Editing Neptune (mythology) (section)

===Fertility deity and divine ancestor===

In lectures delivered during the 1990s, German scholar Hubert Petersmann proposed an etymology from the Indo-European root ''*nebh-'' ("damp, wet") with the suffix ''-tu'' (for an abstract verbal noun) and the adjectival suffix ''-no'' (domain of activity). The root ''*nebh-'' gives the Sanskrit ''nābhah'', Hittite ''nepis'', Latin ''nubs'', ''nebula'', German ''Nebel'', and the Slavic ''nebo''. The concept would be close to that expressed in the name of the Greek god ''Όυράνος'' (''[[Uranus (mythology)|Uranus]]''), derived from the root ''*h<sub>2</sub>wórso-'' ("to water or irrigate") and ''*h<sub>2</sub>worsó-'' ("the irrigator").<ref>H. Petersmann below, Göttingen 2002.</ref><ref>M. Peters "Untersuchungen zur Vertratung der indogermanischen Laryngeale in Griechisch" in ''Österreicher Akademie der Wissenschaften, philosophische historische Klasse'', vol. 372, Vienna 1980, p. 180.</ref> 

Petersmann proposes a different interpretation of Neptune's theology.<ref>Hubert Petersmann ''Lingua et Religio: ausgewählte kleine Schriften zur antiken Religionsgeschichte auf sprachwissenschaftlicher Grundlage'' herausgegeben von Bernd Heßen. Hypomnemata: Supplement-Reihe 1.   Göttingen:  Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 2002.  Pp. 304.  {{ISBN|3-525-25231-5}}.</ref>  Developing his understanding of the theonym as rooted in the Indo-European ''*nebh'', he writes that the god would be an ancient deity of the cloudy, rainy sky in company with (and in opposition to) [[Zeus]]/[[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]], the god of clear skies. Similar to [[Caelus]], he would be the father of all earthly things through the fertilising power of rain. The ''[[hieros gamos]]'' of Neptune and Earth is reflected in Virgil's ''[[Aeneid]]'' V 14 (''pater Neptunus''). Neptune's power would be reflected by [[Salacia]], one of his ''paredrae'', who also denotes the overcast sky. His other ''paredra'', [[Venilia]], is associated with the wind as well as the sea. The [[theonym]] Venilia may be rooted in ''*venilis'', a postulated adjective deriving from the IE root ''*ven(h)'' ("to love or desire") in the Sanskrit ''vánati, vanóti'' ("he loves"), German ''Wonne'', and the Latin [[Venus (mythology)|Venus]], ''venia''. Neptune's dual nature is found in [[Catullus]] 31. 3: "''uterque Neptunus''".<ref>Catullus 31. 3: "Paene insularum, Sirmio, insularumque/ ocelle, quascumque in liquentibus stagnis/ marique vasto fert uterque Neptunus/...": the quoted words belong to a passage in which the poet seems to be hinting to the double nature of Neptune as god both of the freshwaters and of the sea.</ref>

According to Petersmann, the ancient Indo-Europeans also venerated a god of wetness as the generator of life; this is indicated by the [[Hittite mythology and religion|Hittite theonyms]] ''nepišaš (D)IŠKURaš'' or ''nepišaš (D)Tarhunnaš'' ("lord of sky wet"), the sovereign of Earth and humanity.<ref>Eric Neun ''Die Anitta-Text'' Wiesbaden, 1974, p. 118.</ref> Although this function was transferred to Zeus/Jupiter (the sovereigns of weather), the old function survived in literature: the ''Aeneid'' V 13-14 reads, "''Heu, quianam tanti cinxerunt aethera nimbi?/ quidve, pater Neptune, paras?''" ("What, why have so many clouds enringed the sky? What are you preparing, father Neptune?")<ref>H. Petersmann "Neptuns ürsprugliche Rolle im römischen Pantheon. Ein etymologisch-religiongeschichtlicher Erklärungsversuch" in ''Lingua et religio. Augewählte kleine Beiträge zur antike religiogeschichtlicher und sprachwissenschaftlicher Grundlage'' Göttingen, 2002, pp. 226-235.</ref> The indispensability of water and its connection to reproduction are universally known.<ref>cf. Festus s. v. ''aqua'': "a qua iuvamur", whence we get life, p 2 L.; s. v. ''aqua et igni'' : "...quam accipiuntur nuptae, videlicet quia hae duae res...vitam continent", p.2-3 L; s.v. ''facem'': "facem in nuptiis in honore Cereris praeferebant, aqua aspergebatur nova nupta...ut ignem et aquam cum viro communicaret", p.87 L.</ref>

Müller and Deeke interpreted Neptune's theology as a divine ancestor of the Latin Faliscans: the father of [[Messapus]] and Halesus, their heroic founders. [[William Warde Fowler]] considered Salacia the personification of the virile potency which generated a Latin people, parallel with Mars, Saturn, Janus and Jupiter.<ref>William Warde Fowler ''The Roman Festivals of the Period of the Republic'' London, 1899, p. 126</ref>