Sacred Connections with Cat-tail (Typha, Typhaceae) - Dragons, water-serpents and reed-maces

Abstract

Names are only one factor linking cat-tails to humans for over 3000 years. The generic name Typha was derived from Greek typhe that is linguistically related to Typhon, typhoon, and typhus. These words link four concepts - monsters, storms, diseases, and plants. A tangled history of the words and ideas linking them began with the ancestors of the Indo-Europeans perhaps before 1800 BCE. Either those views spread from the Old World into the New with successive waves of immigrants or there is a remarkable convergence. Confusion and other factors leading to misunderstanding and simpler translations are outlined.