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*Manu and *Yemo
Actors in Proto-Indo-European mythology
*Manu and *Yemo
The myth of *Manu and *Yemo is the foundational creation myth of Proto-Indo-European mythology. In the story, *Manu kills *Yemo and then fashions the universe from *Yemo's body. *Yemo is sometimes also interpreted as a primordial hermaphrodite. The comparative analysis of different Indo-European tales has led scholars to reconstruct an original Proto-Indo-European creation myth involving twin brothers, *Mónus ('Man') and *YémHos ('Twin'), as the progenitors of the world and mankind, and a hero named *Trito ('Third') who ensured the continuity of the original sacrifice. Although some thematic parallels can be made with legends of the Ancient Near East, and even of Polynesia or South America, the linguistic correspondences found in descendant cognates of *Manu and *Yemo- make it very likely that the myth discussed here has a Proto-Indo-European (PIE) origin. Following a first paper on the cosmogonical legend of Manu and Yemo, published simultaneously with Jaan Puhvel in 1975 (who pointed...
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