22 August 2012


minerva in progress


Stemming from an Italic moon goddess *Meneswā   'She who measures', the Etruscans adopted the inherited Old Latin name, *Menerwā, thereby calling her Menrva. Extrapolating from her Roman nature, it is assumed that in Etruscan mythology, Minerva was the goddess of wisdom, war, art, schools and commerce. She was the Etruscan counterpart to Greek Athena. Like Athena, Minerva was born from the head of her father, Jupiter (Greek Zeus). It is possible that such a goddess was "imported" to both Greece and Italy from beliefs originating in the Near East during the extreme antiquity. The very few extant Lemnian inscriptions suggest that the Etruscans may have originated in Asia Minor, in which case subsequent syncretism between Greek Athena and Italic Minerva may have been all the easier.

By a process of folk etymology, the Romans could have confused the phones of her foreign name with those of the root men- in Latin words such as mens meaning "mind", perhaps because one of her aspects as goddess pertained to the intellectual. The word mens is built from the Proto-Indo-European root *men- 'mind' (linked with memory as in Greek Mnemosyne/μνημοσύνη and mnestis/μνῆστις: memory, remembrance, recollection).  [minerva:wikipedia]

"Roman goddess of wisdom and the moon derived from the Etruscan Goddess Menarva or Menrva, probably a Crone aspect of the original Capitoline Triad: a Latinized Athene. Her totem was the same as that of Athene, Lilith, and the Welsh Goddess Blodeuwedd: an owl, which consequently became known as the bird of wisdom..." [Barbara Walker]

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