Mythology among the Hebrews and Its Historical DevelopmentGoldziher, Ignác
Religion
Mythology among the Hebrews and Its Historical Development
Goldziher, Ignác
Jewish mythology; Judaism -- History -- To 70 A.D.
Zilpah also, the mother of Asher, is to be classed in the same group.
Any one who has cast even a superficial glance on the real meaning of
the myths of the Aryan nations, as now discovered and recognised, must
have noticed the peculiarity that the mythical relation of child to
parent does not always indicate a succession of what should precede and
what follow, but that the child is not unfrequently only a repetition of
the father or the mother, and is therefore to be considered identical
with them.[354] The present is a case of this kind. Âshêr is only a
repetition of his mother. The designation Zilpâ, the explanation of
which has been sought in vain in Hebrew—for the meaning ‘a drop’ can
hardly be maintained—finds a smooth and ready interpretation in Arabic,
where zalafa, as well as _zlp_, _zlb_ in Assyrian,[355] denotes ‘to
march on.’ So that Zilpâ also is ‘she that marches forward.’ Another
‘marcher forward’ is preserved by Arabian tradition, viz. Zalîchâ. She
is unmistakably a solar figure, and her name (_zlch_ has the same
signification ‘to march forward’) is perhaps even formally
connected[356] with that of Zilpâ, with whom she is identical. The
battle of the Sunshine with the Rainy Sky is the amorous contest of the
beautiful Zalîchâ (or, as the name is commonly but erroneously
pronounced, Zuleychâ) with Yôsêph ‘the Multiplier.’ Now, having been led
into the above digressions by the explanation of Cain’s flight, we
return to Cain again.
§ 8. We have just alluded to the fact that in the Hebrew mythology the
figures presented as children are frequently only _repetitions_ of one
of their parents.[357] This observation is found to be confirmed in the
case of the posterity which the Biblical genealogy in Gen. IV. derives
from Cain. Some of the descendants of Cain are quite as much solar
figures as their ancestor himself; and in an age which had advanced
beyond the stage of the formation of myths, and even beyond the
after-sentiment of mythology, this identity occasioned the idea that
these figures must stand in a genealogical connexion with the ancestor.
The same psychological process which in the employment of language
produces a specialisation or limitation in the sense of words originally
synonymous, is at work here also, forming from the numerous synonyms of
mythology genealogies, in which identical designations, after their
substratum has been personified, become his sons, grandsons, and
great-grandsons. Thus among Cain’s descendants none but solar figures
are to be found. In the demonstration of this fact, I limit myself to
those names which can be interpreted without at all forcing their
meaning. The very first, Enoch (Chanôkh), the son of Cain, from whom he
names the first city he built, is of pure solar significance. We have
above already, with Ewald, put his name in the class in which the Sun is
presented as the ‘Opener.’ The solar character of Enoch admits of no
doubt.
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