Editing Ask and Embla (section)

===Indo-European origins===
A [[Proto-Indo-Europeans|Proto-Indo-European]] basis has been theorized for the duo based on the etymology of ''embla'' meaning "vine." In Indo-European societies, an analogy is derived from the drilling of fire and [[sexual intercourse]]. Vines were used as a flammable wood, where they were placed beneath a drill made of harder wood, resulting in fire. Further evidence of ritual making of fire in [[Scandinavia]] has been theorized from a depiction on a stone plate on a [[The King's Grave|Bronze Age grave in Kivik]], [[Scania]], [[Sweden]].<ref name="SIMEK74">Simek (2007:74).</ref>

[[Jaan Puhvel]] comments that "ancient myths teem with trite 'first couples' similar to the type of [[Adam and Eve|Adam and his by-product Eve]]. In Indo-European tradition, these range from the Vedic Yama and Yamī and the Iranian [[Mashya and Mashyana|Mašya and Mašyānag]] to the Icelandic Askr and Embla, with trees or rocks as preferred raw material, and [[dragon]]'s teeth or other bony substance occasionally thrown in for good measure".<ref name="PUHVEL-284">Puhvel (1989 [1987]:284).</ref>

In his study of the comparative evidence for an origin of mankind from trees in Indo-European society, Anders Hultgård observes that "myths of the origin of mankind from trees or wood seem to be particularly connected with ancient Europe and Indo-Europe and Indo-European-speaking peoples of Asia Minor and Iran. By contrast the cultures of the Near East show almost exclusively the type of anthropogonic stories that derive man's origin from clay, earth or blood by means of a divine creation act".<ref name="HULTGAARD-62">Hultgård (2006:62).</ref>