Re: what is etymology? (linguistics and biology)

Brigid

Brigit or Brigid, Nordic Birgid, was a powerful triple-
goddess. Her quarter of the year was Imbolc, from
February 1 till April 30. Brigid was the goddess of
fire, fertility, agriculture, household arts, poetry and
wisdom. The origin of Imbolc may have been IAS BAL,
healing hot, healing heat, healing a patient by keeping
him or her warm. PIR was the word for fire, GID was
the word for give and take, here give, so we get PIR GID
for the first of the three goddesses. Now let us look out
for the two other ones in the usual way, by pondering
the permutations of B-R-I. Here is what I found:

BRI --- a pregnant woman, a source of life in general,
a blessed land with plenty wells and a lush vegetation;
ancient Greek bryo for to be full, grow and bloom, well,
English bride, also Britain as a green island may have
this word root

IRB --- herbs, especially herbs used by a midwife to
ease labor-pains, perhaps also herbs for desinfecting
washing water, and herbs used for medicine in general;
Latin herba for herb, also a magical herb

RBI --- labor-pains, giving birth; ancient Greek rhopae
for turning point, crisis, decision (...), Latin rabies for
rabies, madness (etymology unclear, heavy labor-pains
then), rubidus for dark red, brown red (hence the color
of blood)

IBR --- a new-born child; ancient Greek habros for
sumptuous, soft, delicate, fine, elegant, beautiful

BIR --- fur wherein a new-born child was laid in order
to keep it warm; ancient Greek byros for fur

RIB --- a crib or basket of wickerwork, laid out with fur,
wherein a new-born child was placed; ancient Greek
rhipizo for wickerwork made of reed

Now we got words for the three goddesses:

PIR GID --- fire giver, keeping warm by means of fire

BIR GID --- fur giver, keeping warm by means of fur
(fire and fur are close in English, also in ancient
Greek: pyr and byros)

BRI GID --- life giver, she who makes the belly of
a bride swell, she who makes herbs grow, she who
covers Ireland, Britain and Britanny with a lush green
vegetation ...

Regards Franz Gnaedinger www.seshat.ch



Imbolc, Beltane, Lughnasadh, Samhain

IAS 1-36 / January 9 till February 13
CED 1-37 / February 14 till March 22
PhON 1-36 / March 23 till April 27
DKO 1-37 / April 28 till June 3
PAS 1-36 / June 4 till July 9
SAI 1-37 / July 10 till August 15
SAP 1-36 / August 16 till September 20
OKD 1-37 / September 21 till October 27
NOPh 1-36 / October 28 till December 2
DEC 1-37 / December 3 till January 8

The dates of our calendar hold for the first cycle
in a long run of either eight or twenty-five cycles.
After eight years, the dates fall back by two days,
after twenty-five years by six days (then either two
or six leap days must be added, and the calendars
readjusted to the shifted lunar phase)..

The summer solstice occurs in the middle of PAS
(Pas 18 / June 21), the winter solstice in the middle
of DEC (Dec 19 / December 21), again in the first
year of eight or twenty-five years.

Four festivals mark the late Magdalenian calendar:

IAS BAL --- healing hot, healing heat, healing achieved
by keeping a patient warm, middle of IAS (January 26),
origin of Imbolc ? (February 1).

BEL TON --- warm sound, warm thunderclap, begin
of the summer half year, when it is getting warmer,
and thunderclaps can he heard again, begin of DKO
(April 28), origin of Beltane ? (May 1)

LIC SAI --- light / luck life, hottest time of the year,
middle of SAI (July 28), origin of Lughnasadh ?
(August 1)

NOPh EN (?) --- snow in (?), begin of the winter half
year, when snow falls and covers the world, begin of
NOPh (October 28), origin of Samhain ? (October 31
November 1)

Samhan is pronounced Sow-en, rather close to snow,
snow in. Lugh was the sun god, a god of light. Beltane
comes from Bel-tinne, fires of the sun god Belenos.
Magdalenian BEL means warm, this word would survive
in the name of the sun god of spring who warms up the air;
tinne means fires, TIN may be a lateral ssociation to TON
for sound, voice, originally thunderclap, TIN may then be
a fire caused by a flash. Imbolc covered the months of
February, March and April, the time from February 1 to
May 1. The main rituals were celebrated on February 1.
Imbolc was associated to the goddess Brigit or Brigid.
If IAS BAL was the origin of Imbolc, then Brigid was in
the origin a healer, a shamaness who healed by keeping
her patients warm, then also the one who helped women
through their labor-pains. More on Brigid next time, when
we shall ponder the permutations of BRI.

