He's Got the Whole World in His Hands

When we think of the word chaos we generally are referring to something like "orderless confusion" which is a usage from c.1600.

Meaning "utter confusion" is an extended sense from theological use of chaos in the Vulgate version of "Genesis" (1530s in English) for "the void at the beginning of creation, the confused, formless, elementary state of the universe." The Greek for "disorder" was tarakhe, but the use of chaos here was rooted in Hestoid ("Theogony"), who describes khaos as the primeval emptiness of the Universe, and Ovid ("Metamorphoses"), who opposes Khaos to Kosmos, the ordered Universe . . ." [OE]

Red Barron Pizza Box

We also have the mathematical branch of study called "Chaos theory" formalized c.1977, and famously referred to in the movie, Jurassic Park [based off the book by Michael Crichton]. 

Oh, it simply deals with predictability in complex systems. The shorthand is the butterfly effect. The butterfly can flap its wings in Peking and in Central Park you get rain instead of sunshine. -Dr. Malcolm

Chaos theory, in short, is the study of,

. . . dynamical systems whose apparently random states of disorder and irregularities are actually governed by underlying patterns and deterministic laws that are highly sensitive to initial conditions. Wikipedia, Chaos Theory

It is somewhat paradoxical in this sense[Chaos Theory] to use the word chaos to describe what is actually being governed, but the point is that it appears to be chaotic. Ah, what would we do without chaos in this sense? What a wonderfully boring world this would be. 

Chaos is from from Latin chaos, from the Greek khaos "any vast gulf or chasm, the nether abyss, empty space, the first state of the universe, from khaos "abyss, that which gapes wide open, that which is vast and empty from *khnwos, from PIE *ghieh- to yawn, gape, be wide open [OE]," or stem kha- to yawn, gape [OED]."

Kaw or caw, is the sound a crow makes. When a crow caws it opens its beak like a yawn or gape (kha-, *ghieh-). In fact the word crow is said to probably be imitative of the sound of the bird, as is raven ultimately. Raven which is from Old English hræven, initially a harsher more guttural sounding word, from the hypothesized PIE root *ker- "imitative of harsh sounds", also the source of Latin cornix "crow," corvis "raven," Greek korax, korōnē, koraki "raven, crow".

Cawing or Kha-ing Crow

Odin's ravens (Old Norse hrafn) Huginn "thought" and Muninn "memory, mind,"  made daily flights across the whole world and reported back to Odin everything they saw and heard. 

Huginn and Muninn

Perhaps the ravens also brought to mind that so called "chaos" at the beginning of the universe with their deep black pepla and fathomless black eyes. In Norse mythology this primordial abyss is known as Ginnungagap. It was the void or chaos which existed prior to the ordered universe or cosmos.

It was in the earliest times that Ymir dwelled. Neither sand nor sea, nor cold waves, nor earth were to be found. There was neither heaven above, nor grass anywhere, there was nothing but Ginnungagap. -Voluspa-Stanza 3, James Allen Chisholm translation

Ár var alda, pat er ekki var, vara sandr né sær né svalar unnar; jörd fannsk ævá né upphiminn, gap var ginnunga en gras hvergi. –Voluspa-Stanza 3 

In other translations gap var ginnunga is translated as "yawning gap," "yawning chaos," "chaotic chasm," "swallowing abyss," "abyss of chaos,"Yawning Chasm [chaos]," "Gaping Void," and "the great void," among others.

Yawn is from Old English ginian, gionian "open, the mouth wide, yawn, gape", from Proto-Germanic *gin-,  also PIE *ghieh-, like "chaos" from the same. 

Gap is taken directly from old Norse gap from PIE *ghieh-, as well. And Old Norse gina is "to yawn," old High German ginen "to be wide open," German gähnen "to yawn". So we see that the elements of the term Ginnungagap, however it is translated, has a double emphasis upon the concept of PIE *ghieh- to yawn, gape, be wide open [OE].The words chaos, chasm, gap and yawn are all said to come from the same hypothesized PIE root *ghieh- "to yawn, gape, be wide open".

