SV: [Re: On substratum religion]

[Lars Martin Fosse]

>Anything to do with 'Mother Goddess' seems to be substratum! Perhaps, it may
>be not be completely appropriate to separate the religious beliefs as they
>evolved, say in the bronze age, into compartments of (substratum, aryan
cosmos
>etc.)

W. Trimble wrote:


I agree completely.  The idea of "substrate" has been a dangerous one from
the C. XIX on.  It is especially virulent in Indo-European studies and
ranges from the idea that there were no retroflex consonants in the "pure"
or "original" Rg Veda (most importantly, that there was no
__differentiation__ between palatal and retroflex) to Marija Gimbutas'
hypothesis that the neolithic urban cultures of the Balkans and Asia Minor
became the peaceful, matriarchal substrate overwashed by the violent,
patriarchal Indo-Europeans.  The substrate idea is just the compliment, the
necessary apposite, of that nauseating, Aryan Romanticism we so abhor.


Excuse me, but isn't this a trifle too simple? As for mother goddesses, I would assume them to be something of an "archetype" since mothers are to be found everywhere. They do not necessarily have to be a substrate in Indo-European. But substrates DO exist, both in language and in culture. Mixing up Aryan Romanticism and the substrate idea in general as it is done here, seems quite misguided.

Best regards,

Lars Martin Fosse



Dr. art. Lars Martin Fosse
Haugerudvn. 76, Leil. 114,
0674 Oslo
Phone: +47 22 32 12 19
Fax:      +47 22 32 12 19
Email: lmfosse at online.no
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