Khors, Хорсъ
is a
Slavic god
The pagan Slavs were polytheistic, which means that they worshipped many gods and goddesses. The gods of the Slavs are known primarily from a small number of chronicles and letopises, or not very accurate Christian sermons against paganism. Addi ...
of uncertain functions mentioned since the 12th century. Generally interpreted as a sun god, sometimes as a moon god. The meaning of the theonym is also unknown: most often his name has been combined with the Iranian word for sun, such as the Persian ''
xoršid'', or the Ossetian ''xor'', but modern linguists strongly criticize such an etymology, and other native etymologies are proposed instead.
Sources
Khors is the most frequently mentioned Slavic god, after Perun. He first appears in the ''
Primary Chronicle
The ''Tale of Bygone Years'' ( orv, Повѣсть времѧньныхъ лѣтъ, translit=Pověstĭ vremęnĭnyxŭ lětŭ; ; ; ; ), often known in English as the ''Rus' Primary Chronicle'', the ''Russian Primary Chronicle'', or simply the ...
''
letopis
''Letopis'' was a Russian monthly journal published in St Petersburg from December 1915 until December 1917. It had a range of material including literary, scientific and political material. Its political stance was to oppose nationalism and the ...
along with other gods to whom
Vladimir the Great
Vladimir I Sviatoslavich or Volodymyr I Sviatoslavych ( orv, Володимѣръ Свѧтославичь, ''Volodiměrъ Svętoslavičь'';, ''Uladzimir'', russian: Владимир, ''Vladimir'', uk, Володимир, ''Volodymyr''. Se ...
erected statues:
The second source mentioning the god is ''
The Tale of Igor's Campaign
''The Tale of Igor's Campaign'' ( orv, Слово о пълкѹ Игоревѣ, translit=Slovo o pŭlku Igorevě) is an anonymous epic poem written in the Old East Slavic language.
The title is occasionally translated as ''The Tale of the Campai ...
'': "
Prince Vseslav was a judge for his subjects, he distributed cities among princes, but by night he ran like a wolf, from
Kiev
Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...
he ran to
Tmutarakan
Tmutarakan ( rus, Тмутарака́нь, p=tmʊtərɐˈkanʲ, ; uk, Тмуторокань, Tmutorokan) was a medieval Kievan Rus' principality and trading town that controlled the Cimmerian Bosporus, the passage from the Black Sea to the Sea ...
, before the cock crowed, as a wolf he ran along the road of the great Khors."
God is also mentioned in the apocryphal work ''Sermon and Apocalypse of the Holy Apostles'', which mentions Perun and Khors as old men, and Khors is credited with real life in
Cyprus
Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...
. Khors also appears in the apocryphal text ''Conversation of the Three Saints'', in which
St. Basil,
St. Gregory the Theologian, and
St. John Chrysostom
John Chrysostom (; gr, Ἰωάννης ὁ Χρυσόστομος; 14 September 407) was an important Early Church Father who served as archbishop of Constantinople. He is known for his preaching and public speaking, his denunciation of ...
converse. St. John asks: "What was thunder made from?", St. Basil replies: "There are two angels of thunder. For this, the ancient
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
Perun, Khors is
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
. And there are two angels of lightning". This text combines Slavic,
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 ...
, and
Bogomil
Bogomilism ( Bulgarian and Macedonian: ; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", bogumilstvo, богумилство) was a Christian neo-Gnostic or dualist sect founded in the First Bulgarian Empire by the priest Bogomil during the reign of Tsar Pe ...
traditions. He also occurs in other letopis-dependent sources.
In proper nouns
Mikhail Vasil'yev cited a number of
hydronyms
A hydronym (from el, ὕδρω, , "water" and , , "name") is a type of toponym that designates a proper name of a body of water. Hydronyms include the proper names of rivers and streams, lakes and ponds, swamps and marshes, seas and oceans. As a ...
from the
Novgorod
Veliky Novgorod ( rus, links=no, Великий Новгород, t=Great Newtown, p=vʲɪˈlʲikʲɪj ˈnovɡərət), also known as just Novgorod (), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the ol ...
