It is interesting that the anti-Thirty Meter Telescope / save Mauna Kea movement uses three triangles in its symbolism. Traditionally, one variant of triangle patterns represents mountains, while another stands for shark teeth. This is a helpful association and hearkens back to the story of Māui who returned to the ancestral homeland (“his grandmother”) through her birth canal, which is ringed by rows of teeth. Māui is said to have died in his grandmother’s womb, cleaved in half by her teeth. As a metaphor, and as the subject relates to a family of gods, it seems to recount the fate of a divided tribe. One is swallowed up by the earth. The other half lives on in exile. Māui returns to his own Akua / Atua / Aumakua...to any Polynesian cognizant of the myths, the ancestors dwell in Pō—“night”, “the underworld”, “the land of the spirits” (not the “dead”, since only flesh dies and spirits alone endure).
I have identified a linguistic thread in Polynesian language dialects that trace back to/through Sumerian.
The cuneiform for “Mountain” is:
𒆳
In Sumerian: KUR
In Akkadian: MAT, QÚR, LAD
The MAT reading reveals a connection to TIAMAT, a World Dragon.
𒋾 = TI = nouns: “arrow”, “rib”, verb: “to live”,
𒀀 = A = nouns: “water”, “heir”, “To descend” (from “heaven”)
𒆳 = MAT = “mountain”, “hostile lands”, “the underworld”, “the land of the dead” (perhaps “spirits”, “ancestors”, as with ‘aitu, au-ma-KUA)
The English transliteration is KUR, though in speech it sounds nearer to KUA and TUA, such that /Kur/ gives way to /Kua/ and /Tua/ both of which, in Hawai’i and Sāmoa literally mean “the large back bone at the base of the spine”, but metaphorically stand for “backbone” of Earth, or mountain ranges.
Example:
“Kuamo’o” is “backbone of the dragon”, but also hints at Ali’i origin tracing back to a priestly order from Asia of “dragon” priests and priestesses—often associated with mountains of power, temples atop mountains (I.e. Himalayan—sounds like /KĪ/ “earth” (a plant) + /MALAE/ or /MELE/ “meeting place” [Tregear, pg. 213] or “song to” [Tregear, pg. + /'A/ from /AN/ or /ANU/ “god", or "heaven”, abbreviated form of /A-KUA/ or /A-TUA/) [Tregear, pg. 1]
Perhaps the story of Marduk and Tiamat, of Helios and Typhon, of the sun battling the sea
dimly recalls an earlier flood than that of Noah’s portion in Genesis. Maybe it explains why our first biblical encounter with God describes that he “hovered over the Deep” contemplating his Oneness, and thereupon set about raising up life again from a watery grave. Our geological record proves this to be the case in the evidence of massive tsunamis triggered by successive meteor strikes that wiped clean the face of the Earth. Such a calamity would have most affected coastal regions, depositing marine detritus throughout the enormity that is known as The Sahara.
“The word MO’O (#MOO) also refers to #GENEALOGY, which the ancients believed wound its way from ancestor to descendant LIKE a REPTILE.” (#Kupihea 113)
This is reminiscent of #Jǫrmungandr, #Miðgarðsormr, the World #Serpent written of in the Eddas, the middle child of #Loki’s three children by the giantess #Angrboða. It is reminiscent, too, of the Greco-Egyptian World Serpent Ouroboros:
#Ouroboros ‘O Ulu Po’o le Si’u O / ‘O URo/ ULu Bo / Po’o Ro / Le S / Si’u
It seems that the Ouroboros was a symbol of a global circle of confederated maritime peoples--I wonder...was it The Sea Peoples and their maritime headquarters in the kapū Deep, or rather of the Abyss, home of Enki, called Ea.
Footnotes[4]:
Definitions:
[1] "mountain", "mountains" [2] "land," "above all," "mountainous terrain", "hills", "uplands", "foothills, "foreign," "hostile land" [3] "the realm of the dead," (𒆳𒆠)
[4] "east"
[5] "easterner"
[6] "east wind"
Against words:
Sense related words:
Frequent word combinations:
Translations:
English : [1] mountain m ; [2] land n , enemy land n ; [3] realm of the dead n , underworld f
genitive𒆳𒊏 (kura (k)
directive𒆳𒊑 (kure)
locative𒆳𒀀 (kur'a)
terminative case𒆳𒂠 (kurše)
ablative𒆳𒋫 (kurta)
comitative𒆳𒁕 (kurda)
equative𒆳𒁶 (kurgin)
References:
[1] Pratt, Rev. George. "A Grammar and Dictionary of the Samoan Langauge, with English and Samoan Vocabulary". McMillan, 1984.
[2] Tregear, Edward. "Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary". Lyon and Blair, 1891.
[3] Kupihea, Moke. “#Kahuna of Light: The World of #Hawaiian #Spirituality”. Inner Traditions International, 2001
[4] The Pennsylvania Sumerian Dictionary: cure [MOUNTAIN]
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