Unburning Fame: Horses, Dragons, Beings of Smoke, and Other Indo-European Motifs in Ugarit and the Hebrew Bible

Synopsis

In This Book, Ola Wikander Studies Indo-european Influences In The Literary World Of The Hebrew Bible And The Ugaritic Texts, Tracing A Number Of Poetic Motifs And Other Concepts Originating In The Indo-european Linguistic Milieux Of The Greater Ancient Near East (e.g., Among Anatolians And In Indo-european Traditions Transmitted Through Mitanni)--and Possibly At Earlier, Reconstructible Levels--as They Influenced What Became Northwest Semitic Poetic Culture. The Methodology Used Is What Wikander Refers To As Etymological Poetics: The Study Of Poetic And Mythological Structures As Transmitted Through Specific Lexical Material. One Of The Motifs Discussed Is That Of Destroying Heat Being Used As A Metaphor For Forgetting Important Cultural Memories And, Consequently, Of The Resilience Of Such Memories Being Expressed As Resistance To Burning. Thus, Bringing These Ancient Connections Between Indo-european And Northwest Semitic Culture Into The Open Is, In A Sense, Showing Their Unburning Fame-- Preamble: The Semitic And Indo-european Language Families, And Possible Arenas If Interaction -- Horse And Plow: Case Studies In Technological Indo-european/hebrew Vocabulary -- Biblical Chaos Dragons–and Indo-european Ones -- Beings Of Smoke: Terms For Living Breath And Humanity In Indo-european, Ugaritic, And Hebrew–and Remarks On Fatling And Merciful Bodies -- When Jeroboam Divided His God -- Dagan/dagon As A Possible Indo-european-derived Name, And Some Methodological Questions Raised By Religio-historical Etymology -- Strangers, Boundary Crossers, And Young Predators In Hebrew And Indo-european: Gwr, *h3erbh-, And Habiru -- Fame That Does Not Burn: The Verb Tkh, The Drought Motif, Indo-european *dh Gwh Ei-, And Etymological Poetics -- Dragons Returning Home: The “pizza Effect” Ola Wikander. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.