Inherited Bovine Aspects in Greek Reflexes of the Indo-European
INHERITED BOVINE ASPECTS IN GREEK REFLEXES OF THE INDO-EUROPEAN SERPENT-SLAYING MYTH by JOHN ANDREW MCDONALD (Under the Direction of Jared Klein) ABSTRACT Numerous Greek reflexes of the Indo-European serpent-slaying myth retain an inherited theme in which cows are liberated from the serpent. In some reflexes, the cows are replaced by a goddess or woman, but even in these instances, vestiges of the goddess’ or woman’s erstwhile bovine identity persist. The release of the cattle is marked by a reference to COW and CALF, for which there are comparable expressions in Sanskrit, Anatolian and medieval Irish and Scandinavian reflexes of the serpent-slaying myth, indicating that the dyad COW and CALF is also inherited from the Indo-European proto-myth. The polysemy exhibited by the cows, which alternately signify the dawn, water and poetic inspiration in Greek reflexes of the serpent-slaying myth, also derives from the proto-myth. The same bovine polysemy surfaces in Rigvedic, Irish and Icelandic reflexes of the serpent-slaying myth. INDEX WORDS: Calf, Cow, Comparative Mythology, Dawn, Edda, Formulaic Syntagm, Greek Mythology, Indo-European, Milk, Poetic Inspiration, Rig Veda, Semiotics, Serpent, Táin Bó Cúalnge INHERITED BOVINE ASPECTS IN GREEK REFLEXES OF THE INDO-EUROPEAN SERPENT-SLAYING MYTH by JOHN ANDREW MCDONALD B.A., University of Toronto, Canada, 2003 A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF ARTS ATHENS, GEORGIA 2006 © 2006 John McDonald
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