Inspired by Tamarian, here’s a modest proposal for a mythometaphorical conlang: Intermythic English. Intermythic English is English with the addition of the 150 words below (newly updated!). Sample Sentences Yama can sarasvati Babel. “You can speak Intermythic English.” The Minerva of Babel has Castor and Pollux. “The author of Intermythic English has twins.” Yama and Nar can ahura mazda new Sarasvatis for Babel. “You and I can create new words for Intermythic English.” Pronouns Personal pronouns are not inflected for number, gender or case. The first person pronoun (“I, me, we, us”) is Nar [from Narcissus], second person (“you”) is Yama [from the first mortal in Indian mythology], and third person (“he, him, she, her, they, them, it”) is Skanda. Lexicon word [its ultimate known native culture] – its meaning as a verb, noun, adjective Words separated by a slash are the Greek and Roman forms (Artemis/Diana).Either is acceptable Intermythic. Achilles [Greek] – to kill, one killed Adam [Jewish] – a man, masculine Adapa [Akkadian] – to think, a wise person, wise Aditi [Indian] – to bear a child, a mother, motherly Adonis [Phoenician] – to seduce, a seducer, seductive Aeneas [Greek] – to worship, a worshipper, worshipful Agni [Indian] – to ignite, a fire, fiery; to anger, an angry one, angry; to digest, a digester/eater, digestive Ahura Mazda [Indo-Iranian] – to create, a creator, creative Amaterasu [Japanese] – to rule, a ruler/monarch/emperor, imperial Amazon [Greek] – a matriarchy, matriarchial Amitabha [Bhuddist] – to save, a savior, saving Amma [Dogon] – to weave, a weaver, woven Amun-Re [Egyptian] – to hide, an unknown, hidden Anahita [Persian] – to flow, a spring, a river, flowing Angel [Jewish] – to herald/convey a message, a herald/messenger Angra Mainyu [Persian] – to rot, filth, rotten Anna Perenna [Roman] – to feast, a feaster, festive Antigone [Greek] – to defy, a rebel, defiant Anu [Sumerian] – to judge, justice/a judge, judgmental Anubis [Egyptian] – to embalm, an embalmer Aphrodite/Venus [Greek] – to beautify, a beauty, beautiful Apis [Egyptian] – a bull Apollo [Greek] – time [suggested by Jane Connell] Ares/Mars [Greek] – to war, a war, martial Artemis/Diana [Greek] – a virgin, virginal; to hunt, a hunter, venereal [in hunting sense!] Arthur [Celtic] – to unite, a uniter, chivalrous Ascelpius/Aesculapius [Greek] – to heal, a healer, healing Aten [Egyptian] – to shine, the sun, solar Athena/Minerva [Greek] – to create art/write/compose/sculpt, an artist, artistic Baal [Phoenician] – to fight, a fighter, combative Babel [Jewish] – Intermythic English Balder [Norse] – to be gentle, one who is gentle, gentle Brahma [Indian] – to originate, an originator, primordial Buddha [Bhuddist] – to enlighten, an enlightened one, enlightened Castor [Greek] – a twin Centaur [Greek] – to ride a horse, an equestrian Cernunnos [Celtic] – to run wild, a wild animal, wild Chac [Mayan] – to rain, the rain, rainy Cú Chulainn [Irish] – to defend, a champion, valiant Cybele [Phrygian] – to enrapture, an ecstatic, frenzied Demeter/Ceres [Greek] – to farm, a farmer, agricultural Dionysus/Bacchus [Greek] – to drink alcohol, an alcoholic drink/a drunkard/wino, inebriated dragon [various] – to hoard, a hoard, miserly Durga [Indian] – to protect, a protector, protective Enki [Sumerian] – to devise, a craftsman, cunning Enlil [Sumerian] – to be true, truth, truthful; to take an oath, oath Epona [Gallic] – to tend horses, a horse-keeper, equine Erinnye [Greek] – to punish, a punisher, punishing Eros/Cupid [Greek] – to love, a lover, loving Eve [Jewish] – a woman, feminine Faunus [Roman] – to prophesy, an oracle, prophetic Finn mac Cumhal [Irish] – to lead, a chieftain Freyja [Norse] – to work magic, a sorceress, magical Freyr [Norse] – to engage in an orgy, an orgy, orgiastic Ganesha [Indian] – to clear the way, auspicious Genii [various] – to watch over, a guard, guardian Gilgamesh [Sumerian] – to quest, a seeker, questing Gorgon [Greek] – to terrorize, a terror, terrifying Hadad [Assyrian] – to storm, a storm, stormy Hades/Pluto [Greek] – to die, a dead one, deadly Hanuman [Indian] – to devote, a devotee, devoted harpy [Greek] – to kidnap, a kidnapper Hathor [Egyptian] – to rejoice, a reveler, joyful Heimdallr [Norse] – to guard, a guard Helen [Greek] – to entice into war, a casus belli, ruinous Hephastus/Vulcan [Greek] – a blacksmith Hera/Juno [Greek] – to marry, a married woman Heracles/Hercules [Greek] – a strong man, strength Hermes/Mercury [Greek] – to trick, a trickster, cunning Hestia/Vesta [Greek] – to establish a home, a home/hearth, homely Horus [Egyptian] – sky Huang-ti [Chinese] – to invent, an inventor, inventive Huitzilopochtli [Aztec] – to represent, a patron, patriotic Inanna [Sumerian] – to descend and return, one who overcomes, resilient Indra [Indian] – to conquer, a conqueror, victorious Ishtar [Mesopotamian] – a bad movie, to make a really bad movie Isis [Egyptian] – to make a really bad TV show Itzamma [Mayan] – a lizard, lizardly Janus [Roman] – to begin, a beginner Jason [Greek] – to lead an expedition, an adventurer, adventurous Kama [Indian] – to desire, a desire, desirous Kami [Japanese] – nature, natural Krishna [Indian] – to guide, a guide, guiding Kumarbi [Hurrian] – to rival, a rival/rivalry Lakshmi [Indian] – to prosper, a fortune, prosperous Lares [Roman] – to honor ancestors, an ancestor, ancestral Leviathan [Phoenician] – a monster, monstrous; a huge one, huge Loki [Norse] – chaos/disorder, chaotic/disorderly Lug [Irish] – to excel, a jack-of-all-trades, versatile Maat [Egyptian] – a balance Marduk [Babylonian] – to impose order, an orderer, orderly Medusa [Greek] – an ugly one, ugly Minos [Greek] – to rule by law, a lawgiver, lawful Mithra [Indo-European] – to make a friend, a friend, friendly Modimo [African] – to father, a father, paternal Moerae/Parcae [Greek] – to determine the fate, fate, fatal Muse [Greek] – to sing, a singer/music [!], musical Nar Narcissus [Greek] – [first-person pronoun] I, me, we, us Narcissus [Greek] – self Nemesis [Greek] – to avenge, a nemesis, retributive Nephthys [Egyptian] – to mourn, a mourner, mournful Nergal [Babylonian] – to plague, a plague, pestilent Ninurta [Sumerian] – to slay a monster, a monster-slayer, heroic Niobe [Greek] – to grieve, one grief-stricken, sorrowful Njord [Norse] – to fish, a fish, fishy Norn [Norse] – to foretell, a seer, prophetic Odin [Norse] – to seek, a seeker, all-seeing Odysseus/Ulysses – to travel, a traveler Ogmios [Celtic] – to orate, an orator, eloquent Orpheus [Greek] – to make poetry, a poet, poetic Osiris [Egyptian] – to be resurrected, one reborn, resurrected Pan [Greek] – to herd sheep, a shepherd/a flock, pastoral Pandora [Greek] – to hope, one who hopes, hopeful; Esperanto Pelops [Greek] – to cheat, a schemer, treacherous Perun [Slavic] – to strike with lightning, a lightning-bolt, flashing Phaethon [Greek] – to overreach, an overreacher, reckless Pollux [Greek] – a twin Poseidon/Neptune – to sail the sea, the sea, maritime Priapus [Greek] – a chauvinist Ptah [Egyptian] – to fashion by hand, a craftsman, crafted Quetzalcoatl [Aztec] – to civilize, a civilizer, civilizing Quirinus [Roman] – to found, a founder, founding Rama [Indian] – to uphold duty, a dutiful one, righteous Rhiannon [Celtic] – to endure, an endurer, patient Rosmerta [Gallo-Roman] – to provide abundance, a provider, abundant Rudra [Indian] – to redden, the color red, red Sarasvati [Indian] – to speak, a word/a speaker, verbal Saturn [Roman] – to harvest, a harvester, saturnine Sekhmet [Egyptian] – to rage, a destroyer, fierce Seth [Egyptian] – to cause evil, an evil one, evil Shamash [Babylonian] – to watch, watcher, watchful Shango [African] – to dance, a dancer, rhythmic Shiva [Indian] – to transform, a transformer, transformative Sin [Sumerian] – the moon, lunar Siren [Greek] – to tempt, a temptress, alluring Skanda [Indian] – [third-person pronoun] he, him, she, her, they, them, it Soma [Indian] – to drug, a drug Sventovit [Slavic] – to divine, a diviner, oracular Tane [Pacific islands] – to grow forests, a forester, verdant Teshub [Hurrian] – to storm, storm, stormy Tezcatlipoca [Aztec] – to sacrifice, a sacrifice Theseus [Greek] – to navigate, a navigator, resourceful Thetis [Greek] – to shape-shift, a shape-shifter, elusive Thor [Norse] – to hammer, a hammer Thoth [Egyptian] – to writer, a writer/scribe, written Tlaloc [Aztec] – a mountain Tlazolteotl [Aztec] – to lust, lust, lusty Vishnu [Indian] – to preserve, a preserver, sustaining Yama [Indian] – [second-person pronoun] you Yu [“Yu the Great”, Chinese] – to engineer, an engineer The source of the vocabulary and its origins is The Wordsworth Dictionary Of Mythology. The trick is that a lot of the gods and goddesses have similars enses (lust or thunder or fire or war) which have to be apportioned over a wider semantic space. Entries I never got around to defining: Nymph [Greek] Oedipus [Greek] Parasurama [Indian] Prajapati [Indian] Prometheus [Greek] Purusha [Indian] Pwyll [Celtic] Qat [Oceanic] Rod [Slavic] Sita [Indian] Sucellus [Gallic] Svarog [Slavic] Taranis [Gallic] Tengri [Mongol] Teutates [Gallic] Tiamat [Akkadian] Triglav [Slavic] Tristan/Isolde [Celtic] Tyr [Norse] Vahagn [Armenian] Valkyrie [Norse] Varuna [Indian] Viracocha [Incan] Visvamitra [Indian] Wak [Egyptian/Cushitic] Xipe Totec [Aztec] Zanahary [Madagascan] Zeus/Jupiter [Greek] The Punchline The punchline of all this is that Intermythic English is not really mythometaphorical. Sure, its vocabulary is derived from mythology, but all the words’ meanings will become set and the mythological associations will be lost, just as they are in the 8 mytho-etymological words in the following English sentence: “Waiting in line to check out Ishtar or Apollo 13, Jason was annoyed by the sound of sirens in that musical jingle about panicking while deciding between a new Saturn and a used Mazda.” Photo credit: Paramount Skydance.