2 february 2026

2 february 2026

John Bjarne Grover

In the opening pages of my 2023 article called 'Sistrum, menat and computation theory' I refer to certain apparent archaic-mythological strata in icelandic language relative to norwegian language. It is believed that icelandic split off from norwegian in the middle ages (that is possibly based on the assumption that the icelandic sagas from the high middle ages were authentic and a basis for the later language development). What caught my interest was that the icelandic newspaper reports on the volcanic eruption close to the village Grindavik seemed to echo certain mythological strata in the norwegian language which seemed to have a notable and quite interesting reflex in some of the ancient egyptian tomb illustrations from Meir (probably appr. 2000 BC).

Ancient egyptian tomb culture consisted in the chiselling of advanced art and semiotic theories onto the tomb walls - chiselled into the deep rock probably for the specific purpose of taking shape in the minds of the people walking around on top of the same territory - above the tombs. That the land was the people's minds, that would be. Then ideas exist that when the jews fled with Moses from the suppression and hard labour they were confined to in Egypt, this semiotic pressure would have been a part of their cultural background - and the question whether this could have contributed to the divine revelation on the mountain of Sinai that later led to judaism as the basis for christianity has certainly been up. Theories about the 'origin' (pharaoh tombs or God?) of the divine revelation of judaism could be a political background of the problems contained in the icelandic mythological substrate that seemed to surface when the inner of the earth came up at Grindavik and a part of the town went on fire when it came in contact with the lava flowing in there - and the inhabitants had to flee like Moses and the jewish people. That is what caught my interest - and I pointed to certain such linguistic phenomena with a mythological correlate in norwegian language.

One of the phenomena I pointed to was the example 2:

Example 2:

Another article in Morgunbladid on the condition of Grindavik:

Blásið var til skyndilegrar rýmingar í Grindavík um klukkan 15. Nokkur asi varð í bænum um leið og þetta var tilkynnt en nú hefur verið dregið úr viðbúnaði. Áfram verður þó haldið með rýmingu.

Google translator:

A sudden evacuation was called for in Grindavík around 3 p.m. There was some commotion in the town as soon as this was announced, but now the preparedness has been reduced. However, the evacuation will continue.

Mythological translation:

Blasid was to hurry-doctors of evacuation in Grindavik at 15:00. A donkey was redirected to the leg and this was pronounced a new heifer pulled from the 'vidbunad'. Adam was credited ('held') with the evacuation.

'Bunad' = national costume, or in 'mythological' translation 'bu-nad' = "a place to live" ('hier kannst du ja wohnen' - as tells the 'Belcez' vehicle/animal upon arrival).

The theory tells that when icelandic split from norwegian some centuries (or a millenium) ago, this left the traces in the language which here will correspond to the essential 'maieutic' motive of Adam in the 'mythological' translation - icelandic interpreted with a norwegian ear - through a diachronic 'knot' (assumed to be where the two languages split):

A part of the tomb wall (from Blackman 1914 - annotated by me)

Would this have been to ridicule the icelandic language? Of course not. That this report of mine - published on 8 december 2023 - could be about a very interesting 'magic' substrate in icelandic language was shown by nature itself - it would probably not have been a 'joke' from somebody controlling the landscape surveillance images since the newspaper report was published about two hours after the eruption and they could probably not have guessed the location in advance: On 16 march 2024 a new volcanic eruption was caught on a surveillance camera and the landscape presented an image very similar to the illustration from Meir (2000 BC) which I had pointed to in my article of 8 december 2023 - see this observation on the phenomenon. Clearly this would be about very deep mythological phenomena which it can be extremely interesting and important to come to an understanding of (also for countering nazi ideas about jewish religion and christendom). Of course icelandic culture is very aware of the volcanic presence under their feet - could be in strong parallel to the semiotic 'pressure' that the ancient egyptian tombs could have exerted on the minds of the people walking around on the earth above them.

It is the moment of birth of the calf in Egypt (from my example 2) which is caught on the icelandic surveillance camera when seen from the viewpoint of the landscape (source of the screenshot is Morgunblaðið):

It is the breakthrough into a new world for the calf which creates this volcanic eruption up into a 'new world' for the volcano - just above the head of the cow - who thereby could be telling of how the ancient egyptians experienced the art and advanced semiotic theories in the deep tombs under their feet: It burst up into their minds like the volcano over the head of the cow in the moment when the calf was born into a new world. The semiotic art on the tomb walls of ancient Egypt would here find a reflex in the 'snow art' of the landscape of Iceland. It also seems that the eruption (which here is mirrored left-right for showing the similarity with the egyptian art - cp. also the form of the hebrew 'r' which is ר - while hebrew 'g' = ג which resembles the 'n' = נ) spread leftwards (rightwards in nature) for reaching across the hieroglyphs - this photo about one hour later (source) could perhaps suggest that it had gone rightwards, if the camera angle is the same) - which means that the icelandic eruption would be a sort of hieroglyphic text. And notice how relevant the hieroglyphic text is to the scene right underneath it - the pointing arm, the foot, the 'maieutic' posture at what could be the hind leg of a cow etc. That is clearly no coincidence. Hence the story from Iceland could suggest how immensely 'magic' the hieroglyphs can be.

