Board Thread:Off-topic (OT) Discussion/@comment-31481772-20170324085223

We have seen various characters from Greek, Roman and Norse mythology. What many of us don't know is that these mythologies are related. There is a theory that Greek, Latin, Swedish, English, German, Russian, Sanskrit and many more languages are descended from one ancestor, which is called Proto-Indo-European (PIE). In most cases, people speaking similar languages can be expected to have similar cultures. In fact, according to the theory, all these mythologies are versions of the original Proto-Indo-European religion.

The ancient Egyptian language is believed to be in a different family of languages, called the Semitic family. This family includes Hebrew, Arabic and some other languages of the Middle East. In this case, there are similarities among the different Middle-Eastern cultures. (Similar names, similar dresses, similar religions.)

If we have a look at the list of (proposed) popular deities of this (proposed) religion, the similarities seem remarkable. In fact, they amaze me. Since then, I have been very interested in finding (similar) words from different languages that mean the same. These words, called cognates, could be descended from the same root word, all the way back to PIE.

In this case, I would encourage you all to take a name from one of the PIE mythologies you know about. Try to find a similar-sounding name in a different PIE mythology. In fact, try to find an English version of these names, and versions in any other language you know, that belongs to the (proposed) PIE family. 