Indo-European Function Triads

Indo-European society was divided into three “functions” by Georges Dumézil. With this came many speculations regarding what could be associated with those divisions. Whether the theory is ideal or not, it does make an intersting tool, so provided here is a table that lists many of the functions and associations.

Association	First Function	Second Function	Third Function
Key	The Sacred	Physical Force	Prosperity
Deities	Sky Father	War God	Forger/Creative/Fertile God
Macrocosm	Heaven	Atmosphere	Earth
Mesocosm	Priests	Warriors	Food Producers
Microcosm 1	Head	Upper Body	Lower Body
Microcosm 2	Head	Right Side	Left Side
Colours	White	Red	Black
Animals	Bull	Ram	He-goat
Virtues 1	Wisdom	Courage	Temperance
Virtues 2 (Plato)	Religious Zeal	Heroic Valor	Generosity
Seasons	Spring	Summer	Winter
Thoughts	Rational	Spirited	Appetitive
Disposition	Mean (avg.)	Active	Passive
Wetness	Mean (avg.)	Dry	Wet
Element	Air	Fire	Water
Music	Middle Note	High Note	Low Note
Medicine	Spell-Medicine	Knife-Medicine	Herb-Medicine
Moon Phase	Crescent	Later Waxing	Waning

Many of these may be found in: Lyle, Emily. “Dumezil’s Three Functions and Indo-European Cosmic Structure.” Hisotry of Relgions. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. Vol. 22, no. 1 (Aug. 1982) p. 25-44.