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*Péh₂usōn

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Proto-Indo-European pastoral god
*Péh₂usōn
Equivalents
GreekHermes (most aspects), Pan (some aspects) see § Pan and Hermes for more info
HinduPushan
RomanMercury (most aspects), Faunus (some aspects) see § Pan and Hermes for more info

*Péh₂usōn ("Protector") was a proposed Proto-Indo-European pastoral god guarding roads and herds.

He may have had a bushy beard and keen sight. He was also closely affiliated with goats or bucks: Pan has goat's legs while goats are said to pull the car of Pūshān (the animal was also sacrificed to him on occasion).

History

The deity was first proposed due to association between the Greek god Pan and the Vedic god Pūshān first identified in 1924 by German linguist Hermann Collitz.

The minor discrepancies between the two deities could be explained by the possibility that many of Pan's original attributes were transferred over to Hermes, the two of which were likely originally the same deity.

According to West, the reflex may be at least of Graeco-Aryan origin: "Pūshān and Pan agree well enough in name and nature—especially when Hermes is seen as a hypostasis of Pan—to make it a reasonable conclusion that they are parallel reflexes of a prototypical god of ways and byways, a guide on the journey, a protector of flocks, a watcher of who and what goes where, one who can scamper up any slope with the ease of a goat."

References

  1. Puhvel 1987, p. 63.
  2. Mallory & Adams 2006, pp. 415.
  3. ^ West 2007, p. 282.
  4. Jackson 2002, p. 84.
  5. ^ Jackson 2002, p. 85.
  6. Beekes 2009, p. 1149.
  7. Collitz 1924.
  8. Mallory & Adams 2006, pp. 411 and 434.
  9. Mallory & Adams 2006, pp. 411, 435.
  10. West 2007.
  11. West 2007, p. 302–303.

Bibliography

Proto-Indo-European mythology
Deities [simple]
Characters
Motifs
Categories:
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