has no certain etymology, but is associated with moisture. I might assume "fluidity," and hence "time" (which flows but is otherwise difficult to pin down).
• Shu (šw) means "emptiness." I might assume "space."
• Nut (nwt) means "sky."
• Geb (gbb) means "earth."
• Chaos (χάος) means "void."
• Gaia (γῆ) means "earth."
• Ouranos (οὐρανός) means "sky."
• Kronos (χρόνος) means "time."
• Rhea (ῥέα) means "easily" (e.g. without effort). (I'm honestly not sure what to make of that.)

Given all this, I might assume the Heliopolis cosmogony means, "The All produces Time and Space. Time and Space produce Heaven and Earth."

I think the equivalent subset of the (ludicrously complicated) Greek cosmogony is the same, except in syncretizing, they swapped the priority of Heaven and Earth with Time and Space. This isn't a small thing! The Egyptians seem to have taken for granted that gods were born, grew old, died, provided for a line of succession, etc. The Greeks—at least by the classical period—seem to have taken for granted that the gods were eternal and static and their relationships were therefore ontological (despite, for example, Apollo clearly stating otherwise). That is to say, I'm not sure the Egyptian notion of "god" (nṯr) is the same as the Greek notion of "god" (θεός). Certainly, at least, neither is remotely close to the Christian notion of "God," and so I guess I'm sorta groping around in the darkness of unfamiliar cultures no matter what...

Comments

[randomactsofkarmasc]

In my personal cosmogony, I see Gaia, Rhea, Demeter, and Persephone as Malkuth/Earth, but Gaia is in Atziluth, Rhea is in Briah, Demeter is in Yetzirah, and Persephone in in Assiah. (I don't know Egyptian mythology well enough to know how Isis relates.)

[sdi]

I'm really going to have to start studying the Tree of Life one of these years! It keeps coming up, over and over. I gather that you're speaking of descending "octaves" or "reflection" of the same "energy," however, which sounds pretty reasonable to me.

As for Isis, she is equated with Demeter by most authors (Herodotus, Diodorus of Sicily, Plutarch), and certainly her myth is nearly identical to Demeter's! In the context of your personal mythology, though, she wouldn't be a good fit, since her grandmother Tefnut, mother Nut, and son Horus are associated with the sky rather than the earth.

A couple authors (Apuleius of Madaura, Isidore of Narmouthis) additionally equate Isis with at least a dozen other Mediterranean and middle-eastern goddesses, and comparing the myths of the goddesses in question, I personally would tend to agree with them in at least some contexts (but not others). I'm working on a series of posts exploring that in detail: I was actually hoping to post a lot of it today, but my health has been poor lately and so it's been taking me a lot longer than I'd like to write it up, but I'm sure it'll pop up soon enough.