Etymology and Comparative Mythology: Python, Oceanus, the Hydra, Scylla, Typhon, and Indo-European Water Monsters

An integrated approach to etymology and comparative mythology is applied to five figures of Ancient Greek myth of mostly monstrous character, all linked with the concept water, and often related to each other. Python and Oceanus (and other Ancient Greek serpentine characters) are identified as reflexes of the Indo-European theme of the “Serpent of the Watery Depths”, with parallels in the Indic (Áhi- Budhnyá- “Serpent of the Deep”, Vr̥tra, Śeṣa) and Norse (the Midgard Serpent) traditions, among others. The Hydra and Scylla may instead be analyzed as reflexes of a further Indo-European theme, that of the dangerous “Water Canid”, with parallels in the Irish (Onchú and Dobarchú) and the Norse (the wolf Fenrir or Fenrisulfr) traditions. A further “Eschatological Water Monster” theme links together the latter Wolf, the Greek monster Typhon and the Indic fire-monster called Vāḍava- ‘(being) of the mare, of the she-horse’ and Aurva- ‘(being) of the ocean-basin’.