world egg

noun

world egg

noun

US /wɜːld ˌɛɡ/

1

Human sciences, Mysticism, Mythology, Philosophy, Sciences A mythological motif, found in the creation myths of many cultures and civilizations, of an egg from which the universe or some primordial being is "hatched".

  • With this shaping of chaos into a world-egg, or earth-sphere, arises then, according to the representation of these cosmogonies, the first being, the 'first-born,' or the first man. In Africa a Dogon myth says that in the beginning, a world egg divided into two birth sacs, containing sets of twins fathered by the creator god, Amma, on the maternal egg.1868, Johann Peter Lange, Genesis, Or, the First Book of Moses, page 181:
  • The Mande people say that in the beginning the creator placed various kinds of seed in the world egg.2010, David Adams Leeming, Creation Myths of the World: Parts I-II, page 313:
Synonyms
cosmic egg
Hyponyms
Brahmanda

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.