Re: Etruscan and other fun?

Quoting R A Brown <ray@...>:

> Michael Adams wrote:
[snippage]
> > Me, still trying to figure out how much of Norse myth is more two cultures
> > colliding, and mixing..
>
> Eh? What's this to do with migrations into and out of Asia Minor/
> Anatolia? I'll leave this for our Nordic conlangers to deal with (if
> they are so minded).
I suppose he might be thinking of the idea that the myth* of the war between the
Aesir and the Vanir reflects a takeover of Scandinavia by a people from
Anatolia. Snorri, IIRC, asserts that Odin was an Anatolian conman who managed
to set up himself as god-king at Uppsala. That's assuming that Snorri's
"Turkland" is indeed Anatolia.

I think there's every reason to think that Snorri was indulging in a bit of
historizing rationalization of older stories. As a Christian, he pretty much
had to explain Odin as either a demon or as an apotheoisized human.

* I should perhaps say story, since there's AFAIK nothing to indicate it was
ever a myth in the technical sense.

                                                            Andreas

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