Monday Etymology Lesson: liminal

From the Latin liminalis or limen meaning, “threshold,” from which we also get the word limit.  Liminal describes a place between two defined spaces, without ever fully belonging to either of them. 

In mythology these thresholds or liminal spaces are often the realm of deities.  Able to pass between the realms of the living and the dead, the messengers Hermes, Ganesha, and the trickster spirit Eshu in voodoo tradition, are all liminal deities. 

The Romans worshiped Janus, god of gates, doorways, and beginnings, for whom we get the name of our first month, January, the gate of the new year.  Janus is shown as having two faces, one facing backward to the past, and one facing toward the future. Here he is depicted pacifying the Roman war goddess Bellona, sister of Mars, to restore peace.