The Mystery of Languages
The Archeodoxa team is pleased to share his 25 years of research in linguistics and mythology.
These discoveries reveal a logic that includes many language families around the globe.
THE CELESTIAL AXIS - NUMBER 8 - THE CYCLES OF TIME
Around the world, the word for number 8 is often associated with a cycle of time or daily life rotating objects.
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Day and night
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Rest & sleep
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The solar year
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The seasons
The following example is astonishing. In Indo-European languages the number 8 is associated with night which marks the end of the diurnal cycle:
We will see later how this correlation reveals great complexity.
The ancients observed how stars and wandering stars (sun, moon, 5 planets visible to the naked eye) revolve around an axis. Our historians have designated it the Axis Mundi. Today this axis points to the polar star. This has not always been the case because of the precession.
In their myths and stories, our ancestors compared this movement to some daily life elements:
- A wheel and its axis
- A spinning wheel
- A hand spindle
- A mill for grinding grain
- An axis for churning milk
- An arrow and its bow (an arrow always spines on itself)
- A spear
- An assegai and its propeller (atlatl)
We invite you to watch an excerpt from an Archeodoxa video on Axis Mundi:
Click CC to get the English subtitle
Archeodoxa discovered ancient texts that use the bow and arrow to express astronomical notions. In Native American tribes, the arrow is closely related to the sun and its cycle. Let's see an excerpt that explains this principle. Click CC to get the English subtitle.
To better understand the shadow tracks left by the sun's movements you can build your own sundial using software like Shadowspro.
COUNTING FOR SURVIVAL
Since prehistoric time, man ensures his survival by counting days, moons and seasons. It is likely that for solar calendars these cycles were counted on a base of 8 (8 x 45 days = 360 days ≈ 1 year). For many people in Europe and Asia the solar year was counted this way alike the Nowruz of the Persians.:
1- Spring Equinox
2- Half-time around 2nd of May (≈ Celtic Calan Haf/Bealtaine)
3- Summer Solstice
4- Half-time around 4th of August (≈ Celtic Lughnasadh)
5- Autumnal equinox
6- Half time around 6th of November (≈ Celtic Samhain)
7- Winter solstice
8-Half-time around 3rd of February (≈ Celtic Imbolc)
Some peoples could establish stage 1 otherwise. For example, the Celtic tribes were celebrating the beginning of the year at the Samhain. Moreover, the 4 Celtic holidays were celebrated in the half times between the solstices and the equinoxes. The dates of these feasts could thus be adjusted according to a lunar calendar without altering the solar dates of the solstices and equinoxes.
Here is a slide show of these 8 rising sun positions around the year (view from Paris) using the online software SunCalc.
This program allows you to see the sunrise and sunset azimuths (angles with the North) accordingly for a chosen date and a position on a globe. As you move the sun ruler (timeline, top of the page) you can see the sunlight scanning the earth surface. We will see later how the number 9 expresses the renewal of this count.
For the relation 8 ↔ cycle ↔ pole, we have compiled some examples from 9 families of languages and 2 isolated languages (Sumerian and Basque):
You can listen to the ‘ʒ’ pronunciation at this IPA consonants chart.
Here we have simplified the distribution map of these language families. You can also consult the detailed map of all language families.
To appreciate this table (8 ↔ cycle ↔ pole), you must grasp the importance of certain daily life handicrafts. Any pegs, poles or piercing tools require a sharpened point to sink, stabilize or rotate. Thus, the tool will complete its function without deviating.
It is also important to know that putting up a shelter, a yurt or a teepee requires the use of a central pole. It can be removed when the converging poles are in support. When making a skin coat or tent, we turn the tip of a sharp tool. These daily actions are used as mnemonic to evoke the celestial axis, its importance, its stability, and its total completeness.
THE SPIRITUAL DIMENSION
Our ancestors attributed a spiritual value to this axis. Indeed, as the axis manages the diurnal cycle and that of the seasons it is at the same time light and life. For them, this axis is invisible and its existence is only observed in the movement of the stars. He controls time, light and life. In North America, the god Waka Tanka of Lakotas and Sioux is explicitly described as this celestial axis. He is the Great Mystery because he is invisible and unique. The astronomical affirmation of the Lakotas and the Sioux inspires us to verify if other myths do not reveal the same principle for example among the Turk-Mongolian (Tengri), Chinese (Sheng-di), Polynesian (Tangaroa) and the Sumerians (Dingir). For the Lakotas, a righteous man must turn around Waka Tanga just as the stars do.