How did this apparent nothingness or abyss then evolve into the meaning of what we think of as chaos today?

It is strange that we think of something being chaotic when it has myriad disorganized and/or random parts, and yet the primordial abyss is the original sense of chaos. The primordial chaos seems to be more nothingness than chaotic. But when you think about it, the abyss is not really nothing, it is rather a womb of infinite potential in a state of perfect entropy, inert uniformity, or stasis. Otherwise, how could anything have arisen out of this "nothingness"?  It seems the original sense of chaos was the chaos of the infinite undefined. It could be anything, and in that sense, it was nothing. In this sense chaos is truly terrifying and awesome, perhaps NOTHING is more terrifying. 

This primordial abyss is often thought of as a huge black void, but it can also be pictured as limitless whiteness. Like a white room, representing nothingness, with a creator standing in the middle, as in the movie The Matrix.

Orpheus and Neo in a Simulation of Primordial Chaos

Or, on a less grand scale, a writer, artist, architect, musician, etc. begins a work in a state of utter chaos, that is, with a blank paper or canvas, where anything is possible, and that unlimited possibility is precisely the problem. Some might argue that the white room is an even more terrifying metaphor for chaos than utter blackness. Take this example from Herman Melvile's, Moby Dick, The Whiteness of the Whale,

Aside from those more obvious considerations touching Moby Dick, which could not but occasionally awaken in any man's soul some alarm, there was another thought, or rather vague, nameless horror concerning him, which at times by its intensity completely overpowered all the rest; and yet so mystical and well nigh ineffable was it, that I almost despair of putting it in a comprehensible form. It was the whiteness of the whale that above all things appalled me. But how can I hope to explain myself here; and yet, in some dim, random way, explain myself I must, else all these chapters might be naught . . . 

Is it that by its indefiniteness it shadows forth the heartless voids and immensities of the universe, and thus stabs us from behind with the thought of annihilation, when beholding the white depths of the milky way? Or is it, that as in essence whiteness is not so much a color as the visible absence of color; and at the same time the concrete of all colors; is it for these reasons that there is a dumb blankness, full of meaning, in a wide landscape of snows- a colorless, all-color of atheism from which we shrink . . . – ch. 42: The Whiteness of the Whale, Moby Dick

The Greeks personified chaos as the primordial goddess, Χαος Khaos (Chaos). She was also interestingly associated with air and the creation of birds, or what we might call "caw"ers. In Aristophanes', Birds, Khaos is winged like Eros, and is the mother of the birds, the birds whose "origin is very much older than that of the dwellers in Olympus."[702]

Winged Nyx, Personification of Night

Here the chorus of birds speak,

Firstly, black winged Night [Nyx] laid a germless egg in the bosom of the infinite deeps of Erebus [darkness], and from this, after the revolution of long ages, sprang there graceful Eros with his glittering golden wings, swift as the whirlwinds of the tempest. He mated in deep Tartarus with dark Chaos [Khaos], winged like himself, and thus hatched forth our race, which was the first to see the light. –[695-699] Aristophanes. Birds. Eugene O'Neil, Jr. 1938

Ancient Egypt also had certain stories associating the beginning of time and creation with a bird called the Benu bird. The name, Benu (transliterated from the hieroglyphics as bnn), is said to be related to the verb weben (wbn) "to rise in brilliance, to shine". 

As an aspect of Atum, the Benu bird was said to have flown over the waters of Nun before the original creation. According to this tradition, the bird came to rest on a rock from which its cry broke the primeval silence and this determined what was and was to to be unfolding creation. - touregypt.net

It is said that this bird began time and drove back chaos.

Benu Bird Perched on the Benben Stone (Primordial Mound), or Pyramidion, Papyrus of Nakht, 18-19th Dynasty

This imagery is similar to the story of creation given in Genesis where the Spirit of God, moves over or "hovers"(like a bird), over the waters [Nun].

