Wiccy of the Fraternity wrote:
Pan (same spelling) originated as a Greek God, he was adopted by the Celts when they passed through and later by the Roman empire. It's odd to think that out of so many Gods adopted by other pantheons, his is one of the very few to have never changed, not even in spelling. The word Faun is Latin in origin, meaning it's some 3000 years younger than the name Pan at the very least, heh
I knew the Greek origins of Pan - in fact, if I remember my schoolboy lessons correctly, he's the offspring of Hermes and a nymph. I didn't know that fauns came from Latin - that's definitely news to me.
And... 3,000 years between Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome? I knew the two civilizations were not contemporaries, but I thought they definitely were closer together than that! I might have to hit the history books again.
Well, give or take 3000 year, the Celts entered Britain sometime around 2500BC or earlier (British conquests since make it difficult to plot how far back exactly), so it would make sense that the society would've passed through Greece many years before. They also hit China around the time they hit Britain, there've been some interesting stuff about the Celtic Cairns discovered in the far east. Latin is relatively young as a language (originating not long before the birth of Christ), but it still formed one of the larger bases for the English language (other bases being Welsh, French and Spanish). Studying theology really does make you discover some useless titbit of info here and there, lol
I knew the two civilizations were not contemporaries, but I thought they definitely were closer together than that! I might have to hit the history books again.
