(urth) god(s) and gods

[James Wynn]

On 11/29/2010 5:41 PM, António Pedro Marques wrote:
> A little too straightforward to be true, inn'it?
> To this day I haven't found an explanation I like for Pas. At the same 
> time, the name makes an enormous amount of sense to me. I can't help 
> thinking there must be some obvious association we're missing completely. 

I really don't understand why some people have a problem with Pan = Pas. 
I supposed it is because people have come to think of him as a minor 
woodland deity dancing around with wooly pants and goat feet. It is true 
that Zeus and the other Olympians superseded him in importance but at 
one time he was a major major diety for the Arcadians.

"pas" and "pan" are the same words. Pas the the masculine form.
When the story opens, Pas is dead. Pan is significant as the only god 
who has died in historical time, recorded by Plutarch as having died 
during the reign of Tiberius. Christians viewed this as being 
significant since it heralded the coming of the crushing of the false 
gods with the true god who was crucified and resurrected during 
Tiberius' reign.  Pan also makes an appearance in Herodotus's book on 
the Persian Wars, meeting a runner on his way to Athens. Wolfe mentions 
this event in his introduction to Soldier of the Mist.

And now, thanks to Jane Delawney we have an etymology that connects 
"pas" to dogs. And Wolfe, in my experience, if there is a potential 
dog/wolf reference, he will make it.

u+16b9