-
Severian
Severian is the narrator and main character of Gene Wolfe's four-volume science fiction series ''The Book of the New Sun'', as well as its sequel, '' The Urth of the New Sun''. He is a Journeyman of the Seekers for Truth and Penitence (a Guild o ...
region (e.g., Khorsovo swamp, Khorsov reservoir) from the 16th-18th centuries,
toponyms
Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...
in
Volhynia
Volhynia (also spelled Volynia) ( ; uk, Воли́нь, Volyn' pl, Wołyń, russian: Волы́нь, Volýnʹ, ), is a historic region in Central and Eastern Europe, between south-eastern Poland, south-western Belarus, and western Ukraine. Th ...
from the 10th-12th centuries, or Khrŭsovo in
Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...
, to the right of the
Danube
The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...
. Andrey Beskov notes that in
Borova region (
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
), not far from the village of , there was the village of Horsivka, which is now under the
Oskol reservoir. Significantly, among the inhabitants of this village were bearers of the surname ''Khors''.
God was also to be preserved in the Old Serbian name Хьрсь, Old Bulgarian Хръсъ,
Serbian Хрс, ''Hrs'', Хрсовик, ''Hrsovik'', Old East Slavic Хорсъ in analogy to the Polish name
Dadźbóg, from the god
Dazhbog
Dazhbog (russian: Дажьбо́г, Дажбог), alternatively Daždźbok ( be, Даждзьбог), Dažbog, Dazhdbog, Dajbog, Daybog, Dabog, Dazibogu, or Dadzbóg, was one of the major gods of Slavic mythology, most likely a solar deity and ...
. It is also possible that he was preserved in the Old Czech name ''Chorúš''. It has been proposed that the Serbian names should be regarded as alterations of the Greek name Χρυσης, ''Khrisis'', or Χρυσος, ''Khrisos'', but according to
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 ...
this is unwarranted: these names are not Christian names, so there was no reason for the Serbs to adopt them, and Χρυσ- is spelled simply as ''khris-''.
Etymology
![Chorsi](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Chorsi.png)
In Old Russian sources, this theonym is noted as Xърсъ, ''Xŭrsŭ'', Хорсъ, ''Xorsŭ'', Хъросъ, ''Xŭrosŭ'', and in modern Russian literature it is written as ''Khors'' (), similarly spelled by
Maciej Stryjkowski
Maciej Stryjkowski (also referred to as Strykowski and Strycovius;Nowa encyklopedia powszechna PWN. t. 6, 1997 – ) was a Polish historian, writer and a poet, known as the author of ''Chronicle of Poland, Lithuania, Samogitia and all of Rutheni ...
- ''Khorsum'' (, modern ). In English, depending on the transliteration system, the name is written as ''Khors'', ''Hors'', or ''Xors''.
Iranian etymology
Currently, the most popular view regarding the etymology of the
theonym
A theonym (from Greek ''theos'' (Θεός), "god"'','' attached to ''onoma'' (ὄνομα), "name") is the proper name of a deity.
Theonymy, the study of divine proper names, is a branch of onomastics (the study of the etymology, history, and u ...
Khors is
Iranian
Iranian may refer to:
* Iran, a sovereign state
* Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran
* Iranian lan ...
, and this etymology has been proposed since the 19th century. The Russian historian Pёtr Butkov, who called Khors "the Slavic
Apollo
Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...
", was one of the first to connect his name with the
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
''خورشید'', ''xuršit'' and the
Ossetian ''xur'', ''xor'' "sun," and with the Ossetian ''xorošŭ'', ''хоrsŭ'', ''xorsu'' meaning "good". Iranian ''xvar'' "halo",
Indian
Indian or Indians may refer to:
Peoples South Asia
* Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor
** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country
* South Asia ...
