e/World-elephant

Information
has gloss	eng: Classical Sanskrit literature has references to "world-elephants" as mythical animals supporting the world in Hindu cosmology. This image augments the stock of mythological world-bearers over the earlier World Turtle, Kurmaraja, and World Serpent, Nagaraja or Shesha. Indeed, Wilhelm von Humboldt suggested that the idea of a world-elephant was due to a confusion, caused by the Sanskrit noun naga having the dual meaning of "serpent" and "elephant" (named for its serpent-like trunk), thus representing a corrupted account of the world-serpent. The various Hindu myths of the world being carried or enclosed by either a tortoise, a serpent or an elephant were referred to by Taylor (1878:339)
lexicalization	eng: world-elephant
instance of	c/Fictional elephants