Sumer



Tradition title rus: 
Шумеры
Areal ID: 
5.3.1.3
Language: 
Tradition analysis result motif count all: 
51.00
Tradition analysis result motif count cosmo: 
40.00
Motifs: 

Motif

a5


Name_eng: 
The Sun and the Moon are males
Description: 

The Moon is male, the Sun is also male or (much more rare) asexual




Motif

b1a


Name_eng: 
Three worlds: the universe divided between gods
Description: 

Anthropomorphic persons agree to divide between them levels of universe (upper world, earth, lower world)




Motif

b2a


Name_eng: 
The female earth
Description: 

The earth is a female person (alone or together with a male person); she is female being or associated with a woman




Motif

b2d


Name_eng: 
Marriage of the sky and the earth
Description: 

The male Sky (the Sun, the Thunder, the creator of the sky) marries the female Earth (or its female creator) or the female Sky marries the male Earth




Motif

b40a


Name_eng: 
Missed opportunity to have horns
Description: 

Animal who has no horns now had them before or missed opportunity to get them




Motif

b42n


Name_eng: 
Orion is one person
Description: 

Constellation of Orion or the Belt of Orion is identified with only one male person, usually with a warrior or hunter




Motif

b42q


Name_eng: 
Ursa major is a carriage
Description: 

Ursa major is identified with a carriage, a cart




Motif

b77


Name_eng: 
Primeval sky close to earth
Description: 

Originally the sky was close to the earth, then it has risen up




Motif

b85


Name_eng: 
Wind pacified
Description: 

Wind is too strong, hero makes it to blow more calmly




Motif

b87


Name_eng: 
Alcor
Description: 

Alcor (a weak star near the second star of the handle of the Big Dipper) is selected as a particular sky object




Motif

e5a


Name_eng: 
Mankind ascends from the underworld
Description: 

The first people (or only the first men or the first women) are not created but come to earth from the underworld (from a cave) or from a small enclosure under the earth or on its surface (tree trunk, rock, gourd, etc.). Many people of both sexes and of different ages or people and different species of animals come out together




Motif

f98


Name_eng: 
God and a cow
Description: 

Anthropomorphic god descends from the sky and copulates with a cow




Motif

g6


Name_eng: 
Primeval tree
Description: 

One of the trees is the principal, original one (emerged before all the other; ancestor of wild or cultivated plants; ocean or rivers inside it; world axis; higher than all the others; overshadows sky)




Motif

h7


Name_eng: 
The personified Death
Description: 

Death (also Old Age, Disease, etc.) is a particular person not identical with the Master of the Dead. He kills people usually carrying away their souls




Motif

h25


Name_eng: 
To choose life or death
Description: 

People are suggested to choose one of two objects, associated with life and death. They choose the object with death




Motif

i82b


Name_eng: 
Venus is female
Description: 

Morning and/or Evening Star is a female personage




Motif

i99


Name_eng: 
The Pleiades are boys or men
Description: 

The Pleiades are a group of boys or men, or a group of different people but predominantly males




Motif

i100b


Name_eng: 
The Pleiades are a group of people
Description: 

The Pleiades are any people (of any ages and sex, combined data of i99-i100a)




Motif

i121


Name_eng: 
Twin constellations
Description: 

Two constellations (usually Ursa major and Ursa minor) are interpreted as twin objects of the same type (two animals, two carts, etc.)




Motif

k38


Name_eng: 
Hero helps the nestlings
Description: 

For helping its children, their powerful mother or father who is a giant bird or (rare) other flying being helps the hero




Motif

k38c


Name_eng: 
Bird brings the hero to his destination
Description: 

After the hero helps a powerful bird (usually does good to her nestlings), the grateful bird brings him to the place where he is eager to get or tells to do it one of her nestlings. (It is not the vertical movement between layers of the world. According to the Sumerian variant, the bird endows the hero with capability to move with extraordinary speed and directs him to his destination)




Motif

m29b


Name_eng: 
Trickster-fox, jackal or coyote
Description: 

In episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is fox, jackal or coyote




Motif

i110a


Name_eng: 
The star plough
Description: 

Orion (rare: other constellation) is a plough




Motif

h7


Name_eng: 
The personified Death
Description: 

Death (also Old Age, Disease, etc.) is a particular person not identical with the Master of the Dead. He kills people usually carrying away their souls




Motif

k38b3a


Name_eng: 
Hero feeds the nestlings
Description: 

Mighty bird helps a man because he had given food to its nestlings




Motif

b16a


Name_eng: 
Sea from the urine
Description: 

The sea is produced from urine or blood




Motif

k38b3


Name_eng: 
Hero takes care of nestlings
Description: 

Mighty bird or other flying creature helps a man because he took care of its youngs feeding them, warming, decorating, etc.




