| *PriHyéh₂ | |
|---|---|
Goddess of love and the garden | |
| Day | Friday |
| Equivalents | |
| Greek equivalent | Aphrodite, Priapos |
| Roman equivalent | Venus (flora), Priapus |
| Norse equivalent | Frigg |
| Slavic equivalent | Příje, later Paraskeva Friday |
| Hittite equivalent | Puru |
| Iranian equivalent | Paurwa, later Parendi, (Anahita) |
| Albanian equivalent | Prende |
| Common Germanic equivalent | Frijjō |
*PriHyéh₂ is the reconstructed name of the love goddess in Proto-Indo-European mythology.
Background
The name PriHyéh₂, means "beloved, friend," and has descendant forms in many Indo-European languages. It is ancestral to Sanskrit priya "dear, beloved" and common Germanic Frijjō.[1][2]
PriHyéh₂, is reconstructed[3] as “beloved, friend”, the god(dess) of the garden. She is known in Hittite as the object of the Purulli festival, in Sanskrit as Parvati.[3]
In Greek she is recognized as Aphrodite, although this name does not quite fit the expected phonology, and apparently means the “goddess of the garden”, related word “paradise.” Mycenaean Greek theonym pe-re-wa₂, and likely related Pamphylian Πρεͷα (Prewa), a goddess associated with Aphrodite, are listed as cognates by Witczak and Kaczor.[4]
In Latin Venus takes her place . Her name is not cognate at all, but confer how Norse descendants of *PriHyéh₂, Freyr and Freyja belong to the race of so-called Vanir, which comes from the same Proto-Indo-European root *wenh₁-.[5] Freyja is possibly worshipped under the name Perun in southern Slavic-speaking areas.[3] In Albanian she is Perendi, Christianized as St. Prendi. J. Grimm refers to an Old Bohemian form Příje, used as a gloss for Venus in Mater Verborum.[6] Many of these goddesses give their name to the fifth day of the week, Friday. They are also very well known in lesser form such as the Germanic Elves and the Persian Peris, charming and seductive beings in folklore.[3]
There are also masculine forms of this deity, Greek Priapos, borrowed into Latin as Priapus; and Old Norse Freyr.[3]
In Avestan, she is demonized as Paurwa, but replaced by Anahita.[3] However, *PriHyéh₂ was eventually reintegrated into Zoroastrianism as Parendi, and a hymn called Yasht was created to praise her.
See also
References
- ↑ Wodtko et al., Nomina im Indogermanischen Lexikon, Heidelberg (2008) ISBN 978-3-8253-5359-9, s.v. "preyH", pp. 568-573.
- ↑ Bader, Françoise (1990). "Autobiographie et héritage dans la langue des dieux : d'Homère à Hésiode et Pindare". Revue des Études Grecques. 103 (492): 383–408. doi:10.3406/reg.1990.2486.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World, by J.P. Mallory and D.Q. Adams, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2006
- ↑ K. T. Witzcak, I. Kaczor, "Linguistic evidence for Proto-Indo-European pantheon"
- ↑ de Vaan, Michiel (2008). Etymological dictionary of Latin and the other Italic languages. p. 663.
- ↑ Grimm, Jacob, Deutsche Mythologie (English title Teutonic Mythology, translated by Stallybrass), George Bell and Sons, London, 1883. PAge 303