The hunters (Indo-European proto-myths: The storm god, The good king, The mighty hunter)

The comparative material for the ruler-warrior function, the second function within Dumézil's tripartite canon, is rich in theistic, social, and military comparands. My effort to extend this work to hunting, a natural pastime of royalty and of warriors, has led to a new hypothesis regarding hunting bands of horseless warriors. These seem to have originally been non-Indo-European groups that have been brought into the Indo-European fold by a process of Indo-European chieftains conferring rank upon them (see also Anthony 2007: 118-19). The Fíanna 'Eireann (Fíanna of Ireland) of Finn mac Cumhaill (or Umhaill) are the most detailed example of this symbiosis and incorporation. This hypothesis receives independent support from the long-recognized geographical variation in the sense of Indo-European *aryones, 'Aryans'.