Editing Hermes (section)

==Name and origin==
The earliest form of the name {{lang|grc-Latn|Hermes}} ({{lang|grc|Ἑρμῆς}}) is the [[Mycenaean Greek]] *{{lang|gmy-Latn|hermāhās}},<ref name=BeekesHermes>{{cite book |first=R.S.P. |last=Beekes |others=With the assistance of Lucien van Beek |title=Etymological Dictionary of Greek |url=https://archive.org/details/etymologicaldict00beek |url-access=limited |publisher=Brill |year=2010 |place=Leiden, Boston |pages=[https://archive.org/details/etymologicaldict00beek/page/n255 461]–2|isbn=978-90-04-17418-4}}</ref> written {{lang|gmy|{{script|Linb|𐀁𐀔𐁀}}}} {{lang|gmy-Latn|e-ma-a<sub>2</sub>}} ({{lang|gmy-Latn|e-ma-ha}}) in the [[Linear B]] syllabic script.<ref>{{citation |author=Joann Gulizio |url=http://www.utexas.edu/research/pasp/publications/pdf/hermes.pdf |title=Hermes and e-m-a<sub>2</sub> |publisher=[[University of Texas]] |access-date= 26 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131005042939/http://www.utexas.edu/research/pasp/publications/pdf/hermes.pdf |archive-date=5 October 2013 }}</ref> Other forms of the name of Hermes are {{lang|grc-Latn|Hermeias}} ({{lang|grc|Ἑρμείας}}), {{lang|grc-Latn|Hermaōn}} ({{lang|grc|Ἑρμάων}}), {{lang|grc-Latn|Hermān}} ({{lang|grc|Ἑρμᾱν}}), {{lang|grc-Latn|Hermaios}} ({{lang|grc|Ἓρμαιος}}), {{lang|grc-Latn|Hermaỵos}} ({{lang|grc|Ἓρμαιυος}})<ref name="Nilsson, Vol I p.502">Nilsson, Vol I p.502</ref> Most scholars derive ''Hermes'' from Greek {{lang|grc|ἕρμα}} ({{lang|grc-Latn|[[herma]]}}),<ref name="Greekhistory&gods"/> 'stone heap'.{{R|Powell|pp=177}} {{lang|grc-Latn|Hermax}}, ('heap of stones'),<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3De(%2Frmac ἕρμαξ]</ref> {{lang|grc-Latn|hermaīon}}, ('gift of Hermes'),<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3De(%2Frmaion hermaion]</ref> {{lang|grc-Latn|hermaīos}} hill were holy to Hermes.<ref name="Nilsson, Vol I p.502"/>

The [[etymology]] of {{Lang|grc|ἕρμα}} itself is unknown, but is probably not a [[Proto-Indo-European]] word.<ref name=BeekesHermes/> [[Robert S. P. Beekes|R. S. P. Beekes]] rejects the connection with {{lang|grc-Latn|herma}} and suggests a [[Pre-Greek]] origin.<ref name=BeekesHermes/> However, the stone etymology is also linked to Indo-European {{lang|ine-x-proto|ser-}} ('to bind, put together'). Scholarly speculation that ''Hermes'' derives from a more primitive form meaning 'one [[cairn]]' is disputed.<ref name=DaviesB>{{cite book |author-link=Anna Morpurgo Davies |last=Davies |first=Anna Morpurgo |author2=Yves Duhoux |title=Linear B: a 1984 survey |publisher=Peeters Publishers |year=1985 |page=136 }}</ref> Other scholars have suggested that Hermes may be a cognate of the Vedic [[Sarama]].<ref>''Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology'', ed. Félix Guirand & Robert Graves, Hamlyn, 1968, p. 123.</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Debroy |first=Bibek |title=Sarama and her Children: The Dog in the Indian Myth |publisher=Penguin Books India |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-14-306470-1 |page=77}}</ref>