''hāra'', ''hāras'' "fire" or Persian ''xoršid'' "sun", ''Xuršid'' "sun-god" are also proposed. The Iranian word was also supposed to be the root word for ''Krones'', the sky god in the
Voguls
The Mansi (Mansi: Мāньси / Мāньси мāхум, ''Māńsi / Māńsi māhum'', ) are a Ugric indigenous people living in Khanty–Mansia, an autonomous okrug within Tyumen Oblast in Russia. In Khanty–Mansia, the Khanty and Mansi la ...
and
Ostyaks
Ostyak (russian: Остя́к) is a name formerly used to refer to several indigenous peoples and languages in Siberia, Russia. Both the Khanty people and the Ket people were formerly called Ostyaks, whereas the Selkup people were referred to a ...
, and for the word ''kvar'' "sky", "air" in the
Votyak language.
Vladimir Toporov
Vladimir Nikolayevich Toporov (russian: Влади́мир Никола́евич Топоро́в; 5 July 1928 in Moscow5 December 2005 in Moscow) was a leading Russian philologist associated with the Tartu-Moscow semiotic school. His wife was ...
believed that the name ''Khors'' was brought to
Kyiv
Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...
, along with the solar cult, by soldiers from
Khwarazm
Khwarazm (; Old Persian: ''Hwârazmiya''; fa, خوارزم, ''Xwârazm'' or ''Xârazm'') or Chorasmia () is a large oasis region on the Amu Darya river delta in western Central Asia, bordered on the north by the (former) Aral Sea, on the ea ...
, who were supposedly stationed there during the reign of
Vladimir the Great
Vladimir I Sviatoslavich or Volodymyr I Sviatoslavych ( orv, Володимѣръ Свѧтославичь, ''Volodiměrъ Svętoslavičь'';, ''Uladzimir'', russian: Владимир, ''Vladimir'', uk, Володимир, ''Volodymyr''. Se ...
, but this theory has been heavily criticized. Mikhail Vasil'yev stated that the name could not have been borrowed from
Middle Persian
Middle Persian or Pahlavi, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg () in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasanian Empire. For some time after the Sasanian collapse, Middle Per ...
, but from
Sarmatian
The Sarmatians (; grc, Σαρμαται, Sarmatai; Latin: ) were a large confederation of Ancient Iranian peoples, ancient Eastern Iranian languages, Eastern Iranian peoples, Iranian Eurasian nomads, equestrian nomadic peoples of classical ant ...
-
Alan
Alan may refer to:
People
*Alan (surname), an English and Turkish surname
* Alan (given name), an English given name
**List of people with given name Alan
''Following are people commonly referred to solely by "Alan" or by a homonymous name.''
*A ...
peoples in the first millennium
BC (so-called Iranian inversion).
Besides the Iranian etymology, there were other theories. For example, an early loan from Ossetian ''xorz'' "good" was proposed, which would also explain the
Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
word хороший, ''khoroshiy'' "good," which was originally supposed to mean "of Khors, belonging to Khors", but this possibility was rejected by Vasmer. Toporov, who also rejected borrowing from Ossetian, wrote:
Criticism
Borrowing from Iranian languages has been accepted by religious scholars without much complaint, but linguists, such as
Max Vasmer
Max Julius Friedrich Vasmer (; russian: Максимилиан Романович Фа́смер, translit=Maksimilian Romanovič Fásmer; 28 February 1886 – 30 November 1962) was a Russo-German linguist. He studied problems of etymology in In ...
, point out
phonetic
Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies how humans produce and perceive sounds, or in the case of sign languages, the equivalent aspects of sign. Linguists who specialize in studying the physical properties of speech are phoneticians. ...
problems. Iranian ''hva-'' does not explain the
Slavic short vowel ъ (''ŭ''), and ''š'' could not in Slavic languages remain as ''s'', but according to the
ruki rule should remain either as ''х'' (''h'') or as ''š'' (''sh'') in case the word was borrowed after the rule completion.
