I responded to a post on Graham Hancock's Facebook where Graham quotes native American historian Vine Deloria, Jr.'s book "Red Earth: White Lies":
"Science increasingly acts as if it were a religion by relying on authority rather than argument of evidence." (Vine Deloria, Jr.)
This resonates with me both as a fellow native, but also as a teacher of English and self-taught student of linguistics, mythology, and various matters related to extinct civilizations. And, yet, while the tenor of the post was more aimed at the dogmatic, nearly fanatically religious devotion of the scientific community to its own conclusions in various disciplines like archaeology, Egyptology, etc., the title of the source text reminded me of an observation that has long been on my horizon in the field of comparative linguistics, with special focus on Polynesian languages. Naturally, being a Polynesian my own biased interests prevail in this recollection.
“RED EARTH” is an interesting meme that pops up in many of the world’s creation stories.
In Sāmoa and several other Oceanic traditions mankind is fashioned from papa-’ele’ele, the Sixth Heaven / Le Lagi Tua Ono. This term may be understood as the high titles (pāpā) of the blood of chiefs (‘ele’ele).
‘Ele’ele is also a reduplication of ‘ele “red earth”. I believe this term shares a common etymological root with the Semitic words for “earth; underworld”. Generally speaking, this word is rendered as “eretz”—
Hebrew: ’ā·reṣ (אֶרֶץ) Akkadian: erşetu, written a variety of ways:
arali (a-ra-li 𒀀𒊏𒇷 “Water struck down juniper” / “Water struck down the tree of life”, e-kur-uš 𒂍𒆳𒁁 “Mountain temple of life” or “Temple of Mountain of life”, 𒌽 URUxGAL “greatness (inside of) City”)
ešgal (𒀍) (from Sumerian: ABGAL “Great sea” / URUGAL “Great City”) “Underworld”; Akkadian: erşetu
ganzer / kanisurru (𒅆𒆳 𒍝) “former country of precious stones”; (𒅆𒆳) “former country”; “Underworld; gateway to The Underworld”; Akkadian: erşetu
Irigal / qabru (𒀍, 𒌷𒃲 “Great City”, 𒀕 “Uruk”, 𒀕𒆠 Unug-ki / “Uruk”) “earth, Land, Underworld, grave”; qabru is the first half of the word “Capricorn”, the half goat / half fish which is associated with the Underworld and the sea god Enki. The other half is qarnu, which is the root word for “crown, cornet, corona, horn”. This reveals that Enki is the god of the underworld, the Land of the dead, the former world. Qabru-qarnu / Capricorn.
KI (𒆠) “place; ground, earth, land; toward; underworld; land, country; lower, down below"; Akkadian: ašru; erşetu; mātu; qaqqaru; šaplû
Here KI (𒆠) as Akkadian mātu (𒆠) is found in the name of Tiamat, the slain goddess (metaphor of a former fallen mother civilization) conquered by Enki (A conquest later attributed by Babylonians to Marduk). Therefore, as a slain thing the word mātu evolved into the nearly universal root word for “to die”—mati, mawut, mōt, moot, mors, morte, mate, make, miqui… possibly even madre, mater, mother with the bridge between the maternal and death references being found in the slaying of a mother goddess. The anthropomorphic mother / motherland was killed, therefore the word becomes not only "to die" and "mother" but also "motherland".
Kindu (ki-in-du / 𒆠𒅔𒁺) “Underworld to send the abused / abusers” in other words “Place of punishment” ; “penal colony”; "earth" Akkadian: erşetu; şippatu
Kur (𒆳) / kur ( written with Sumerian IDIM / kir₅: 𒅂); “underworld; land, country; mountain(s); east; easterner; east wind"; Akkadian: erşetu; mātu; šadû; šadû; suggests that the direction of the Underworld lies far to the east of Mesopotamia.
Mada (ma-da 𒈠𒁕) “to carry arm / wing”; ma (𒈠) "land, country; earth, land" Akkadian: erşetu; mātu; probably a maternal metaphor as of eggs and chicks under the wing of a hen, or a babe in the crook of it’s mother’s arm. Again… nuances of the maternal / mother / motherland.