Fires are the common element of all the four festivals.
At Beltane, the young people leapt over fires in ditches,
at Lughnasadh heaps of wood were kindled on hilltops,
at Samhain the old fires were extinguished and new
fires lighted from the sacred flame kept by a druid,
while Imbolc was overformed by the Candlemass.
If IAS BAL was the origin of Imbolc, then the aspect
of fire was very prominent also in this cornerstone of
the late Magdalenian calendar, referring to fires that
kept patients warm.




ALPHA -- a very ancient algorithm for calculating
lunations, perhaps already used by the Middle Stone
Age dwellers of the Blombos cave, 75 000 BP

Lay out syncopic lines of 30 29 30 29 30 29 30 29
30 29 30 ... pebbles, thus you get 30 59 89 118 148
177 207 236 266 295 325 ... pebbles, or as many
days or nights for 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 lunations.

BETA -- Early Magdalenian lunisolar calendar,
Lascaux, 17 000 BP

Combine the above algorithm for calculating lunations
with nine solar periods arranged in a grid of 3 by 3
squares, each square of the oblique cross counting
41 days, each remaining square counting 40 days.
Begin with the central field, go on to the top right field,
and proceed in clockwise direction:

h 41 i 40 b 41

g 40 a 41 c 40

f 41 e 40 d 41

a b c d e f g h i // a b c ... 41 41 40 41 40 41 40 41 40 //
41 41 40 ... A cycle a-i counts 365 days. Eight periods
a-h count 325 days, corresponding to 11 lunations.
Even better: 8 16 24 32 ... solar periods correspond to
11 22 33 44 ... lunations. You can run this calendar for
eight years, then add two leap days, and readjust it to
the slightly changed lunar phase.

GAMMA -- Late Magdalenian lunisolar calendar,
around 13 000 BP (?)

IAS 36, CED 37, PhON 36, DKO 37, PAS 36, SAI 37,
SAP 36, OKD 37, NOPh 36, DEC 37 days, one cycle
counts 365 days. You can run this calendars for eight
years, then add two leap days. Or you can run it for 25
years, thus you get 9125 days, which correspond to
309 lunations. Add 6 leap days and you get 25 solar
years. Two subsequent periods count 73 days and
are called a double period. 17 36 51 89 125 double
periods correspond to 42 89 131 220 309 lunations.

DELTA -- Azilian lunisolar calendar, Goebekli Tepe,
12th millennium BP, spreading from there

A year has 12 months of 30 days each, add 5 or 6 leap
days and you get a solar year of 365 and occisionally
366 days. Count continuous periods of 30 days. 63 such
periods yield 1,890 days and correspond to 63 lunations.

Egyptian variant. An Egyptian month counted 30 days.
The lunar eye of the Horus falcon was destroyed by Seth,
restored by Thoth. The healed lunar eye was called The
Whole One. It consists of six parts to which are attributed
the numerical values 1/2 1/4 1/8 1/16 1/32 1/64, or simply
'2 '4 '8 '16 '32 '64. Add them, and you obtain 63/64, a little
less than one. Why, then, the name "the whole one"? The
answer is provided by multiplying a month of 30 days by
the series of the Horus eye: 30 days x '2 '4 '8 '16 '32 '64
yield 29 '2 '32 days, or 29 days 12 hours 45 minutes,
not even one minute more than a lunation of 29 days
12 hours 44 minutes 2.9 seconds (modern value from
1989 AD). Hence the name "the whole one" doesn't
mean the moon itself but a period of time, a lunation,
a whole lunation, e.g. from one to the next full moon.

Cretan and Argivian variant. A year is represented by
a flower of eight petals. A week counts nine days, five
weeks are a month of 45 days, eight months yield 360
days, add 5 and occasionally 6 leap days and you get
a solar year of 365 and sometimes 366 days. Count
continuous periods of 45 days. 21 such periods yield
890 days and correspond to 32 lunations.

EPSILON -- Our modern calendar combines the second
or late Magdalenian calendar with the Azilian calendar.
Magdalenian elements are the alternating numbers 30
31 30 ..., and the names September Oktober November
December, the Azilian element are the twelve months.
The numbers given by September Oktober November
December, 7 8 9 10, are wrong in our calendar, for these
are the months number 9 10 11 12, while the words still
hold, especially in the case of November, NOPh being
Magdalenian for snow, snow fall, snow storm, the first
snow of the year usually falling in November, covering
the landscape overnight and giving the world a new
appearance.

I apologize for a mistake in my previous message.
Imbolc occurs not in the middle of the period ced, but
in the middle of the period ias, which gives the name of
the goddess Brigid a new and more complete meaning,
as you shall see in the following messages.


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