Iranian etymology also has historical problems. Khors could not have been borrowed during the reign of Vladimir the Great because by that time
Persia
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
had already converted to
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
, and the word ''Xoršid'' in Persian meant only "sun" and had no religious connotations. The name cannot be derived from the
Avestan
Avestan (), or historically Zend, is an umbrella term for two Old Iranian languages: Old Avestan (spoken in the 2nd millennium BCE) and Younger Avestan (spoken in the 1st millennium BCE). They are known only from their conjoined use as the scrip ...
''
Hvar
Hvar (; Chakavian: ''Hvor'' or ''For'', el, Φάρος, Pharos, la, Pharia, it, Lesina) is a Croatian island in the Adriatic Sea, located off the Dalmatian coast, lying between the islands of Brač, Vis and Korčula. Approximately long,
wi ...
'' (because of the final ''-s''), or ''hvarə хšаētəm'': the expression was shortened to ''xwaršēδ''/''xoršid'' in Middle Persian during the
Sassanid dynasty
The Sasanian dynasty was the house that founded the Sasanian Empire, ruling this empire from 224 to 651 AD in Persia (modern-day Iran). It began with Ardashir I, who named the dynasty as ''Sasanian'' in honour of his grandfather (or father), Sasa ...
, at which time sun worship was transferred to the god
Mitra
''Mitra'' ( Proto-Indo-Iranian: ''*mitrás'') is the name of an Indo-Iranian divinity from which the names and some characteristics of Rigvedic Mitrá and Avestan Mithra derive.
The names (and occasionally also some characteristics) of these t ...
. Additionally, at an early stage,
iconoclasm
Iconoclasm (from Ancient Greek, Greek: grc, wikt:εἰκών, εἰκών, lit=figure, icon, translit=eikṓn, label=none + grc, wikt:κλάω, κλάω, lit=to break, translit=kláō, label=none)From grc, wikt:εἰκών, εἰκών + wi ...
prevailed in Persia and idols of Iranian gods were replaced with sacred fires. It is unclear, then, how the
Eastern Slavs
The East Slavs are the most populous subgroup of the Slavs. They speak the East Slavic languages, and formed the majority of the population of the medieval state Kievan Rus', which they claim as their cultural ancestor.John Channon & Robert Hud ...
would have borrowed the word ''xwaršēδ''/''xoršid'' from Persia in such a short time, made a radical phonetic change, and placed Khors so high in the pantheon. Vasil'yev tried to solve this problem by suggesting the existence of a hypothetical Sarmatian-Alan word ''*xors''/''*xūrs'' "King-Sun" obtained through a complex chain of assumptions, but here too the phonetic problems mentioned earlier arise.
A comprehensive critique of Iranian theory was also made by Andrey Beskov.
Slavic etymologies
From Proto-Indo-European ''*kr̥ḱós''
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 ...
(1918) also proposed a Slavic origin of the theonym. According to him, ''Chъrsъ'' in Polish would sound like ''chars'' and he finds this word in Polish dated phrases ''przecharsła'' or ''wycharsł'' meaning "emaciated, haggard, pinched, drawn" creature, or in Czech words ''krsati'', ''krsnouti'' "to emaciate, haggard", ''krsek'' "dwarf", ''zakrsly'', ''krs'' "
dwarf shrub
A subshrub (Latin ''suffrutex'') or dwarf shrub is a short shrub, and is a woody plant. Prostrate shrub is a related term. "Subshrub" is often used interchangeably with "bush".Jackson, Benjamin, Daydon; A Glossary of Botanic Terms with their Der ...
