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*Manu and *Yemo
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<p>*<i>Manu</i> and *<i>Yemo</i> are thought to have been a duo in <a href="/facts/Proto-Indo-European_mythology/je34oLVn">Proto-Indo-European mythology</a>. In the creation myth, Manu kills Yemo as a foundational part of the origin of the universe. Yemo is sometimes also interpreted as a primordial hermaphrodite. </p><p>The <a href="/facts/Comparative_method/VKJAa3zy">comparative analysis</a> of different Indo-European tales has led scholars to reconstruct an original Proto-Indo-European creation myth involving twin brothers, *<i>Mónus</i> ('Man') and *<i>YémHos</i> ('Twin'), as the progenitors of the world and mankind, and a hero named *<i>Trito</i> ('Third') who ensured the continuity of the original sacrifice. </p><p>Although some thematic parallels can be made with Ancient Near East (the primordial couple <a href="/facts/Adam_and_Eve/PBKg3IDE">Adam and Eve</a>), and even Polynesian or South American legends, the linguistic correspondences found in descendant <a href="/facts/Cognate/nXETf5Y4">cognates</a> of *<i>Manu</i> and *<i>Yemo-</i> make it very likely that the myth discussed here has a Proto-Indo-European (PIE) origin. </p><p>Following a first paper on the cosmogonical legend of Manu and Yemo, published simultaneously with <a href="/facts/Jaan_Puhvel/cdsSqmPd">Jaan Puhvel</a> in 1975 (who pointed out the Roman reflex of the story), <a href="/facts/Bruce_Lincoln/yBt8euKE">Bruce Lincoln</a> assembled the initial part of the myth with the legend of the third man <a href="/facts/Trito_(Proto-Indo-European_mythology)/9eWTkHu4">Trito</a> in a single ancestral motif. </p><p>Since the 1970s, the reconstructed motifs of Manu and Yemo, and to a lesser extent that of Trito, have been generally accepted among scholars. </p>