The magic (including the volcano) seems for this example to be related to my poem TEQ #1545:

TEQ 1545
25 א"ל

Painthill Meyers Plausie

Day in my Lord [...],
it is absolutely possible that the chain of creation,
and much more delicate and precis[e]
building and collecting things

which would confirm the establishment,
if and when
for give a little
smelling wind and democracy.

So we 3 plus play 2 years and a go:
I covered a daily of working.
If they are big enough, that is also two-three hundred [i måneden].
It's weekday up to the week.

In actual fact, I worked for a few hours in 1965.
My goodness! Who has written this article?
A young icelander stood forth and claimed the responsibility:
Ich bin Herodotus.

א"ל = אָמַר לֵיהּ = '[Rav] answered him', according to the Mesorah edition (page 16b⁴ top left). Cp. my line "Day in my Lord [...]".

Here the 'painthill' is the art of snow on the hill in front of the camera, the 'meyer' is the cow and the 'plausie' is probably the volcano.

The poem can also be found under 'Bach, II.Fuga' played by Midori - in parallel with my poem under #25.

One notices also the egyptian goddess Hathor who sometimes is conceived as a cow with a sun disk on top of her head - like this icelandic 'cow' with the volcanic eruption just above her head.

Screenshot mirrored horizontally from this source

So clearly it could have been about a 'divine revelation' of ancient egyptian kind when the volcano erupted on Iceland.

The egyptian tomb image of the cow giving birth is from the same tomb (of Meir) as the one discussed in the comment of 24 december 2025.

Added 9 february 2026: The theme is explored also by Jacopo Bassano in his 'Santa Giustina in trono e i santi Sebastiano, Antonio Abate e Rocco' from about 1560 (see also this reproduction):

Jacopo Bassano (Jacopo da Ponte, Bassano del Grappa 1510 circa - 1592), Santa Giustina in trono
e i santi Sebastiano, Antonio Abate e Rocco, (1560 circa), Chiesa di Santa Giustina, Enego.
Copied from Bassano 1964.

Most of the elements from Meir have correlates in this artwork - where the protruded knee has a prominent function along with a turning around - the righthand man turns and looks up at Santa Giustina (the 'cow'), she herself turns and looks down left and the elder man turns a page in the book which is the 'calf' of her womb. The important function of this turning is in the rotation of the righthand man's protruded knee leftwards as shown in the annotation to the right - which means that the animal sitting on the floor in front of Santa Giustina (and next to the 'calf' of the walking man, could be including his leathern boot) corresponds to a (quasi) 'animal' at the sitting character of Meir. The drawer who copied the weatherworn artwork of Meir has taken the 'fish' head or 'animal snout' to be a protruded elbow - could be that is an element of importance, considering the protruded knee of the walking man. In fact the walking man can be seen as sitting and leaning backwards with parted legs - as if it is he who gives birth to the animal on the floor, which, though, means that it is she who gives birth to the 'book'.

Detail from plate IX reproduced photographically
in plate XXVII of Blackman 1914, annotated by me

The series of turnings, including book pages - in Meir that is in the pointing man - constitutes a chain which could be seen as an account of the appearance of the animal under the table - hence with relevance for my poem:

the chain of creation,
and much more delicate and precis[e]
building and collecting things
which would confirm the establishment,

The rest of my poem could be seen to refer to other aspects of Bassano's artwork.

Sources:

Bassano: 'I maestri del colore' #40. Fratelli Fabbri Editori, Milano 1964.

Blackman, A.M.: "The rock tombs of Meir", part I. London 1914.

Grover, J.B.: The Endmorgan Quartet. Vienna 2013.

Grover, J.B.: Sistrum, menat and computation theory. 2023.

Talmud Bavli. Vol.7: Tractate Erubin. Artscroll series, Mesorah Publications 2005.

Talmud Erubin, the classic Vilna edition, El Hamekoroth, Jerusalem 1947/48.

Eruption video from Morgunblaðið.

Hathor as cow.