The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Genesis 1:2

In certain time periods Atum and Ra, were combined because they illustrate different aspects or mythologies concerning the same archetype of creator god. This type of merging happened frequently with the different gods and goddess of ancient Egypt over long periods of time. Remember, the time span of what we call ancient Egypt covers about three thousands of years, beginning around 3100 BC. Atum was first worshiped in Heliopolis, in Lower Egypt, during this Predynastic Period, and Ra, came to be prominent by the fifth dynasty, between the 25th-24th centuries BC. 

So Ra, was also associated with the Benu bird, as was Atum. Ra or Rē (who's name was represented by the hieroglyph for "sun"), was the sun god, the light, like a "ray" perhaps, not unlike the Benu bird, the "shining"(wbn) one, who was, in fact said, to be the ba of Ra. The ba was an aspect of the soul represented as a birds. Birds were fitting representations for the soul because of their ability to fly and thus portray the mobility of the soul after death. 

Ba hovering over a dead man, from a Book of the Dead papyrus, British Museum

Apep or Apophis(Gk.), called "Lord of Chaos", was known as the enemy of Ra. He was pictured as a long snake. However Apep seems to be more a product of the original chaos, rather than the embodiment of that chaos itself. Or, we could say, Apep came to be as a consequence of creation which arose out of chaos.

The few descriptions of Apep's origin in myth usually demonstrate that it was born after Ra, usually from his umbilical cord. Combined with its absence from Egyptian creation myths, this has been interpreted as suggesting that Apep was not a primordial force in Egyptian theology, but a consequence of Ra's birth. . . Apep, wikipedia

It could be said that when Ra came to be, a duality or contrast also came to be. Whereas the primordial chaos had been a state of absolute equilibrium or "nothingness," once the light was created, the opposite of the light became darkness as opposed to light, and could then be labeled as evil. In ancient Egypt, Apep came to represent this concept called isfet (ízft), meaning "chaos, injustice, violence," or as a verb "to do evil." Isfet was opposed to ma'at "truth, order, harmony". Without the concept of light there is no judgment upon darkness as evil. Apep came to be after Ra, in this way. 

Set fending off Apep on the solar barque of Ra, 21st Dynasty, Book of the Dead, Egyptian Museum, Cairo

Creation started with a "caw," that is, with the cry or call of the Benu bird, but can end with a cough. Having a cough sometimes is a sign of sickness which can precede death and one's being placed in a coffin. 

Cough is from early 14c., coughen, from Proto-Germanic *kokh- which is onomatopoeic, or imitative, as is also the ultimate origins of the words caw, cry, squeal, howl, yell and call.

Coffin is derived from latin cophinus "basket hamper", from Greek kophinos "a basket" which is of uncertain origin. I'd venture to guess, then, given the origin being from a word meaning "basket", that rather than being from an imitative sound, like those other similar sounding words relating to chaos, coffin is related instead to the letter K, as in kaf / kaph, a letter of the Hebrew alphabet, which is thought to be derived from a pictogram of an outstretched hand. The word kaph in Hebrew is "the hollow of the hand, palm of the hand, sole of foot; hollow, socket (as in of a joint); pan." So it has to do with the shape being curved, bent or cupped. And indeed the shape of the letter is a cupped shape. 

Kaf / Kaph

Maybe we could say say that the palm is the "basket (kophinos) of the hand" because it can hold items as a basket holds items.

And in Egyptian hieroglyphics kefa / kepha was a closed fist and had the meaning "fist, grab, grasp, seize, grip [also of mental concepts and of emotions], it was also apparently used to refer to the vagina. 

Kefa / Kepha

Interestingly enough "basket" is also a euphemism for lady parts. So, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, kepha (vagina) to coffin, or out of the basket you came, to the casket/coffin you shall return. 