Uraš (𒅁) "earth; crooked furrow"; Akkadian: erşetu; ligittu. Note that this cuneiform is a ligature of BAR (𒁇) and NUN (𒉣), literally BAR “to send out” NUN “best; superior; Prince”. “The best—bar none.” This is a maternal word of the best sort in suggesting that a mother civilization has mobilized its finest people, ideas and sent them out into the world—given birth to other civilizations. Also, URAŠ is a Mother goddess in Sumerian mythology, a spouse of the Sky Father ANU (𒀭𒀭) and linked to [dingir]NAGA (𒀭𒉀) / NISABA 𒀭𒊺𒉀 [dingir]ŠE.NAGA. Possibly “Lady of Saba” from NIN-ŠE-BA-AK (𒊩𒌆𒊺𒁀𒀝) “Lady of grain rations”. URAS (उरस्) / URASA (उरस) is also a word in Sanskrit that means “to bring forth the best”; “bosom”; “broad”; “having a strong chest or perfect breast”; “best”; “excellent” and perfectly describes a hooded cobra—i.e. NAGA (see Sumerian cuneiform NAGA 𒉀). Nagas were a legendary civilization of serpent-people in Hindu mythology. I believe the name “Uranus” / “Ouranus” for the Sky Father Titan hearkens back to both ANU the Sumerian All-Father and URAŠ the All-Mother. This word URAŠ also pops up throughout Polynesia in association with the holy color “red” / URA / ULA and the descent of kingship from heaven with the “red house” Whārekura / Fale’ula. These “red houses” housed the children of the elite (Ali’i) and indoctrinated them into the secrets of civilization, astronomy, navigation, traditional architecture, stories of the ancestors, etc. Etymological roots of Polynesian ULA / URA trace back through Austronesian languages where the word intersects with SAWA / SAWAH / SAVA and ULAR which all mean “serpent” and “cobra” and are ultimately linked to the Naga.
ZE₂ (𒍢) “dirt”; Akkadian: erşetu; alternative form of ZA (𒍝) “bead, precious stone, gem”
ZIKURA (𒍣𒆪𒊏𒆜𒐋, 𒆜𒐋); Akkadian: erşetu “earth"; derives from—
ZI (𒍣): “to be true, righteous, trusty, faithful”
KU / TUKUL(𒆪): “weapon; to grasp, hold, seize”
RA (𒊏): “to hit, beat upon, strike down; to drive (animals); to impress (a seal)”
KASKAL (𒆜): “way, road, journey; commercial travelling, caravan conquering expedition, military campaign”
AŠ₃/šeššet (𒐋): “6”, “360”
Glossed, the word ZIKURA (𒍣𒆪𒊏𒆜𒐋, 𒆜𒐋) for erşetu / "Earth" might have read "righteous (who) grasp weapons to drive savages on the 360-degree journey". After all, Sumerians are credited with the earliest use or innovation of the sexagesimal system and must have had an awareness of the degrees of a circle or sphere. Did they also know that the erşetu / Earth was a sphere?
=== Wherever this “red earth” place was it left a long and lasting impression in multiple cultures. The Pacific was not a barrier for some, and the underworld is often situated across the sea.
This brings me to a related topic: "blood", "anger" and "dust".
The words that refer to reddish hair and complexion; being ruddy; florid; violent-tempered; volatile; exhibiting transient agitation; being muddy (as with red earth ‘ELE in water); bloody (see connection with ‘ELE / ‘ELE’ELE) all bear the same fundamental form.
Tahitian: ‘EHU / ‘EHU’EHU
Hawaiian: ‘EHU / ‘EHU’EHU / ‘E’EHU
Sāmoan: ‘EFU / ‘EFU’EFU / ‘E’EFU
Tongan: KEFU / KEFUKEFU / KEKEFU
Especially interesting is the Mesopotamian word cluster which we access through Akkadian / Babylonian: ezzu (𒄭𒄊) / ezzu (𒄊) which comes from Sumerian HUŠ (𒄭𒄊) and HUŠ₂ (𒄊) / ezēzu. This latter form adheres to the same reduplication pattern as ‘EFU’EFU / ‘EHU’EHU / ‘E’EFU / ‘E’EHU / ‘ĒFU / ‘ĒHU
Sumerian HUŠ (𒄭𒄊) decomposes into DUG₃ (𒄭) and DU₁₀ (𒄭) meaning “good, pleasing, enjoyable; to be sweet; to enjoy, relish” and g̃ir₃ (𒄊), g̃iri₃ (𒄊) meaning “foot; way, path, route; via”.
In short, “enjoyable journey”.
We find that HUŠ is very similar to Sāmoan USU which means “to start on a journey early in the morning”.
HUŠ = USU
For Polynesian navigators this journeying (USU / USUGA / USUIA) meant carrying the blood of chiefs across water for marriage match making. Hence, ‘EFU is “muddy” or ‘ELE “red earth” in water to make blood ’ELE’ELE (see prior posts on Eretz).
Ezzu / ezēzu is also written with Sumerian ŠUR₂ (𒊨) / SAG gunû (𒊨) / DUL₃ (𒊨) ”to be furious; angry” and SUMUR (𒊨) SUMUR x KA (𒅗).
In Samoan, SUMU refers to the Balistes or triggerfish, a violently aggressive and territorial species of fish that have been known among the larger varieties to kill unsuspecting divers. The Hawaiian Humuhumu-nukunuku-ahupua’a belongs to this family of fish. The other meaning of SUMU “to enter the body, as a spear” perfectly describes the manner of attack of the triggerfish as well as the overall character of “an ambassador from the camp of the enemy”, or “one who steals into enemy’s camp to kill a man”. These are all behaviors of anger, fury, characteristics of bloody-mindedness, of blood in the water.
SUMUR (𒊨) SUMUR x KA (𒅗) is clearly related both to ‘EFU and SUMU in this wise.
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