It is likely that Hermes is a pre-Hellenic god, though the exact origins of his worship, and its original nature, remain unclear. [[Arthur Frothingham|Frothingham]] thought the god to have existed as a Mesopotamian snake-god, similar or identical to [[Ningishzida]], a god who served as mediator between humans and the divine, especially [[Ishtar]], and who was depicted in art as a [[caduceus]].<ref>Frothingham, A.L. (1916). [https://www.jstor.org/stable/497115 "Babylonian Origin of Hermes the Snake-God, and of the Caduceus I"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170402035930/http://www.jstor.org/stable/497115 |date=2 April 2017 }}. AJA 20.2, 175-211.</ref><ref name=transformer/> Angelo (1997) thinks Hermes to be based on the [[Thoth]] archetype.<ref>{{cite book|author=Petrūska Clarkson|title=Counselling Psychology: Integrating Theory, Research, and Supervised Practice|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rqqA8irfMvsC&pg=PA24|year=1998|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=978-0-415-14523-7|page=24}}</ref> The absorbing ("combining") of the attributes of Hermes to Thoth developed after the time of Homer amongst Greeks and Romans; Herodotus was the first to identify the Greek god with the Egyptian ([[Hermopolis]]) (Plutarch and Diodorus also did so), although Plato thought the gods were dissimilar (Friedlander 1992).<ref>{{cite book |author=Walter J. Friedlander |title=The Golden Wand of Medicine: A History of the Caduceus Symbol in Medicine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8PFT3qb_tyEC&pg=PA69 |year=1992 |publisher=[[ABC-Clio]] |isbn=978-0-313-28023-8 |page=69 }}.</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Jacques Derrida |author-link=Jacques Derrida |title=Dissemination |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m8lmHmVW12EC&pg=PA89 |year=2004 |publisher=[[A & C Black]] |isbn=978-0-8264-7696-8 |page=89 }}</ref>

His cult was established in Greece in remote regions, likely making him originally a god of nature, farmers, and shepherds. It is also possible that since the beginning he has been a deity with [[shamanic]] attributes linked to [[divination]], [[reconciliation (theology)|reconciliation]], [[magic (supernatural)|magic]], [[sacrifice]]s, and [[initiation]] and contact with other planes of existence, a role of mediator between the worlds of the visible and invisible.<ref>''Danubian Historical Studies'', '''2''', Akadémiai Kiadó, 1988, p. 32.</ref> According to a theory that has received considerable scholarly acceptance, Hermes originated as a form of the god [[Pan (god)|Pan]], who has been identified as a reflex of the [[Proto-Indo-European religion|Proto-Indo-European]] pastoral god {{lang|ine-x-proto|[[*Péh₂usōn|Péh<sub>2</sub>usōn]]}},<ref>H. Collitz, "Wodan, Hermes und Pushan," ''Festskrift tillägnad Hugo Pipping på Hans sextioårsdag den 5 November 1924'' 1924, pp 574–587.</ref><ref name="Oxford University Press">{{cite book |last1=Mallory |first1=J. P. |last2=Adams |first2=D.Q. |title=The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World |url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordintroducti00mall |url-access=limited |date=2006 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=Oxford, England |isbn=978-0-19-929668-2 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/oxfordintroducti00mall/page/n435 411] and 434 }}</ref> in his aspect as the god of [[Herma|boundary markers]]. The PIE root {{lang|ine-x-proto|peh<sub>2</sub>}} 'protect' also shows up in Latin {{lang|la|pastor}} 'shepherd' (whence the English ''pastoral''). A zero grade of the full PIE form — {{lang|ine-x-proto|ph<sub>2</sub>usōn}} — yields the name of the Sanskrit [[psychopomp]] [[Pushan]], who, like Pan, is associated with goats.<ref>Beekes, R. (2006) ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'' p. 600</ref> Later, the epithet supplanted the original name itself and Hermes took over the role of psychopomp and as god of messengers, travelers, and boundaries, which had originally belonged to Pan, while Pan himself continued to be venerated by his original name in his more rustic aspect as the god of the wild in the relatively isolated mountainous region of [[Arcadia (ancient region)|Arcadia]]. In later myths, after the cult of Pan was reintroduced to Attica, Pan was said to be Hermes's son.<ref name="Oxford University Press"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=West |first1=Martin Litchfield |author-link=Martin Litchfield West |title=Indo-European Poetry and Myth |date=2007 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=Oxford, England |isbn=978-0-19-928075-9 |url=http://library.globalchalet.net/Authors/Poetry%20Books%20Collection/Indo-European%20Poetry%20and%20Myth.pdf |pages=281–283 |access-date=23 April 2017 |archive-date=17 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180417103355/http://library.globalchalet.net/Authors/Poetry%20Books%20Collection/Indo-European%20Poetry%20and%20Myth.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>