>A theophany (from the dictionary) is "An appearance of a god to a human;
>a divine manifestation."

>I want (at least) two other words, which are different: one meaning the
>appearance of a titan (in ancient Greek mythology, the titans were,
>loosely speaking, the cousins and uncles/aunts of the gods).

>When Prometheus stole fire from the gods, and gave it to humans, that
>would have been an instance of this word: an appearance of a titan to
>mortals, but I want to distinguish it from the appearance of a "true"
>god. I'm not sure about the genetics of gods, but clearly titans and
>gods were the same species ;-p

>Since I also want to mix in nordic (and other mythologies) this word, or
>a different one, should be good for giants in nordic mythology. Again,
>loosely speaking, they are the equivalent of greek titans. (Both gods
>and giants are more human-scale in nordic mythology than gods and titans
>in greek. Or perhaps nordic heroes were more god-scale <g>.)

>The other word, or words, I want would relate more to christian/moslem
>mythoi. I want the corresponding word for a devil, or demon. And
>possibly a djinni or a fairy.

>IOW, I want words that make these sound more like strange and rare
>events. I don't need a word for the appearance of your next door
>neighbour in his front yard...

>Hmm. Perhaps a catch-all word, for any kind of supernatural apparition
>could be useful too.

>Obviously I can substitute ordinary words (like appearance, and
>manifestation) but I want words that have more of the feel of the word
>"theophany": the sort of word learned professors and other gentlemen in
>a steam-punk setting might use at a gentleman's club, or a modern
>scientist might use in a scientific paper in a parallel world where such
>things occurred often enough that nobody with half a brain cell could
>doubt their reality, but seldom enough that someone with a whole brain
>cell could wonder if they were really supernatural, or "merely" some
>kind of natural phenomenon.

>"Are djinn supernatural or the result of a parallel biogenesis?" one
>scientist might ask. And another respond, "It's a distinction without a
>difference." To which a third would say, "Poppycock!" ;-)

>Jonathan