" with typical interchange of ''ch'' and ''k'' – the Polish word with preserved original ''k'' is ''karślak'' "knotty tree", or toponymes ''
Karsy''. The Proto-Slavic form of these words is reconstructed as the adjective ''*kъrsъ'' "declined, skinny, dwarf", the verb ''*kъrsati'' "to decrease, decline", ''*krsnąti'' "to lose weight" from PIE. ''*kr̥ḱós'' "skinny" (PIE ''ḱ'' → PS ''s''). This interpretation was supported by Michał Łuczyński (2020). According to him, the Proto-Slavic form of theonym, ''*Xъrsъ'', from the earlier ''*Kъrsъ'', is formally identical with the surnames: Old Serbian Хьрсь and Old Bulgarian Xrъсъ, as well as the toponyms: Old Polish ''*Kars'' and ''*Chars'', Serbian ''Hrs'' and Old Russian ''Хорсъ'' and others, and is derived from the adjective ''*kъrsъ'' "skinny". This reconstruction is etymologically correct, and semantically consistent with the lunar interpretation – moon as "skinny", which may have been related to lunar cycles.
From Proto-Indo-European ''*kʷr̥s-''
According to the Slovak linguist Martin Pukanec (2013), the theonym ''Khors'' does not have a Proto-Slavic genesis. He points here to a Slavic TarT/TorT (T = any consonant) switch that occurred around 800. Proto-Slavic T
orT in East Slavic languages passed into T
oroT, so Proto-Slavic ''*X
orsъ'' should pass into East Slavic ''*X
orosъ'', and such a notation is not confirmed by the sources. According to him, there is also no reliable attestation of this theonym in West and South Slavic languages. In that case, according to Pukanec, the theonym was borrowed from Persian ''xuršēt'' "shining sun", but he does not address the criticism of such etymology by other linguists presented earlier.
He also points to another possibility. Proto-Slavic TorT passed into
Church Slavonic
Church Slavonic (, , literally "Church-Slavonic language"), also known as Church Slavic, New Church Slavonic or New Church Slavic, is the conservative Slavic liturgical language used by the Eastern Orthodox Church in Belarus, Bosnia and Herzeg ...
as TъrT and TrъT, which would explain both notations ''*Xorsъ'' and ''*Xъrsъ'' and recognizes the ''*Xъrsъ'' notation as primary. As the PS ''*x'' may derive from PIE ''*k'' or ''*g'', when searching for the PIE etymology of the word, attention must be paid primarily to the
rounded phones
A telephone is a telecommunications device that permits two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most efficiently the human voice, into ele ...
''*kʷ'', ''*gʷ'', and ''*gʷʰ''; the Proto-Indo-European stem can thus be reconstructed as ''*kʷr̥s-'' or ''*gʷr̥s-'' or ''*gʷʰr̥s-''. Of the aforementioned stems, only one, ''*kʷr̥s-'', is found in
Julius Pokorny
Julius Pokorny (12 June 1887 – 8 April 1970) was an Austrian-Czech linguist and scholar of the Celtic languages, particularly Irish, and a supporter of Irish nationalism. He held academic posts in Austrian and German universities.
Early life a ...
's ''
Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch
The ''Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch'' (''IEW''; "Indo-European Etymological Dictionary") was published in 1959 by the Austrian-German comparative linguist and Celtic languages expert Julius Pokorny. It is an updated and slimmed-down ...
'', who reconstructed this stem using
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
πρῖνος, ''prînos'' "oak (
holly
''Ilex'' (), or holly, is a genus of over 570 species of flowering plants in the family Aquifoliaceae, and the only living genus in that family. ''Ilex'' has the most species of any woody dioecious angiosperm genus. The species are evergreen o ...
)",
Gaulish
Gaulish was an ancient Celtic languages, Celtic language spoken in parts of Continental Europe before and during the period of the Roman Empire. In the narrow sense, Gaulish was the language of the Celts of Gaul (now France, Luxembourg, Belgium ...