As the axis controls life and light, it is seen as the tree of life. Moreover, since the dawn of time man has made pivots and axles with the trunk of a tree. Several ancient myths associate the tree of life with the celestial axis. As the rotation of all celestial bodies conforms to it, an emphasis is placed on the fact that its branches, leaves, fruits, and roots are ramified to its unique trunk.
In the following table, we see the equation arrow ↔ justice ↔ 8 ↔ heavens. Then, the Persian of the Avesta book is the fundament of sacred teaching. Keep in mind that ash- is an intensive prefix like our 'super' or 'hyper' and is associated with ashi, 'eye'.
From this table we propose the following roots construction:
amesha (immortal) = ama (courage) + asha (justice)
The 7 Amesha Spenta (Immortal Saints) have their equivalent in many cultures around the world.
WHAT IS BEHIND SUN ↔ ARROW ?
In many cultures sun and arrow are symbols of justice:
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The role of a justice is to bring light to the truth.
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When the sun rises, all the nature reappears clearly.
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True justice rises high in the sky.
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A good arrow flies high in the sky.
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A good arrow never deviates from its objective otherwise it will hurt the innocent.
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A small hole in a nomad tent shows how the sun's rays are straight.
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Any hunter craves to own arrows like the sun’s rays.
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Sun gives life, justice too.
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The cycle of the sun is predictable like good justice.
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An arrow must penetrate in the invisible (under the skin) like justice.
NUMBER 8 IN PROTO INDO EUROPEAN
Linguists have learned how the syllables we utter can change over time in different contexts. Even in the history of a people, we detect the moment when their language has undergone a sound change. With these principles, linguists try to reconstruct the ancestral language (proto-language) behind a whole family of languages.
Among all the language groups, the Indo-European family was the most studied. Julius Pokorny was one of the great pioneers trying to reconstruct the Proto Indo-European. For a possible origin of the number 8, he found these very intriguing correlations draw with pink arrows. The purple arrows express other correlations suspected by the Archeodoxa team.
Join 8 fingers of your hands by hiding your 2 thumbs. You will get a form similar:
• to the shape of an eye (okʷ-)
• to a sharpened stone (ak-, ok-, * hekʷ-)
• to the peak of a summit (okri-, okro-)
According to Pokorny, the word ok- (think, understand, see, count) derives from a reduction of the root for the ancestral word for “eye” okʷ-.
The reconstitution of the number 8 in proto-European is *ok-tōu.
Although these correlations are hypothetical, Pokorny has compiled these parallels for a broad spectrum of all Indo-European languages. To read his lexicon (English & German) follow this link.
We remind readers that Pokorny did not make any statement concerning a correlation between 8 and night (nekʷ-t-, nokʷ-t-s).
Currently, some linguists cast doubt on the 8 ↔ night association.
But a study of Slavic languages could support well this association. Among the Indo-European languages, Slavic languages are the only ones whose word “night” does not ring with the sound for “eight”. To our surprise their word for “evening” ring with their number eight.
It is not only in the Indo-European languages that the word 8 is linked to “thinking, understanding, seeing, counting”.
As we saw in a previous table in languages of another family, we find the association 8 ↔ to count in the Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic family:
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Hebrew 8 is she-moneh which would derive from the "one who counts"
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In Arabic, the famous expression 'tamam', meaning "OK", comes from tam meaning 8 and "total"!
The ancestors of the Arabian Peninsulas recognize that their decimal system (base 10) comes from India. It is likely that their language echoes an octal numeral system (base 8) as in many civilizations. In the octal numeral system, we completed a count with 8 items and restart a second count at 9. Linguists recognize well that all the Indo-European words meaning 9 are related to the word “new”. English “nine” come from proto germanic neuwn meaning 9 and “new”!
You will probably wonder why we add 'ship' and the proper name 'Noah' to this table.
A relationship Noah ↔ ship is obvious. Moreover, the name Noah in Europe come from ship (naval…) in Germanic, Celtic, and Latin.
The relation Noah ↔ new is almost obvious since the universal diluvian hero symbolizes the renewal of the world
The relation new ↔ 9 is plausible for an octal digital system. After counting up to 8 we renew the count at 9.
But the relationships ship ↔ 9 or Noah ↔ 9 might seem less obvious at first glimpse.
Still, the relation Noah ↔ 9 is very relevant because diluvian myths are often numbered as follows:
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The flood hero + the 7 wise men
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The 4 couples = 8
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Following the flood, the rebirth of the world started at nine after the 8 heroes.
An interesting point, still speculative, we should remember that our ancestors colonized new territories by boat on sea and rivers.
The archeology of Paleolithic and Neolithic demonstrates the importance of naval transport during migration.
Many myths around the world are remembering this era.