A Study of the Names of Northern Mythological Girls in Herodotus’ History and the Torah
The Book of Rut/Ruth in the Torah is based on Herodotus’s account of the arrival of the girls from Hyperborea (Scandinavia)-Moab (which means island in Scythian) to Greece. Quite simply, the names of the great Nordic tribes have been given to these mythological and historical girls:
According to Herodotus, offerings from the Hyperboreans came to Scythia packed with straw, and they were passed from tribe to tribe until they arrived at Dodona and from them to other Greek peoples until they to came to Apollo’s temple on Delos. He said they used this method because the first time the gifts were brought by two maidens, Hyperoche and Laodice, with an escort of five men, but none of them returned. To prevent this, the Hyperboreans began to bring the gifts to their borders and ask their neighbours to deliver them to the next country and so on until they arrived to Delos.
Herodotus also details that two other virgin maidens, Arge and Opis, had come from Hyperborea to Delos before, as a tribute to the goddess Ilithyia for ease of child-bearing, accompanied by the gods themselves. The maidens received honours in Delos, where the women collected gifts from them and sang hymns to them.
Ruth and Naomi according to the Bible:
Naomi had decided to return to her homeland of Judah after moving to Moab and losing everything there, including her husband and two sons. It must have been heartbreaking for her to begin the journey back to her homeland without the company of those she had moved with. However, she had her two young daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth. At that time, they were still part of her household, even though their husbands had died.
During the journey, Naomi must have begun to realize what the two girls were sacrificing by leaving what was probably the only home they had ever had. She urged them to return to their childhood homes. At first, the girls refused, but after a while, Orpah was persuaded by Naomi’s persistence, kissed her goodbye, and returned. The book of Ruth further relates that Ruth could not be persuaded. Her sense of duty to her mother-in-law was too strong. “[…] May the Lord punish me both now and hereafter if anything but death should part me from you,” she told Naomi.
The two widows could not have had it easy at that time, and they probably experienced famine and poverty when they arrived in Judah. However, they had a wealthy relative named Boaz, so Ruth went to his fields where the harvest was in full swing to gather grain. Boaz noticed her, and he had already heard of her devotion and care for Naomi. He took her under his wing, had her glean, and gave her food to eat. After a while, Boaz married her.
God blessed her immensely because of her sense of duty and love for Naomi, and for her refusal to turn aside from the path she knew she was meant to walk. She and Naomi went from being poor widows to having a secure life. She also became the great-grandmother of King David, and thus an ancestor of Jesus Christ himself.
Matching the meaning of similar names in here the two myths:
Arge (shining one): a Fine (Finnish, wetland)
Opis (hop-is): a Swedish (friend).
उपाय m. upAya joining in or accompanying.
Hyperoche: The word is derived from the Greek verb ὑπερέχω (hyperéchō), which means “to hold above” or “to excel”: a person from Hyperborea (norr-avigen).
Laodice (lao-dike): a person from Denmark.
Dacia (Denmark) [de], a medieval Latin name for Denmark or the Nordic region in general.
Den (lowland, shelter= dike) :
den(n.1): Old English denn “wild animal’s lair, hollow place in the earth used by an animal for concealment, shelter, and security,” from Proto-Germanic *danjan (source also of Middle Low German denne “lowland, wooded vale, den.”
In that case, above Denmark has been Northland and above it has been mentioned Hyperborea (the northernmost land, Norr-avigen).
Ilithyia: the readycomer” or “she who comes to help”.
Obadiah (/oʊbəˈdaɪ.ə/; Hebrew: עֹבַדְיָה – ʿŌḇaḏyā or עֹבַדְיָהוּ – ʿŌḇaḏyāhū; “servant/slave of Yah”).
Naomi’s name means “pleasantness” or “delightful”: a Finnish.
Orpah (neck, skull): Norwegian, Hyperborean.