The ancient Egyptian god Khepra / Khepri / Khepera / Kheper, (ḫprj), derived from the verb ḫpr "develop, come into being, create," and symbolized by the scarab beetle, kheper (ḫprr), was associated with the morning sun, creation, rebirth and transformation, so, indeed, it would be beneficial to be held in the grasp of this god (in the kepha [grasp] of the kaph [palm] of Khepra [the creator]) upon one's death to hopefully be born to new life. So this is in-kefa or kefa-in (coffin).

A coffin is a container like a basket or a cup. It, in some ways, mimics or is symbolic of the womb or primordial abyss from which we came, and the primordial abyss is often described as waters, such as the ancient Egyptian god Nu / Nun, who's hieroglyph contains the three (representative of many) pots, or might we say "cups"?

Nu/Nun

Cup is from Latin cupa "tub, cask, tun, barrel" it is thought to be cognate with Sanskrit kupah "hollow, pit, cave." So, this is similar, to Hebrew kaph in its meaning of "hollow." Cupa, also is cognate with Greek kype "gap, hole." Ahhh, so here we are back again to gap. Gap var ginnunga, the yawning chaos before time, or might we say kype (gap) of Nun, or "cup"(tub) of Nun? Nun, the limitless container of none or nothingness before time began, the sea of infinite potential. How different is this in concept, then, to the primordial womb out of which creation was birthed, i.e., chaos? Thus, it seems we could say there is a certain connection between the words cough and coffin. 

When people cough, not only do they make a "kha / caw" sound, but they also make something resembling a cave or a gap, as people do also when they yawn.

Cave is from Latin cavea "hollow"(place), a noun use of the adjective cavus "hollow", so again this is like kaph "hollow," the shape of a cupped hand, and kupah "hollow, pit, cave." However, the OE says cavus is from PIE *keue- "to swell," also "vault, hole," as in the words cumulative and cumulus. I say, talk to the hand! 🙌

My great-grandfather, Frank Daywalt, was caught (past participle of catch from PIE *kap- "to grasp") in a cave in, in Cowenhoven Tunnel, Aspen, Colorado in 1921. I'm sure that must have been a chaotic scene. It did put him in a coffin and he probably died coughing, trying to cover his face with his kaph (cupped hand). As the report says, he was "caught by a run of fine dirt on the tunnel." Poor great-grandpappy! 

Frank Daywalt, May 9, 1876 - Nov. 9, 1921

And my grandmother was very young. What a dark time for her family! His absence must have created a huge void and a yawning gap in their hearts. But we won't call it evil, just very sad and unfortunate. We'd like to think that the creator has a plan, and what appears to be chaos is really ordered and purposeful. 

He's got the whole world in his hands. 

P.S. Serendipitously, my grandmother's father just happened to pop up in this etymological post which I just finished, and today is her birthday!! Born February 18, 1915. She died 35 years ago in February of 1986. So, I have to include a picture of her as well. Happy Birthday Bam [short for Bambi, her nickname]! RIP <3

né Catherine Yvonne Daywalt, [photo]Feb. 5, 1956

You're My Everything

   eXtreme Deep Field, 10 yrs. of NASA Hubble Spactelescope photographs from a patch of sky at the center of the origional Hubble Ultra Deep Field(an area about 1/10 the angular diameter of the moon as viewed from Earth), released Sept. 25, 2012 

Our visible universe is a sphere with a diameter of approximately 92 billion light years. Just that part, what is visible, is awesomely huge. Because of the enormity of this space it is easy to snuggle down in the middle and not have to think about the nature of the reality we are a part of. Regardless of how unfathomably gigantic the universe is, the question remains, "What is just beyond the edge of the universe? What happens at the end?"

   Truman Show, 1998, Truman at the Edge of his World

Wouldn't there have to be a boundary? How could it be possible for the physical universe to be infinite? Is there a wall there? Is the universe an enormous dome? an egg? or a torus? What if you got to the edge and you found a stairway that led to a door? What would be on the other side of that door? It is easy to get caught up in the distractions of everyday life and not conscider the ultimate questions. Contemplating the boundaries of space is like contemplating death. Someday you will die, but it's not now… it is in the enigmatic future. Someday you will reach the edge of the universe as well, if you travel there in your mind, and you will have to walk up those stairs and see what is on the other side of that door… and there is no turning back.

