medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
If you go with the Eddic poem Voluspá, as most do, for 'the beginning', in Anthony Faulkes' translation
"the mighty gap was, and no growth." But the "mighty gap" is the "ginningagap,", which could also be translated 'yawning gap" and the term suggested recently in this thread, "ravine", fits beautifully - "the yawning ravine" - so in fact we have a very nice analog to the ancient greek meaning, though not to our modern meaning of 'chaos' wherever that came from. And at "the end" after the gods / giants / monsters destroy each other, there will be a new world (to what extent this may reflect Christian influence is hotly debated).
Meg
As an afterthought, I´ve often seen the creation of the world in Middle Eastern mythology described as
"creating order out of chaos" - maybe that's where the idea of primordial chaos comes from.
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From: medieval-religion - Scholarly discussions of medieval religious culture on behalf of V. Kerry Inman
Sent: Fri 8.8.2008 20:16
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [M-R] Medieval Chaos Theory
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
I don't know, but am asking a question: Are we not paying too much attention to Greek and the Greeks here? Didn't the primary ideas about chaos during the middle ages have their origin in Teutonic myth? Didn't the Teutonic peoples believe that all would end in chaos just as all began from chaos?
V. K. Inman
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