*Seh₂ul and *Meh₁not
*Seh₂ul | |
---|---|
Sun deity | |
Abode | Sky |
Planet | Sun |
Symbol | Chariot, solar disk |
Day | Sunday |
Equivalents | |
Albanian | Dielli |
Celtic | Sulis |
Etruscan | Usil |
Greek | Helios |
Hindu | Surya |
Roman | Sol |
Hittite | UTU-liya |
Lithuanian | Saulė |
Zoroastrian | Hvare-khshaeta |
Germanic | Sowilō |
*Meh₁not | |
---|---|
Moon deity | |
Abode | Sky |
Planet | Moon |
Day | Monday |
Equivalents | |
Albanian | Hëna |
Greek | Mene (Selene) |
Roman | Luna |
Slavic | Myesyats |
Hittite | Kašku |
Phrygian | Men |
Zoroastrian | Mah |
Latvian | Mēness |
Germanic | Máni |
*Seh₂ul and *Meh₁not are the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European Sun deity and Moon deity respectively. *Seh₂ul is reconstructed based on the solar deities of the attested Indo-European mythologies, although its gender (male or female) is disputed, since there are deities of both genders.[1] Likewise, *Meh₁not- is reconstructed based on the lunar deities of the daughter languages, but they differ in regards to their gender.
The daily course of *Seh₂ul across the sky on a horse-driven chariot is a common motif among Indo-European myths.[note 1] While it is probably inherited, the motif certainly appeared after the introduction of the wheel in the Pontic–Caspian steppe about 3500 BC, and is therefore a late addition to Proto-Indo-European culture.[3]
The Sun deity
*Seh₂ul is reconstructed based on the Greek god Helios, the Greek mythological figure Helen of Troy,[4][5] the Roman god Sol, the Celtic goddess Sulis / Sul/Suil, the North Germanic goddess Sól, the Continental Germanic goddess *Sowilō, the Hittite goddess "UTU-liya",[6] the Zoroastrian Hvare-khshaeta[6] and the Vedic god Surya.[7]
In Albanian the Sun – worshiped as the god of light, sky and weather, giver of life, health and energy, and all-seeing eye[8] – is referred to as Dielli, a name that is considered to have been a word taboo originally meaning "yellow, golden, bright/shiny one" used to refer to the Sun due to its perceived sacred nature.[9]
In the mythologies of the daughter languages (namely, Baltic, Greek and Old Indic), the sun deity crosses the sky in a horse-driven chariot or wagon. However, Mallory and Adams caution that the motif is not exclusively Indo-European, and mention evidence of its presence in Mesopotamia.[10]
Sun-maiden
A character related to the Sun deity is the 'Sun-maiden'.[11] Examples are 'Saules meita', the daughter of Saulé in Baltic tradition, and Sūryā, daughter to Indic Sun god Sūrya.[12] Scholars also posit Helen of Troy, from Greek mythology, was another example of the 'Sun-maiden'.[7][13]
In Albanian tradition there is E Bija e Hënës dhe e Diellit, "the Daughter of the Moon and the Sun", who is a light divine heroine, referred to as pika e qiellit ("drop of the sky" or "lightning"), which falls everywhere from heaven on the mountains and the valleys and strikes pride and evil. She defeats the kulshedra, the archetype of darkness and evil in Albanian mythology.[14][15][16] In some Albanian traditions the Sun (Dielli) and the Moon (Hëna) are regarded as husband and wife, and in others as brother and sister. In the case of E Bija e Hënës dhe e Diellit the Sun is her father and the Moon is her mother.[17][18]
The Moon deity
*Meh₁not- is reconstructed based on the Norse god Máni, the Slavic god Myesyats,[note 2][6] and the Lithuanian god *Meno, or Mėnuo (Mėnulis).[21] Remnants of the lunar deity may exist in Latvian moon god Mēness,[22] Anatolian (Phrygian) deity Men;[23][22] Mene, another name for Selene, and in Zoroastrian lunar deity Mah (Måŋha).[24][25][26]
Alternative myth
Although the sun was personified as an independent deity,[27] the Proto-Indo-Europeans also visualized the sun as the "lamp of Dyēws" or the "eye of Dyēws", as seen in various reflexes: "the god's lamp" in Medes by Euripides, "heaven's candle" in Beowulf, or "the land of Hatti's torch", as the Sun-goddess of Arinna is called in a Hittite prayer;[28] and Helios as the eye of Zeus,[29][30] Hvare-khshaeta as the eye of Ahura Mazda, and the sun as "God's eye" in Romanian folklore.[31] The names of Celtic sun goddesses like Sulis and Grian may also allude to this association: the words for "eye" and "sun" are switched in these languages, hence the name of the goddesses.[32]
Albanian solemn oaths are taken "by the eye of the Sun" (për sy të Diellit), which is related to the Sky-God worship (Zojz).[33]
Egyptian mythology is unrelated to Indo-European mythology so there is unlikely any historical link, but the metaphor of Eye of Ra was used in it too.
See also
Notes
References
- ^ West 2007, p. 195-196.
- ^ Agostini, Domenico; Thrope, Samuel. The bundahišn: The Zoroastrian Book of Creation. New York: Oxford University Press, 2020. p. 19. ISBN 9780190879044
- ^ Fortson 2004, p. 23.
- ^ O'Brien, Steven. "Dioscuric Elements in Celtic and Germanic Mythology". In: Journal of Indo-European Studies 10:1–2 (Spring–Summer, 1982), pp. 117–136.
