Mātariśvan, the Vedic Firebird.

Georges-Jean Pinault (1)

1 Mondes Iranien et Indien - UMR 7528

Mātariśvan is a mythical being of the Vedic religion, who brought the fire from afar, probably from heaven, to the men, i.e., to the first priests. After the Rigveda it has been taken as the personification of the wind. The paper discusses the etymology of the name mātaríśvan-. The connection with mātár- 'mother' is due to popular etymology, because this term in the dual referred to the two pieces of wood of firesticks used for churning fire. An alternative etymological of Vedic mātaríśvan- is proposed, based on the fact that he was conceived as a winged creature, comparable to the bird who brought the soma plant to the mortals in primeval times.

Mots clés: Rigveda; Vedic hymns; Vedic mythology; Sanskrit etymology; Indo-European etymology; Indo-European morphology; Nominal compounding

Domaines: Linguistique; Anthropologie sociale et ethnologie; Religions

Georges-Jean Pinault. Mātariśvan, the Vedic Firebird. . Indologica Taurinensia. The journal of the International Association of Sanskrit Studies, 2013, 37 (2011), pp.269-293. ⟨halshs-01447107⟩