Amen

Margo's Magical Letter Page

The Third Path is the Sanctifying Intelligence, and is the foundation of Primordial wisdom, which is called the Creator of Faith, and its roots are AMN; and it is the parent of Faith, from which doth Faith emanate
Sepher Yetzirah

For some reason, many mantras worldwide seem to focus on the consonant 'm', or the sequence 'm-n'. The word 'mantra' itself contains this sequence. The Hebrew and Christians say 'amen'. Ammon was for a long time the name of the highest Egyptian diety. For the Aztecs it was 'ome-teotl'. The major Toltec god who was the precursor of Quetzalcoatl was Zamna. The divine force which infuses all life in Papua New Guinea is Mana. The Hindus, of course say 'Om' or 'Om nama shivaya' or 'Om mani padma hum'. The French word for soul is âme and for 'myself' is 'moi-même'. The word mauna (silence) exists in all the languages of India. It is cognate with the noun muni, meaning "sage". In German and Scandinavian, the word 'man' is used to refer to the abstract 'one'... anyone, everyone. Freud and Frazer use the word 'mana' to refer to the spiritual power which earlier cultures viewed simultaneously as the source of power, holiness, danger and evil. The Hebrews ate manna to sustain them in the desert. And the world center is known as 'axis mundi'. The form it takes for us speakers of English is I AM, which is arguably the most fundamental word in our language. (There are also those of us who would claim that the American mantra is 'um...', for this is undoubtedly the word we use most frequently to signify that some effort toward clarity is being made. There are those primary school English teachers who would outlaw the American 'ummm', but I am adamantly opposed to this policy. Notice also that when upset or surprised, we use many of the basic words for males as exclamations: oh, boy... oh, brother... and also oh, man) The above quote suggests that AMN is associated by the Kabbalists with the Sephirah Binah on the upper left of the Tree of life, head of the great female triad and associated with rational intelligence.

The common English words, both mono- and polymorphemic which contain the sequence m-n fall into the following classes:

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Meaning and Mind: mean, mind, remind, amnesia, mental, mnemonic, moron, numinous, premonition, ruminate, somn-, subliminal, talesman
Language: mean, mantra, mention, amen, omen, remind, admonish, amino, amnesia, maintain, column, comment, command, communicate, condemn, disseminate, mandate, manifesto, manuscript, moniker, nomenclature, nominate, reprimand, summon, sermon, terminological, testimony (notice 'name/nym/gnom' contains the same sequence backwards)
Music: harmony, hymn, minstrel, minuet

Quantity and Size: many, mountain, mansion, manor, monster, immanent, mount, amount, culminate, denominator (number), dimension, semen, domain, immense, menagerie, menu, million, omni-, tremendous, voluminous (number, enormous, n-m)
Time: moon, month, morn
Money: money, alimony, mint, mine, diamond, mammon, parsimony, remunerations, simony (economy, n-m)

Centrality: main, common, community, cement, abdomen, albumin, communion
Ceremony/Religious: minaret, ceremony, monument, numinous, promenade, sanctimonious, seminary, sermon, shaman, simony, solemn, talesman
Quality: commend, Brahman, luminary, mint, eminent, prominence
Power: adamant, demand, dominate, mentor, monster, admonish, manage, luminesce, command, communism, illuminate, mandate, manifesto, administration, vitamin, municipal
Discipline: admonish, command, condemn, mandate, manifesto, reprimand, regimen, regiment, determine, damn, summon

Mundane: mundane, mean, demean, common, menial (inverted norm)
Small: minimum, diminish, minor, minute, misdemeanor, parsimony (gnome, n-m)
Alone/Remain: mono-, immune, amnesty, mine, remnant, remain, semolina (n-m, numb)
Division: regiment, condominium, mono, domain, specimen, terminal
Human: man, woman, human, maniken (n-m, animal)

Manifest: manifest, mint, mount, demonstrate, immanent, acumen, administer, amend, commence, determine, emanate, phenomenon, geminate, germinate, hormone, hymen, mani- (hand), manipulate, manufacture, menstruation, morn, preliminary, seminal, stamen (animate, dynamic n-m)
Methods: manner, means
Sustain: (am), remain, maintain, -ment (the suffix), alimony, almanac, alumnus, manage, mantra, cement, mend, minister, monitor, permanent, stamina
Safety: amenity, amnesty, alimony, immune, maintain, harmony, maneuver (equanimity, n-m)

Sorrow, Danger and Destruction: moan, mourn, omen, monster, demean, abomination, mangy, acrimonious, admonish, demon, amanita, ammunition, discrimintation, criminal, autumn, mania, calumny, condemn, contaminate, damn, mean, dement, eliminate, exterminate, famine, lemon, manure, menace, moron, munch, mince, pandemonium, pneumonia, salmonella, solemn, terminate, (venom, nemisis, n-m)