- ^ Meagher, Robert E. (2002). The Meaning of Helen: In Search of an Ancient Icon. Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers. pp. 46ff. ISBN 978-0-86516-510-6.
- ^ a b c Gamkrelidze & Ivanov 1995, p. 760.
- ^ a b Mallory & Adams 1997, p. 232.
- ^ Tirta 2004, pp. 68, 70–72, 249–254; Sokoli 2013, p. 181; Hysi 2006, pp. 349–361; Gjoni 2012, pp. 85–86.
- ^ Demiraj & Neri 2020: "díell -i".
- ^ Mallory & Adams 1997, p. 278.
- ^ West 2007, p. 227-232.
- ^ Mallory & Adams 1997, p. 556.
- ^ West 2007, p. 230-231.
- ^ Tirta 2004, pp. 72, 128.
- ^ Shuteriqi 1959, p. 66.
- ^ West 2007, p. 233.
- ^ Tirta 2004, pp. 72, 128
- ^ Dushi 2020, p. 21
- ^ Jones, Prudence; Pennick, Nigel (1995). A History of Pagan Europe. Routledge. p. 186. ISBN 978-1-136-14172-0.
- ^ Dixon-Kennedy, Mike (1998). Encyclopedia of Russian and Slavic myth and legend. p. 188. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-57607-130-4
- ^ Mallory & Adams 1997, p. 385.
- ^ a b Lurker, Manfred. The Routledge Dictionary Of Gods Goddesses Devils And Demons. Routledge. 2004. p. 123. ISBN 978-04-15340-18-2
- ^ Keneryi, Karl (1951). The Gods of the Greeks. Thames & Hudson. pp. 196–197; Hammond, N.G.L. and Howard Hayes Scullard (editors), The Oxford Classical Dictionary. Second edition. Oxford University Press, 1992. "SELENE" entry. pp. 970–971. ISBN 0-19-869117-3
- ^ Beekes, Robert (1982). "Gav. må, the Pie word for 'moon, month', and the perfect participle" (PDF). Journal of Indo-European Studies. 10: 53–64.
- ^ York, Michael (August 1993). "Toward a Proto-Indo-European vocabulary of the sacred". WORD. 44 (2): 235–254. doi:10.1080/00437956.1993.11435902.
- ^ Lurker, Manfred. The Routledge Dictionary Of Gods Goddesses Devils And Demons. Routledge. 2004. p. 115. ISBN 978-04-15340-18-2
- ^ Mallory & Adams 2006, p. 427.
- ^ West 2007, p. 195.
- ^ Sick, David (2004). "Mit(h)ra(s) and the Myths of the Sun". Numen. 51 (4): 432–467. doi:10.1163/1568527042500140.
- ^ Bortolani, Ljuba Merlina (2016). Magical Hymns from Roman Egypt: A Study of Greek and Egyptian Traditions of Divinity. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781316673270.
- ^ Ionescu, Doina; Dumitrache, Cristiana (2012). "The Sun Worship with the Romanians" (PDF). Romanian Astronomical Journal. 22 (2): 155–166. Bibcode:2012RoAJ...22..155I.
- ^ MacKillop, James. (1998). Dictionary of Celtic Mythology. Oxford: Oxford University Press ISBN 0-19-280120-1 pp.10, 16, 128
- ^ Cook 1964, p. 197.
Sources
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- Demiraj, Bardhyl; Neri, Sergio (2020). "díell -i". Wörterbuch – DPEWA. DPEWA - Digitales Philologisch-Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altalbanischen.
- Dushi, Arbnora (2020). "The Sister-Brother Recognition Motif in the Albanian Folk Ballad: Meaning and Contexts within the National Culture". Tautosakos Darbai. 59: 17–29. doi:10.51554/TD.2020.28363. S2CID 253540847.
- Fortson, Benjamin W. (2004). Indo-European Language and Culture. Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 1-4051-0316-7.
- Gamkrelidze, Thomas V.; Ivanov, Vjaceslav V. (1995). Winter, Werner (ed.). Indo-European and the Indo-Europeans: A Reconstruction and Historical Analysis of a Proto-Language and a Proto-Culture. Trends in Linguistics: Studies and Monographs 80. Berlin: M. De Gruyter.
- Gjoni, Irena (2012). Marrëdhënie të miteve dhe kulteve të bregdetit të Jonit me areale të tjera mitike (PhD) (in Albanian). Tirana: University of Tirana, Faculty of History and Philology.
- Hysi, Shyqyri (2006). "Kulte tradicionale shqiptare" [Albanian Traditional Cults]. Gjurmime Albanologjike - Folklor Dhe Etnologji (in Albanian) (36). Instituti Albanologjik i Prishtinës: 349–361.
- Mallory, James P.; Adams, Douglas Q. (1997). Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-884964-98-5.
- Mallory, James P.; Adams, Douglas Q. (2006). The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-929668-2.
- Shuteriqi, Dhimitër S. (1959). Historia e letërsisë shqipe. Vol. 1. Universiteti Shtetëror i Tiranës, Instituti i Historisë dhe Gjuhësisë.
- Sokoli, Ramadan (2013) [1999]. "The Albanian World in the Folk Teller's Stories". In Margaret Read MacDonald (ed.). Traditional Storytelling Today: An International Sourcebook. Translated by Pranvera Xhelo. Routledge. ISBN 9781135917142.
- Tirta, Mark (2004). Petrit Bezhani (ed.). Mitologjia ndër shqiptarë (in Albanian). Tirana: Mësonjëtorja. ISBN 99927-938-9-9.
- West, Martin L. (2007). Indo-European Poetry and Myth. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-928075-9.