Chernoglav or Chernoglov (

Old Icelandic Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlement ...

: Tjarnaglófi) is the god of victory and war worshipped in

Rügen Rügen (; la, Rugia, ) is Germany's largest island. It is located off the Pomeranian coast in the Baltic Sea and belongs to the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The "gateway" to Rügen island is the Hanseatic city of Stralsund, where ...

, probably in the town of Jasmund, mentioned together with

Svetovit Svetovit, Sventovit, Svantovit is the god of abundance and war, and the chief god of the Slavic tribe of the Rani, and later of all the Polabian Slavs. His organized cult was located on the island of Rügen, at Cape Arkona, where his main temple ...

Rugievit Rugiaevit, Rugievit () or Ruyevit is a god of the Slavic Rani worshipped on Rügen, mentioned in only two sources: ''Gesta Danorum'' and in ''Knýtlinga saga''. His temple, along with those of Porevit and Porenut, was located in the gord of Cha ...

, Turupid, Puruvit and

Pizamar Pizamar (Old Icelandic ''Pizamarr'') is a Slavic deity worshipped on Rügen. His statue was overthrown by the Danes in 1168 together with statues of other gods on Rügen. He is mentioned only in ''Knýtlinga saga'', which, however, does not give ...

in the ''

Knýtlinga saga ''Knýtlinga saga'' (''The Saga of Cnut's Descendants'') is an Icelandic kings' saga written in the 1250s, which deals with the kings who ruled Denmark since the early 10th century.Ármann Jakobsson, "Royal biography", p. 397-8 There are good rea ...

''.

Aleksander Gieysztor Aleksander Gieysztor (17 July 1916 – 9 February 1999) was a Polish medievalist historian. Life Aleksander Gieysztor was born to a Polish family in Moscow, Russia, where his father worked as a railwayman. In 1921, the family relocated to Po ...

and Andrzej Szyjewski read the name as "Chernoglav/Chernoglov" (

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

: ''Czarnogłów'').

Aleksander Brückner Aleksander Brückner (; 29 January 1856 – 24 May 1939) was a Polish scholar of Slavic languages and literatures (Slavistics), philologist, lexicographer and historian of literature. He is among the most notable Slavicists of the late 19th ...

, on the other hand, thought that the only correct reading of the name was "

Triglav Triglav (; german: Terglau; it, Tricorno), with an elevation of , is the highest mountain in Slovenia and the highest peak of the Julian Alps. The mountain is the pre-eminent symbol of the Slovene nation. It is the centrepiece of Triglav Natio ...

". Jerzy Strzelczyk notes that the warlike character of a god may speak in favor of the "Triglav" reading, but the warlike character was a feature common to many of the Polabian and Pomeranian gods. Henryk Łowmiński decided that Chernogłów is "the cemetery transformation of the

Chernobog Chernobog ( "Black God") and Belobog ( "White God") are an alleged pair of Polabian deities. Chernobog appears in the Helmold's '' Chronicle'' as a god of misfortune worshipped by the Wagri and Obodrites, while Belobog is not mentioned – he wa ...

", and Leszek Moszyński proposed a read "T'arnogłowy" (from

Proto-Slavic Proto-Slavic (abbreviated PSl., PS.; also called Common Slavic or Common Slavonic) is the Attested language, unattested, linguistic reconstruction, reconstructed proto-language of all Slavic languages. It represents Slavic speech approximately ...

''*tьrnъ'', "thorn") meaning "with a head crowned with thorns", which is to refer to Jesus' crown of thorns and be a

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

influence on the late Polabian paganism. According to Yaroslav Gorbachov, the statue of Chernoglav could in fact be a statue of

Yarovit Yarovit, Iarovit (or Yerovit, Ierovit) is a Polabian god of war, worshipped in Vologošč ( Circipanians) and Hobolin ( Hobolians; modern Havelberg). Sources give only a brief description of his cult, his main temple was located in Vologošč, w ...

Perun In Slavic mythology, Perun (Cyrillic: Перýн) is the highest god of the pantheon and the god of sky, thunder, lightning, storms, rain, law, war, fertility and oak trees. His other attributes were fire, mountains, wind, iris, eagle, firmam ...

, but he also states that source about Chernoglav might be potential source about Chernobog.

References

Slavic gods War gods {{god-stub