List of Proto Indo European deities
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This is a list of reconstructed proto indo European deities. Not all scholars agree on the existence of these deities, but these ones are widely reconstructed. For info on the ways each deity was reconstructed see their individual articles
- Dyēus a god of the sky,[1]
- Divine twins a pair of twins who gave fertility[2]
- Mitra-Varuna a pair of gods associated with law[3]
- Perkwunos a thunder god[1]
- H₂éwsōs a dawn goddess[1]
- Seh₂ul and Meh₁not a sun goddess and moon god[4]
- Dʰéǵʰōm an earth goddess[1][5] also known as *Pleth₂wih₁[2][4]
- H1n̥gʷnis a fire god[1]
- H₂epom Nepōts an underwater fire god[6]
- H₂weh₁-yú a wind god[1]
- Pehuson a nature god[7]
- Fates three goddesses of fate[4]
- H₂eryo-men a god of roads[6]
- Smith God a god of smiths[4]
- Deh₂nu a goddess of rivers[1]
- Priyah a love goddess[8][1]
- Welnos a cattle god[9]
Lesser deities[edit]
This list is not necessarily deities that were less important to the Proto Indo Europeans. Rather it is a list of deities for which there is less evidence of and which are reconstructed less.
- Mawort, proposed common ancestor of Mars and Maruts.[10] It was likely more cosmological and less linked to war and unrelated to Ares.[11]
- A goddess of the Trifunctional system related to Juno, Anahita,[12] and Athena[13]
- A decay goddess has also been proposed on the basis of the Vedic Nirṛti and the Roman Lūa Mater. Her names derive from the verbal roots "decay, rot", and they are both associated with the decomposition of human bodies.[14]
- A medical god has been reconstructed based on a thematic comparison between the Indic god Rudra and the Greek Apollo. Both inflict disease from afar thanks to their bows, both are known as healers, and both are specifically associated with rodents: Rudra's animal is the "rat mole" and Apollo was known as a "rat god".[14]
- A wild god named *Rudlos has also been proposed, based on the Vedic Rudrá and the Old Russian Rŭglŭ. Problematic is whether the name derives from *rewd- ("rend, tear apart"; akin to Lat. rullus, "rustic"), or rather from *rew- ("howl").[14]
- Although the name of the divinities are not cognates, a horse goddess portrayed as bearing twins and in connection with fertility and marriage has been proposed based on the Gaulish Epona, Irish Macha and Welsh Rhiannon, with other thematic echos in the Greek and Indic traditions.[15][16] Demeter transformed herself into a mare when she was raped by Poseidon appearing as a stallion, and she gave birth to a daughter and a horse, Areion. Similarly, the Indic tradition tells of Saranyu fleeing from her husband Vivásvat when she assumed the form of a mare. Vivásvat metamorphosed into a stallion and of their intercourse were born the twin horses, the Aśvins. The Irish goddess Macha gave birth to twins, a mare and a boy, and the Welsh figure Rhiannon bore a child who was reared along with a horse.[17]
- Some scholars have proposed a consort goddess named *Diwōnā or *Diuōneh₂,[18][19] a spouse of Dyēws with a possible descendant in the Greek goddess Dione. A thematic echo may also occur in Vedic India, as both Indra's wife Indrānī and Zeus's consort Dione display a jealous and quarrelsome disposition under provocation. A second descendant may be found in Dia, a mortal said to unite with Zeus in a Greek myth. The story leads ultimately to the birth of the Centaurs after the mating of Dia's husband Ixion with the phantom of Hera, the spouse of Zeus. The reconstruction is however only attested in those two traditions and therefore not secured.[4] The Greek Hera, the Roman Juno, the Germanic Frigg and the Indic Shakti are often depicted as the protectress of marriage and fertility, or as the bestowal of the gift of prophecy. James P. Mallory and Douglas Q. Adams note however that "these functions are much too generic to support the supposition of a distinct PIE 'consort goddess' and many of the 'consorts' probably represent assimilations of earlier goddesses who may have had nothing to do with marriage."[20]\
Heroes[edit]
- Manu the first priest, associated with Mithra