     Flammarion Wood Engraving, artist unknown, first published 1888

Universal is from Latin universalis "of or belonging to all," from universus "all together, whole, entire." The noun usage universum "all things, everybody, all people, the whole world" is where we get the word universe, it is from unus "one" + versum "turned", said to be, literally "turned into one."  This explanation, however, is a bit perplexing. We say that the universe is everything there is. It is all space and matter(at least on this plane of reality) existing as a whole. And the sense of being universal is to be one. So where does this notion of turning fit into the word? In other words why did the Latin universum come to mean "all things, everybody, all people, the whole world" in the first place? Why not just uni-totum "all one" or something like that?

We might think universe to be more like one + verse, "verse" as in, "writing arranged in a a rhythmic pattern." The Word was spoken and the universe came into being along with its order and laws of nature. Not only does versus in Latin have the meaning of "turn toward or against," a form of vertere "to turn, turn back, be turned, convert, transform, translate, be changed", from PIE *wer-(2) "to turn, bend," versus also has the meaning of "a turn of the plow, a line, row, line of verse" as a noun. So couldn't we say the universe is the one verse? Maybe the hymn of the creator? But what does this "verse" have to do with turning either? A verse is a row of poetry, like a plowed line in a field. The soil is turned and it is then ready to take seed and produce growth. The thing about verse is that it seeks to produce more than what is simply written down. It is meant to be fertile ground for the reader or hearer of the poetry to grow the fruit of emotion and experience which the writer of the verse hopes to share.

    A Child's Garden of Verses, by Robert Louis Stevenson 1969 edition

When I was sick and lay a-bed,

I had two pillows at my head,

And all my toys beside me lay,

To keep me happy all the day.

And sometimes for an hour or so

I watched my leaden soldiers go,

With different uniforms and drills,

Among the bed-clothes, through the hills;

And sometimes sent my ships in fleets

All up and down among the sheets;

Or brought my trees and houses out,

And planted cities all about.

I was the giant great and still

That sits upon the pillow-hill,

And sees before him, dale and plain,

The pleasant land of counterpane.

This word "verse" is connected to words for growth, as in, anniversary which has the meaning of an annual return, the literal spinning/turning of a cycle, and birthdays(a year of growth). Vertex and vertical are from vertere as well. Produce is grown in rows(verses), their growth is often vertical and they are green, or vert / verte in French. Vert is Old French "foliage, greenery," from Latin viridis. Spring, the time of spiraling growth, begins at the time of the vernal equinox. So the turning has to do with cycles and growth. But what of the meaning "versus", as in us vs. them? And the word advert "turn away"? In Latin versus has the meaning of "turn toward or against." 

When the ground is turned isn't it a violence to the ground? However, this adversity is what makes it fertile. Turning is change and change can be perceived as good or bad, i.e. as a growth upward like a plant, or an encounter with a foe which can create heroes, or victors in a match. Often it is the opponent who motivates a person to grow their talents and get better.

    David and Goliath, Edgar Degas, c. 1863, Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge, UK

This brings us back to the "turned"(versum) in universe. What was the ancient notion of this one(unum) thing which they saw as the dome of the night sky? Everything in the heavens appeared as if it were revolving around them. 

Turning has the sense of creating, as in the turning of clay upon the potters wheel to make a pot(which is green until it is fired). Pushing against the clay, i.e., hand vs. clay, on the lathe causes the growth of the pot. Maybe the universe was thought to be one thing, as in one fashioned thing, like a pot that is turned on a wheel. When the clay is being turned(being formed on a wheel) and thus turned into a pot, it grows up vertically and out with the motion. Maybe the universe is "one  turned" in this sense, it is one vessel or pot, we might say a uni-vas/vassa "container, vessel".

The Uni-vase 

Here is a depiction of the ancient Egyptian gods(neteru) Isis, Nut and Nun from the Valley of the Kings. Above the heads of the gods are their hieroglyphic representations / names. 

