*Manu and *Yemo are thought to have been a duo in Proto-Indo-European mythology. In the creation myth, Manu kills Yemo as a foundational part of the origin of the universe. *Yemo is sometimes also interpreted as a primordial hermaphrodite.

The comparative analysis of different Indo-European tales has led scholars to reconstruct an original Proto-Indo-European creation myth involving twin brothers, *Mónus ('Man') and *YémHos ('Twin'), as the progenitors of the world and mankind, and a hero named *Trito ('Third') who ensured the continuity of the original sacrifice.

Although some thematic parallels can be made with Ancient Near East (the primordial couple Adam and Eve or the fratricide of Cain and Abel), and even Polynesian or South American legends, the linguistic correspondences found in descendant cognates of *Manu and *Yemo- make it very likely that the myth discussed here has a Proto-Indo-European (PIE) origin.

Following a first paper on the cosmogonical legend of Manu and Yemo, published simultaneously with Jaan Puhvel in 1975 (who pointed out the Roman reflex of the story), Bruce Lincoln assembled the initial part of the myth with the legend of the third man Trito in a single ancestral motif.

Since the 1970s, the reconstructed motifs of Manu and Yemo, and to a lesser extent that of Trito, have been generally accepted among scholars.

There is no scholarly consensus as to which of the variants is the most accurate reconstruction of the Proto-Indo-European cosmogonic myth. Bruce Lincoln's reconstruction of the Proto-Indo-European motif known as "Twin and Man" is supported by a number of scholars such as Jaan Puhvel, J. P. Mallory, Douglas Q. Adams, David W. Anthony, and, in part, Martin L. West. Although some thematic parallels can be made with traditions of the Ancient Near East (the twins Abel and Cain and their brother Seth), and even Polynesian or South American legends, Lincoln argues that the linguistic correspondences found in descendant cognates of *Manu and *Yemo make it very likely that the myth has a Proto-Indo-European origin.

According to Edgar C. Polomé, "some elements of the [Scandinavian myth of Ymir] are distinctively Indo-European", but the reconstruction proposed by Lincoln "makes too [many] unprovable assumptions to account for the fundamental changes implied by the Scandinavian version".

Lincoln reconstructs a creation myth involving twin brothers, *Manu- ('Man') and *Yemo- ('Twin'), as the progenitors of the world and humankind, and a hero named *Trito ('Third') who ensured the continuity of the original sacrifice. Regarding the primordial state that may have preceded the creation process, West notes that the Vedic, Norse and, at least partially, the Greek traditions give evidence of an era when the cosmological elements were absent, with similar formula insisting on their non-existence: "neither non-being was nor being was at that time; there was not the air, nor the heaven beyond it ..." (Rigveda), "... there was not sand nor sea nor the cool waves; earth was nowhere nor heaven above; Ginnungagap there was, but grass nowhere ..." (Völuspá), "... there was Chasm and Night and dark Erebos at first, and broad Tartarus, but earth nor air nor heaven there was ..." (The Birds).