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This article was automatically assessed because at least one WikiProject had rated the article as stub, and the rating on other projects was brought up to Stub class. BetacommandBot 17:18, 9 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
My own view differs from this article somewhat. Nechtan is related to Neptune from a Proto-Indo-European *Nep-to-no-s. The word is clearly related to Proto-Indo-European *nepôt, nephew, and *nept-, niece, and the root *nep- may have meant ‘flow down, derive, issue forth’ so that *nepôt literally meant ‘issue, derivation, descendant’ and *neptonos would be a common adjective of appurtenance in *-no- meaning ‘of the derivation/issue.’ Surely, it makes more sense to say that, in the Italic religion, the reflex of this adjective, Neptune, is applied to a god of bodies of waters that ‘derive,’ that is, flow down in Latin, and that, in Celtic religion it is applied to Grannus-Belenos, the god of shimmering brightness, where this god is deemed to be manifest in shimmering waters. The common Proto-Indo-European element of ‘fire in water’ probably originated in idolisation of the seeming splendour of light reflected in rippling water. G.M.Gladehall (talk) 20:26, 10 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]
By reading the literature on Iranian and Greek mythology, I would say that the "fire in the water" is the thunderbolt. The identification with naphta is simply laughable. Concerning the name Apam Napat, the first part clearly relates to water (Sanskrit आप āpa "water"), but the second part does not have anything to do with *nept-, niece. As Occam would say, since we are talking about a water-god, and since the "fire in the water" has been since long time identified with the thunderbolt, I would say that Napat comes from the same PIE root which has given Latin nūbēs, "cloud", and Greek nephos (νέφος), also "cloud", and Sanskrit itself with nabhas (clouds) and nabha (sky), Tamil நபம் (napam). I would therefore say that Apam Napat means "water in the sky" or "rain-cloud". For strange it may sound, the root from which all of those terms have originated in Latin, Greek, Sanskrit and all other PIE-derived languages is *snewbʰo- (“to marry, to wed”), from which Latin nūbō, nūbere has come, with the original meaning of "to cover, veil", then "to marry, to wed (to put a veil on a woman)", and finally ", "to become cloudy (to cover, to veil the sky)". (lastshaman) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 46.18.27.2 (talk) 08:17, 3 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Apam Napat's identification as an asura in the Rig Veda and an ahura in the Avesta complemented with several features clearly defines him as a god of creative principles and fire. In fact the imagery in the Rig Veda completely describes him as a golden fire deity who happens to be associated with these "water goddesses". The identification of Apam Napat himself as a water deity is alarming and inaccurate. So I hope this dissuades any further discussion of Apam Napat's role as a water deity. HE IS CLEARLY A FIRE DEITY who is associated with waters. Only in the late Pahlavi texts do we see an anachronism whereby Apam Napat is identified as a water god. Of course for that purpose Rudra has also been called Apam Napat in later texts so that should not be considered as evidence when discussing the archaic deityGrathmy (talk) 19:03, 21 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]