    Isis, Nut, and Nun from the House of Eternity, Valley of the Kings, reign of Seti I- Ramses II, 1290-1213 BC

The first on the crown of Isis(iSt) is st  meaning "seat, throne, place, abode, tomb, room." On the head of Nut is a nu "pot" with t "bread loaf"(feminine gender indication) and the platform indicating pt "sky". So Nut is nu + t + pt(not pronounced in her name), nevertheless this would make her Nut, Pot (of the sky) visually, and she is in fact the womb or vessel(pot) from which Ra, the sun, was reborn each morning from the platform of the pt "sky." The last figure is Nun/Nu, his hieroglyph is three nu's "pots" on a pt. The tripling is meant to indicate many, and nu was "pot", as in, a container of the waters. His name sometimes has the hieroglyph for "waters" with it as well which is also made of a triplet of three horizontal wavy lines(the wavy line "water" indicating the letter "N" in hieroglyphs as well). 

"Nun" = nu nu nu + [ pt ] + n n n

So he is the many waters, Nu nu nu. Maybe even the big no no no, being too big to contemplate.

Nu / Nun was the ancient Egyptian god/concept of the primordial waters or abyss from which the first land appeared. Nun was what continued outside of the bounds of the created universe, but was also present in the water upon the Earth. Nun is sometimes depicted as a frog or a man with a frog head, as one of the Ogdoad ("the Eightfold" Gk.) of Khmun(Hermopolis), four male gods(depicted as frogs during the Late Kingdom) and four female gods(depicted as snakes), Nu and Nunet(the primordial waters), Amun and Amunet(air or invisibility, hidden one), Kek and Kekut(darkness [the primordial darkness/chaos, also related to transitions between light and dark, called "bringer-in-of-the-light"), and Ḥeḥ and Hehet(infinite space, infinity, eternity. These were the forces from which creation arose.

The sun rises from the mound of creation at the beginning of time. The central circle represents the mound, and the three orange circles are the sun(ra') at different stages of its rising. At the top is the "horizon" hieroglyph with the sun appearing atop it. At either side are the goddesses of the north(Neith?, right) and south(Anuket?, left), pouring out the waters that surround the mound. The eight stick figures are the gods of the Ogdoad, hoeing the soil(turning verses). - 21st Dynasty, c.1075-945 BC, from the Book of the Dead Khensumose 

In the beginning neteru created the heavens and the earth. Ḥeḥ was without form and void, and Kek was upon the face of Nun; Amun was moving over the face of Nun. 

And Seker cried out, "ḥ'r wr!(Horus the Great [Light])"; and there was the first great light of dawn. 

Genesis 1:1-3 [my own trans-concept translation] - the first day / revolution / turn

Turn is from Old English turnian "to rotate revolve," also Old French torner "turn away or around; transform, change; turn on a lathe, both from Latin tornare "polish, round, turn on a lathe," from tornus "lathe", Greek tornos "lathe". When certain matter is turned it is made into something through revolution and applied pressure. 

Nun was sometimes combined with the god Ptah whose name means "create", patron of craftsman, as Ptah-Nun, father of the sun god Atum Ra. In this passage, the heavens, i.e., the dome of the universe, is described as Ptah's potter's wheel, i.e., his turn(versus) table, or tornos.

The Potter's wheel is the wheel of the revolving heavens; and Ptah is addressed in a form which agrees very well with the idea that the perpetual gyration of the wheel generates all things: "O God, Architect of the World, thou art without mother, being born through repetition of thyself." -Creation Records Discovered in Egypt [Studies in the Book of the Dead], by George St. Clair, 1898, ch. VIII, pg. 116

The one-versum(turned), i.e., universe seems to be Nut, the one pot(nu) of water, or womb which turns about the heavens, the space of creation, from out of Nun, and it was believed that one day creation would return back to Nun, the watery chaos.

Back to none?

