"Maia"n Lore of Every Kind
Maia, though not 'my' Maia (I wasn't named after any of this, obviously, but I still feel like it applies to me--probably because the name is so unique), has an amazing number of linguistic and mythological coincidences associated with it.
Just about every language, because of the universality of bilabial stops and nasals (they are the first sounds a baby makes, likely because putting his two lips together and pulling them apart again mimics breastfeeding) and some basic glides--not to mention the 'ah' vowel, which ALSO comes close to being the most universal, has some meaning for "Maia." In Hindi, the sounds mean "illusion," (but in a good way! I was assured, when I didn't like that one), in Russian, "mine," and I'm sure a bazillion other things. However, when I saw that the astronomical/mythological Maia was actually spelled the same way as mine, and took its meaning directly from the Sanskrit mine comes from: "she who is great," then I realized I was dealing with a direct descendent!
--Maia is the 20th brightest (apparent brightness, which figures in distance as well as true luminosity) star in the constellation Taurus, the bull. It's also part of an unofficial cluster of seven faint stars, called the Pleiades, meant to represent seven sisters in the mythology of Ancient Rome.
--Maia was the eldest and most beautiful of the sisters, who were the daughters of Atlas and Pleione (some sort of water-queen).
--She's from the mountains.
--She was, after a time, seduced by Zeus (no surprise there) and gave birth to Hermes.
--The seven sisters were living in the wilderness, when Orion the hunter caught sight of them and naturally fell head-over-heels for them. He chased them for seven years, until Zeus finally heard their pleas for help and turned them all into white doves, whereupon they flew up into the sky. The seven stars are meant to be an image of these doves. Interestingly, the constellation Orion is posed for action in their direction, as though he were chasing them.
--There's another Roman Maia, this one the goddess of spring. The month of May is named for her. However, I don't think she made it into immortality in the night sky.
--In Tolkien's mythology, a Maia (pl. Maiar) is a being much like a demigod. I forget what its place/purpose in the narrative is, but I do remember that Gandalf and Galadriel are Maiar, even though they've taken on wizardly/elven form during the books. A friend borrowed my copy of The Silmarillion and dropped it in the toilet before I could get any further.
--I cringed to see that Maia is very close to Merope, another of the Pleiades, whose star is right next door and closest in brightness. Merope, in the Harry Potter books, is Tom Riddle's (Voldemort's) horrendously ugly and poverty-stricken mother, who feeds his father love potions to delude him into thinking he's in love with her. When she lets them wear off in hopes he'll love her true self as well, he reacts violently, and, disgusted, high-tails it off at the next opportunity. Heart-broken Merope wanders the streets, pregnant with Tom, until she collapses in an orphanage and dies in childbirth. That character could very well have been Maia!
Interesting to find that your name yields so many parallel correspondences! I return the task to all of you: what's the background of your name, and why did your parents give it to you? Who else shares it?
Just about every language, because of the universality of bilabial stops and nasals (they are the first sounds a baby makes, likely because putting his two lips together and pulling them apart again mimics breastfeeding) and some basic glides--not to mention the 'ah' vowel, which ALSO comes close to being the most universal, has some meaning for "Maia." In Hindi, the sounds mean "illusion," (but in a good way! I was assured, when I didn't like that one), in Russian, "mine," and I'm sure a bazillion other things. However, when I saw that the astronomical/mythological Maia was actually spelled the same way as mine, and took its meaning directly from the Sanskrit mine comes from: "she who is great," then I realized I was dealing with a direct descendent!
--Maia is the 20th brightest (apparent brightness, which figures in distance as well as true luminosity) star in the constellation Taurus, the bull. It's also part of an unofficial cluster of seven faint stars, called the Pleiades, meant to represent seven sisters in the mythology of Ancient Rome.
--Maia was the eldest and most beautiful of the sisters, who were the daughters of Atlas and Pleione (some sort of water-queen).
--She's from the mountains.
--She was, after a time, seduced by Zeus (no surprise there) and gave birth to Hermes.
--The seven sisters were living in the wilderness, when Orion the hunter caught sight of them and naturally fell head-over-heels for them. He chased them for seven years, until Zeus finally heard their pleas for help and turned them all into white doves, whereupon they flew up into the sky. The seven stars are meant to be an image of these doves. Interestingly, the constellation Orion is posed for action in their direction, as though he were chasing them.
--There's another Roman Maia, this one the goddess of spring. The month of May is named for her. However, I don't think she made it into immortality in the night sky.
--In Tolkien's mythology, a Maia (pl. Maiar) is a being much like a demigod. I forget what its place/purpose in the narrative is, but I do remember that Gandalf and Galadriel are Maiar, even though they've taken on wizardly/elven form during the books. A friend borrowed my copy of The Silmarillion and dropped it in the toilet before I could get any further.
--I cringed to see that Maia is very close to Merope, another of the Pleiades, whose star is right next door and closest in brightness. Merope, in the Harry Potter books, is Tom Riddle's (Voldemort's) horrendously ugly and poverty-stricken mother, who feeds his father love potions to delude him into thinking he's in love with her. When she lets them wear off in hopes he'll love her true self as well, he reacts violently, and, disgusted, high-tails it off at the next opportunity. Heart-broken Merope wanders the streets, pregnant with Tom, until she collapses in an orphanage and dies in childbirth. That character could very well have been Maia!
Interesting to find that your name yields so many parallel correspondences! I return the task to all of you: what's the background of your name, and why did your parents give it to you? Who else shares it?