- Yemo the first sacrificial victim and possibly God of death, associated with Varuna
- Trito the first warrior associated with Perkwunos
Minor Heroes[edit]
- Michael Estell has reconstructed a mythical craftsman named *H₃r̥bʰew based on the Greek Orpheus and the Vedic Ribhus. Both are the son of a cudgel-bearer or an archer, and both are known as "fashioners" (*tetḱ-).[21]
- A mythical hero named *Promāth₂ew has also been proposed, from the Greek hero Prometheus ("the one who steals"), who took the heavenly fire away from the gods to bring it to mankind, and the Vedic Mātariśvan, the mythical bird who "robbed" (found in the myth as pra math-, "to steal") the hidden fire and gave it to the Bhrigus.[22][23]
Creatures[edit]
- Nymphs (Indo-European mythology)
- Ḱérberos a dog that guards the otherworld
- Ngwhi an evil snake
- In 1855, Adalbert Kuhn suggested that the Proto-Indo-Europeans may have believed in a set of helper deities, whom he reconstructed based on the Germanic elves and the Hindu ribhus.[24] Although this proposal is often mentioned in academic writings, very few scholars actually accept it since the cognate relationship is linguistically difficult to justify.[25][26] While stories of elves, satyrs, goblins and giants show recurrent traits in Indo-European traditions, West notes that "it is difficult to see so coherent an overall pattern as with the nymphs. It is unlikely that the Indo-Europeans had no concept of such creatures, but we cannot define with any sharpness of outline what their conceptions were."[27]
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Mallory, J. P.; Adams, D. Q. (2006-08-24). The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World. OUP Oxford. ISBN 978-0-19-928791-8. Search this book on
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Jackson, Peter (2002-01-01). "LIGHT FROM DISTANT ASTERISKS TOWARDS A DESCRIPTION OF THE INDO-EUROPEAN RELIGIOUS HERITAGE". Numen. 49 (1): 61–102. doi:10.1163/15685270252772777. ISSN 1568-5276.
- ↑ Mitra-Varuna Georges Dumézil
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 West, M. L.; West, Formerly Professor of Greek at Royal Holloway and Bedford New College Senior Research Fellow M. L. (2007-05-24). Indo-European Poetry and Myth. OUP Oxford. ISBN 978-0-19-928075-9. Search this book on
- ↑ M De Vaan 2008 Etymological Dictionary Of Latin And The Other Italic Languages. Search this book on
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Mallory, J. P.; Adams, Douglas Q. (1997). Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-884964-98-5. Search this book on
- ↑ Puhvel, Jaan (1987). Comparative Mythology. JHU Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-3413-4. Search this book on
- ↑ "Pria, a Proto-Indo-European Goddess". web.archive.org. 2022-04-26. Retrieved 2023-03-17.
- ↑ Jaan Puhvel, Analecta Indoeuropaea, (a collection of articles), publ. by Innsbrucker Beitrage zur Sprachwissenschaft, Innsbruck, 1981
- ↑ Mallory & Adams 2006, pp. 410–411.
- ↑ * York, Michael (1988). "Romulus and Remus, Mars and Quirinus". Journal of Indo-European Studies. 16 (1–2): 153–172. ISSN 0092-2323.
- ↑ Mallory & Adams 2006, p. 433.
- ↑ Puhvel 1987, pp. 133–134.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Mallory & Adams 2006, p. 434.
- ↑ O'Brien, Steven (1982). "Dioscuric elements in Celtic and Germanic mythology". Journal of Indo-European Studies. 10: 117–136.
- ↑ Mallory & Adams 1997, p. 279.
- ↑ Mallory & Adams 1997, p. 280.
- ↑ Dunkel, George E. (1988–1990). "Vater Himmels Gattin". Die Sprache. 34: 1–26.
- ↑ Jackson 2002, p. 72–74.
- ↑ Mallory & Adams 1997, p. 124.
- ↑ Jackson 2002, p. 83-84.
- ↑ Jackson 2002, p. 85.
- ↑ Fortson 2004, p. 27.
- ↑ Kuhn, Adalbert (1855). "Die sprachvergleichung und die urgeschichte der indogermanischen völker". Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung. 4., "Zu diesen ṛbhu, alba.. stellt sich nun aber entschieden das ahd. alp, ags. älf, altn . âlfr"
- ↑ Hall, Alaric (2007). Elves in Anglo-Saxon England: Matters of Belief, Health, Gender and Identity (PDF). Boydell Press. ISBN 978-1843832942. Search this book on
- ↑ West 2007, p. 297.
- ↑ West 2007, p. 303.
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