None is from Old English nan "not one, not any," from ne "not"+ an "one", analogous to Latin non "not, by no means, not at all, not a", from Old Latin noenum "not one".

So maybe we could call Nun, Mr. "no one", or Mr. Nobody. But Nobody is not necessarlily inconsequential, as the Cyclops, Polyphemus, can attest to.  

    Odysseus Blinding Polyphemus, Italian, early 16th century

Then in his turn from out the cave big Polyphemus answered: Friends, Nobody is murdering me by craft. Force there is none. But answering him in winged words they said: If nobody harms you when you are left alone, illness which comes from mighty Zeus you cannot fly. But make your prayer to your father, Lord Poseidon. Odyssey, Book 9, ln. 455

Odysseus, passing himself off as Nobody, put out the eye of the cyclops "circle-eyed" and escapes imprisonment in the cave with his remaining men. Put is from Old English related to pytan "put out, thrust out," from a Germanic stem(related to Old Norse pota "to poke"). Pytan "put out," is perhaps like Ptah-ing[like a potter]. When a potter creates a pot[a pota, a thing poked?] he does poke and push out the clay. Ptah is the potter or poker of the pt "sky".

Poseidon, the father of Polyphemus, is god of the sea, not unlike Nun, therefore, watery and enigmatic, a Mr. Nobody, known as "Earth-shaker". Poseidon is from Poseidaon/Poseidewanos in Mycenaean, and in Aeolic is Potaidaon, Doric Poteidon/Poteidaon/Poteidas, said to be perhaps from PIE *potis "husband, lord". The second element is debated as to whether or not it is related to the word for "earth" da in Doric, from of ge(meaning "earth" as in Gaia), or from Doric dawon "water", as in either "Husband/Lord of the Earth" or "Lord of the Water". This combination of earth and water is a bit like the combination of the two Egyptians gods Ptah and Nun. Perhaps there is a bit of truth in both. Ptah-Nun/Potaidaon the divine potter of the waters of the universe.
[This is also in concept like the Sumerian god called Enki "Lord of Earth" / in Akkadian called, Ea "House of Water," god of crafts, fresh water, seawater, wisdom. As opposed to the a Sumerian, Enlil "Lord of Wind"(like the Egyptian Amun), and the Sumerian, An "sky", like the Greek Uranus/Ouranus, personification of the sky.]

   Horses of Neptune, Walter Crane, 1893

Poseidon was also known as Poseidon Hippios, the god of horses. As a horse he pursued Demeter Δημήτηρ / Damater [Doric] Δαμάτηρ (possibly from da "earth"+ metēr "mother"). She turned herself into a mare and tried to conceal herself in a heard of horses, however, Poseidon turned into a stallion and raped her. Demeter bore Desponia ("Lady / Mistress of the House") and the swift immortal horse Arion.

Neptune is the Roman counterpart of Poseidon. Neptune is said to be probably from PIE *nebh- "cloud", related to Latin nebula "mist, vapor, fog, smoke," Greek nephele, nephos "cloud." Neptune was also associate with horses under the name of Neptunus Equester.

    Horsehead Nebula, DownUnder Observatory, Freemont, MI., by Terry Hankock

So Neptune is the nebh "cloud/mist of heaven"+ tune. The "tune" of the nebula forms stars and produces the music of the spheres. Tune is a variant of "tone", from Latin tonus "a sound, tone, acent", literally stretching, as in stretching, tightening, making a string taught, related to teinein "to stretch". When the right tuning occurs, solar systems and worlds are formed. So maybe it is not a stretch to connect this teinein with the Egyptian god Ta-tenen "risen land", the primordial mound, the rock(petros), that "streached" out of Nun. Ta-Tanen is combined with Ptah(Pee-tah/"Peter") in the Old Kingdom(c.2649-2150 BC) as Ptah-Tatenen. So if we substitute this Ptah "create" for tune, this would make Neptah out of Neptune. 

