Dazhbog
Slavic solar deity and possible cultural hero.
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Dazhbog is a Slavic deity whose reconstructed name means "giving god" in Proto-Slavic.[1][2] The name is a compound of an imperative meaning "to give" and a word for "god" that originally referred to earthly wealth and fortune.[1][2]
Life and work
The Proto-Slavic reconstruction *dadjь*bogъ retains the old meaning of *bogъ as "earthly wealth/well-being; fortune" before its semantic shift to "god"[2] This word is often considered an Iranian borrowing related to Indo-Iranian Bhaga, as both language groups use cognate forms for "deity" and "wealth"[2] Vyacheslav Ivanov and Vladimir Toporov reconstructed a genealogy where Svarog, a fire and forge deity, had two sons: Dazhbog (sky fire, the Sun) and Svarozhits (earthly flame).[3] Henryk Łowmiański theorized that Svarog was a sky god and that Svarozhits and solar Dazhbog were the same deity.[4]
Serbian folklore preserves Dabog as a chthonic lord of the underworld associated with precious metals.[5] Veselin Čajkanović concluded that Dabog's chthonic character fits with the solar Dazhbog, noting solar deities often have both benevolent and malevolent aspects.[5] The phrase "Dazhbog's grandchildren" is used in the Tale of Igor's Campaign to refer to the Rus people and their rulers, which suggests Dazhbog was viewed as a progenitor deity.[5]
What the cited sources add
A sculpture of Dazhbog was erected in Hola Prystan, Ukraine in early 2001, but was broken up days later due to church objections.[6] On April 10, 2016, Slavic pagans installed a Dazhbog idol in Astrakhan, Russia, and by April 12, 2016, the idol had been desecrated and the area destroyed.[7] The names Khors and Dazhbog appear together in a text without the word "and" separating them, possibly indicating a compound deity Khors Dazhbog.[8] Boris Rybakov drew a parallel between the pair Khors and Dazhbog and the pair Helios and Apollo; his conclusion was that Dazhbog, as deus dator, stood for the Sun's life-giving force.[8]
Toporov put forward the idea that Khors might be an Iranian designation for the same deity, while Dazhbog would be the Slavic one.[8]
References
- Wikipedia, "Dazhbog" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Олег Трубачёв (ред.) (1974–), Этимологический словарь славянских языков, Москва: Наука, volume 04, page 182f (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Dazhbog" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Petar Skok (1971), Etimologijski rječnik hrvatskoga ili srpskoga jezika, JAZU: Zagreb, volume I, page 178ff; Compare OCS bogatъ 'rich' as opposed to ubogъ 'poor'. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Dazhbog" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Vitomir Belaj "Hod kroz godinu, mitska pozadina hrvatskih narodnih vjerovanja i obicaja", Zagreb, 1998. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Dazhbog" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Henrik Lovmjanjski, Religija Slovena, Beograd 1996; Franjo Ledić. Mitologija Slavena, vol. I, Zagreb, 1970. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Dazhbog" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Veselin Čajkanović, Mit i religija u Srba, Beograd, 1973. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Dazhbog" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: В Херсонской области после протеста священников демонтировали скульптуру языческого бога Telegraf.by (11.07.2011) (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Dazhbog" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: In Astrakhan have established an idol of Dazhdbog; In Astrakhan have profaned an idol of Dazhdbog (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Dazhbog" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Boris Rybakov. Ancient Slavic Paganism. Moscow, 1981; "This f2o.org account is no longer in service" (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Dazhbog (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
More in Supernatural beings identified with Christian saints
Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Dazhbog (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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