Bird Gods in Ancient Europe 



not carry the bird on, but the Phoenicians 

 did ; for the rest of Europe gave it names 

 that are similar to Esthonian paiva and paew, 

 the sun, the day. Such are Latin pavo, 

 pavonis, Irish payal, Vendish pawol, Esthonian 

 pabu-lind, German Pfau. It became the bird 

 of the healing god Paian, whose ancient half- 

 forgotten name the worshippers of Apollo 

 called upon when they cried " lo Paian ! " It 

 is the Greek bird god phaon, the shiner, and 

 though in the legend of the bird phoenix we 

 have astronomical ideas, yet is the creature on 

 which the phoenix was based the peacock ! 

 Our word " pea " comes down through Anglo- 

 Saxon pawa from some original sun and day 

 term like the Finnish paivan-lintu " sun bird '* 

 and Esthonian pabu-lind " peacock." But 

 when we come to the eagle, we shall find him 

 the earliest phoenix of all. 



A characteristic of the peacock, in which he 

 differs from many birds, is the humming noise 

 he makes with his long feathers when wooing 



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