In Norse mythology the spring Hvergelmir "roaring kettle / bubbling boiling spring" is the source of the eleven rivers and was the origin of the causes of creation. This seems to be similar in concept to Nun(primordial waters of the universe). Its forces flowed south from Niflheim (from nifil "mist," cognate with Gk. nephele "cloud" + heim "home", similar to the abode of Neptune and Poseidon) to Ginnungagap "mighty gap" called the Yawning Void. Ginnungagap was the vast primordial void prior to the creation of the manifest universe. Ymir, the first proto-giant came to be from the interaction between the nebulous realm of primordial cold, ice, and fog to the North, Niflheim, and the realm of fire to the South, Muspellheim, in this mighty gap. 

Audhumla, the gigantic cow, uncovered the first man, Buri, in this void by licking the salty stones around Ginnungagap. Ymir was nourished by Audhumla, and in the Poetic Edda it states that the world was eventually made from the body of Ymir. 

From Ymer's flesh, in the dawning of time, was made

The earth, and from his blood the raging sea,

The rocks from his bones, and from his hair 

the trees, and plants; his skull became the vaulted heaven;

And Midgard, from his fringed lids, the gods

Kindly have fashioned for the sons of men;

And from his brain, the clouds that dress the sky

Of Summer, or dart their lightnings in the storm,

Their first substance had. - The Song of Grimner, C.P. 1851

    18th Century Icelandic Manuscript, Danish Royal Library- Adhumla licks the salty stones around Ginnungagap and Buri emerges.

Nut is also sometimes portrayed as a great cow of the sky, as well as in her other forms(a sycamore tree, starry sky lady, sow). Hathor was commonly portrayed in the form of a cow. Nut and Hathor personified the appearance of the Milky Way in ancient Egypt.  

She[Hathor] was originally a personification of the Milky Way, which was considered to be the milk that flowed from the udders of a heavenly cow (linking her with Nut, Bat and Mehet-Weret). Hathor, Ancient Egypt Online

Nut, Nwt means "[night]sky" and Hathor, ḥwt hr, "House of Horus"(the abode of the ḥr.w "sky"; "one who is above / Falcon" god, Horus). So they are similar aspects of the same archetype.

This gives some context to the term, galaxy, which is from Late Latin galaxias "Milky Way," from Greek galaxies kiklos "milky circle", from gala(galaktos genitive) "milk". 

    The Milky Way, from The Center for Planetary Science, Photo from NGC.

Cosmos is the Latinized form of the Greek kosmos meaning "order, good order, orderly arrangement." Pythagoras was first to use it for "the universe." Kosmos does have a secondary meaning of "ornaments on a woman's dress, decoration" like the starry mantle of Nut perhaps. We might say someone is "put together," kosmos, when they dress in a fine clothes and have their hair done(kosmokomes "dressing the hair") and all is in good order and neat arrangement.

    Our Lady of Guadalupe looking stellar in her Cosmic Cloak, 1531

Kosmein had the meaning "to dispose, prepare", especially with the meaning of "order and arrange(troops for battle), to set (an army) in array". God is one who orders(kosmein) the Cosmos. They are not a random bunch of gasses and rocks strewn around the universe. 

Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host(army) by number; calling them all by name; by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power not one is missing. Isaiah 40:26

Why would one be "missing" unless they were in a particular order for a particular purpose? And why would the stars be named unless they had a particular purpose and nature?

The saying, "You look stellar," takes on new meaning. The universe is cosmic. Like the most intricate amazing arrangement to produce life and variety while still being ordered to a good end.

    A Cosmic Looking Image of a Border Feature Inside the Mandelbrot Set, by Binette228, Wikimedia

We imagine that here on Earth we stand on solid ground and the great oceans are supported by the land. And so it is the case in a sense. But actually our precious Earth is just a giant starship in the fathomless ocean of space. The vastness of space, time and existence can be scary to contemplate. We might feel as if we will get lost or swallowed up. However, we can take comfort in the fact that no matter how far we travel either in or out, the cosmos is well ordered and we will be at home in it. Let's not be afraid to explore. Engage!


You're Everything.