Motif

i1


Name_eng: 
The thunderbirds
Description: 

Creatures that produce rain and/or thunderstorms are birds or anthropomorphic beings with wings; or (rare) some or all birds are connected with thunder, lightning or rain though Thunder is not a bird




Motif

l19b


Name_eng: 
Beings with odd number of heads
Description: 

Being (any besides birds) with more than ten heads or with odd (but more than one) number of heads are described in tales or represented in art. If beings with ever more number of heads are named, the row ends with a being that has odd (or more than ten) number of heads




Motif

i110


Name_eng: 
Night sky agriculturalists
Description: 

Constellation are interpreted as agricultural tools or people occupied with agricultural works (mostly ploughing and haymaking)




Motif

g8g


Name_eng: 
Big oak and its denizens
Description: 

There is a tree, one of its kind, that should be cut or bended down. Particular creatures or beings live in its different parts and/or special objects of top significance are made from its wood




Motif

f5b


Name_eng: 
Artificial bride
Description: 

Person suffests another a woman but does not have any or does not want to give her. He makes artificial girl (of wood, snow, etc.), sends servant girl instead of his daughter, turns into a woman himself, or recognizes his fault when he feels that it is save to do so




Motif

a19c


Name_eng: 
The sun horse
Description: 

The Sun is associated with a horseman or rides in a cart driven by horses (equids)




Motif

a19c1


Name_eng: 
The sun cart
Description: 

The sun or the moon moves in a cart or sledge




Motif

k27o1


Name_eng: 
Head used as ball
Description: 

Severed human heads are compared with balls or used as balls




Motif

l19b1


Name_eng: 
The seven-headed monster
Description: 

Описывается или изображается чудовище (обычно змей) о семи головах. При перечисления существ по мере возрастания у них числа голов ряд заканчивается на семи




Motif

e5aa


Name_eng: 
People grew like a grass
Description: 

The first people grew or crawled out of the earth like a grass, mushrooms, worms, etc.




Motif

e4


Name_eng: 
Creation from cuticle
Description: 

Supernatural person rubs his or her skin, creates the entire earth, human or other beings of dirt (from under his or her nails) and cuticle




Motif

h16a


Name_eng: 
Rivers of blood
Description: 

Rivers (lakes) of blood (also of puss, bones, sweat or water used for washing of corpses) are mentioned in narratives (in different context)




Motif

k33f


Name_eng: 
Basin of honey and basin of oil
Description: 

Two or more different kinds of valuable edible liquids like oil, honey, milk, etc. are available or imaginable. Cf. motif n34




Motif

g2


Name_eng: 
The return of Persephone
Description: 

Person who is the incarnation of fertility and life first disappears and then (reriodically) returns




Motif

i40


Name_eng: 
Rainbow bow
Description: 

Rainbow is a bow




Motif

n39


Name_eng: 
The three-ply rope
Description: 

The image of a three-ply rope is used to describe the invincibility of two close-knit friends




Motif

i4c


Name_eng: 
Storm-god as a prisoner
Description: 

Thunder-god is temporarily overcome and imprisoned by his enemy




Motif

g24


Name_eng: 
Food from the sky
Description: 

First seeds (sprouts, tubors) of cultivated plants or of important edible wild plants are brought from the sky (received from the sky-dwellers)




Motif

m29w3


Name_eng: 
The lion is a failure
Description: 

Because of its stupidity and unsocial behavior, the lion suffers a reverse, is injured or dies




Motif

m106


Name_eng: 
Meaningful name
Description: 

Person lies that his name is so and so. Others understand it not as a name but as a common word and behave accordingly




Motif

m138a


Name_eng: 
The lifespan of one hundred twenty years
Description: 

At the beginning of time, a supreme deity or his messengers decided that the human lifespan would be limited to one hundred and twenty years




Motif

m7a1


Name_eng: 
Celestial bodies move above the hero
Description: 

Person gets to a place from which he is unable to come out. Several (more than two) different celestial bodies rise and move near him or above him. He puts attention to them (and asks their help)




Motif

b3a


Name_eng: 
Primeval waters
Description: 

Water is the original element, the dry earth appears later




Motif

l93a


Name_eng: 
Helpful fox
Description: 

Cunning fox, jackal or coyote saves particular person or many people, helps them





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