Concrete Nouns: almond, aluminum, ammonia, chimney, mantle, mayonnaise, meander, melon, salamander, salmon, spumone, vermilion
Miscellaneous: feminine, examine, mineral, romance

 

Aums

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I received the following from a friend who wishes to remain anonymous:

...In English we say "My name is Bob." In Spanish one uses a simple reflexive verb to say: "(I) call myself Bob". The subject-pronoun "I" is optional, depending on formality, so THEORETICALLY (i.e., WITH pronouns):

(1).... "Yo me llamo Bob." - I call myself Bob.
(2a).... "Como se llama Usted?' - What do you call yourself? (sing.you-polite).
(2b).... "Como te llamas tu?" - What do you call yourself? (sing.you-familiar).....etc....

Today, it would be just very stilted to use the subject pronoun "I" here; so it would be just: "Me llamo Bob." It translates to Spanish pronunciation as: MEH YA MA ....Bob. As pallindrome this gets delightfully close, going backwards to sounding like: AHM I YEHM (rhyming sort of with "calm eye them") but fascinatingly suggestive of BOTH:

AM I AM .....or.... AUM I AM ....maybe etc.

Anyway, I MYSELF think that's very "cute!" ...Also, this can be pushed farther and/or FURTHER! If one stuck in the "omitted" or "suppressed" first person singular subject-pronoun "Yo" ("yaw"), one gets (usefully or not)

YAW AHM I YEHM

which, for those Hebrews speaking YIDDISH, comes out (if helter-skelter!) as:

AM I AM ...OY!

which is VERY silly, but still somehow amazing! But going back to the "oy!-free" versions, namely:

AM I AM .....or.... AUM I AM ....(maybe etc.)

It certainly is fascinating! ...assuming always, one's not just going phono-semantically crazy (i.e., insane!) where everything begins to tie in, and cross-link, to everything else, and one can no longer drink it through a straw, but must eat it with a spoon! .....(if you see what I mean, and I can't imagine why anyone WOULDN'T !! )

OH, YES!

What made me THINK OF the AUM-IAM thing in Spanish was the Ukrainian word for a person's "first name": im-YA. I didn't mention it, because it seemed too clear, but I did notice that --backwards-- this can become:

I'M ME !!!!!

which continues the amazing spookiness! But there's some stuff MORE, I later realized, in this (though maybe a good part of it is obvious to you from your linguistics studies and/or Russian knowledge, and/or whatever else). First, as you know, your website's new section is actually entitled just "AMEN" ........Well, apropros of "AMEN", the word "im-YA" is "special" or "mixed" neuter, and declines thus:

Sg.
nom. im-YA
gen. I-men-ih ("men" as English, "ih" as in "it")
dat. I-men-i (with "i" as in "he" or "she" )
acc. im-YA
instr. im-YAM (...or... I-men-em ...)
voc. im-YA

Pl.
nom. i-men-A ("a' as in Father, of course)
gen. i-MEN
dat. i-men-AM (!!!! ..can you believe this?)
acc. i-men-A
instr. i-men-A-mih ("mih" as in "mid-point")
voc. i-men-A

Cute? ....No? If one's interested in going backwards, well, I won't even LIST the backward pronunciations, as one can read them "directly".....but ALSO for a FURTHER reason !!! ....and kindly hold onto your seats.... though alternatively just let me know, succinctly but with gentleness, that I HAVE gone phono-beserk, the declensions for the really mandatory word-combo "my name" (as in "My name Bob.") ARE:

Sg.
nom. mo-YEH im-YA ("mo" with o of "cawfee!")
gen. mo-HO I-men-ih (H of HO is nasalized)
dat. mo-YEH-mu I-men-i (mu almost as cow)
acc. mo-YEH im-YA
instr. mo-YIM im-YAM
voc. mo-YEH-mu (OR mo-YIM) im-YA

Pl.
nom. mo-YI i-men-A
gen. mo-YIX i-MEN ("x" as in "Buch")
dat. mo-YIM i-men-AM
acc. mo-YIX i-men-A
instr. mo-YI-mih i-men-A-mih
voc. mo-YIX i-men-A

(I listed the plurals "just for fun" but --also-- just in case they DO have some reasonable connection with the idea, though it eludes me at the moment; and of course, some of these cases for "my name" might be pretty "rare" in real life.) I leave it entirely to you to consider these from the backwards, or any other viewpoint, you wish. Surely, the entire list of "My Name is" and "My Names" would make the world GREATEST mantra, though the proof would have to be in the pudding, and ---oddly--- I already implied "pudding" when I spoke of straws and spoons.

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