''prenne'' "large tree",
Old High German
Old High German (OHG; german: Althochdeutsch (Ahd.)) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally covering the period from around 750 to 1050.
There is no standardised or supra-regional form of German at this period, and Old High ...
''horst'', ''hurst'' "bush, thicket" or
Slovene ''hrást'' "oak", which, like the theonym in question, contain a vowel between ''-r-'' and ''-s-''. Such a reconstruction would indicate functions similar to those of
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 ...
, the god of storms and oaks.
Interpretations
Khors-Dazhbog – Sun god
Scholars who assume an Iranian etymology most often attribute the solar features to Khors. The main argument is the root of the theonim meaning "sun" in the first place, regardless of which exact word that root was. Moreover, according to ''
The Tale of Igor's Campaign
''The Tale of Igor's Campaign'' ( orv, Слово о пълкѹ Игоревѣ, translit=Slovo o pŭlku Igorevě) is an anonymous epic poem written in the Old East Slavic language.
The title is occasionally translated as ''The Tale of the Campai ...
'',
Prince Vseslav, who "came to Tmutarakani before the cocks" and "ran along the road of the great Khors", traveled from west to east and thus reached the castle before the cocks crowed, and in this way "overtook" the Sun.
It has also been pointed out in the text of the ''
Primary Chronicle
The ''Tale of Bygone Years'' ( orv, Повѣсть времѧньныхъ лѣтъ, translit=Pověstĭ vremęnĭnyxŭ lětŭ; ; ; ; ), often known in English as the ''Rus' Primary Chronicle'', the ''Russian Primary Chronicle'', or simply the ...
'' where, when listing the statues of the gods, only between Khors and
Dazhbog
Dazhbog (russian: Дажьбо́г, Дажбог), alternatively Daždźbok ( be, Даждзьбог), Dažbog, Dazhdbog, Dajbog, Daybog, Dabog, Dazibogu, or Dadzbóg, was one of the major gods of Slavic mythology, most likely a solar deity and ...
, the sun god, no
conjunction
Conjunction may refer to:
* Conjunction (grammar), a part of speech
* Logical conjunction, a mathematical operator
** Conjunction introduction, a rule of inference of propositional logic
* Conjunction (astronomy), in which two astronomical bodies ...
"and" is used (unlike the rest of the gods), and this, according to many scholars, would suggest that Khors is another name of Dadzbog, his hypostasis, or that they are related in some other way. Such a view was supported e.g. by
Henryk Łowmiański
Henryk Łowmiański (August 22, 1898 near Ukmergė - September 4, 1984 in Poznań) was a Polish historian and academic who was an authority on the early history of the Slavic and Baltic people. A researcher of the ancient history of Poland, Lithu ...
, according to whom ''Dazhbog'' was an explanation of ''Khors''. He pointed out, however, that he was not sure if conjunction wasn't there. Brückner argued against this view, claiming that the lack of conjunctions was irrelevant, and he considered the association of Dazhbog with Khors to be unjustified. An analysis of the spelling of Old East Slavic sources confirms Brückner's view: the lack of a conjunction often occurs in the enumeration of
choronyms
Choronym (from gr, χώρα "region" or "country" and gr, ὄνομα "name") is a linguistic term that designates a proper name of an individual region or a country. The study of regional and country names is known as choronymy, or choronymics. ...
,
ethnonyms
An ethnonym () is a name applied to a given ethnic group. Ethnonyms can be divided into two categories: exonyms (whose name of the ethnic group has been created by another group of people) and autonyms, or endonyms (whose name is created and u ...
,
hydronyms
A hydronym (from el, ὕδρω, , "water" and , , "name") is a type of toponym that designates a proper name of a body of water. Hydronyms include the proper names of rivers and streams, lakes and ponds, swamps and marshes, seas and oceans. As a ...
,
anthroponyms
Anthroponymy (also anthroponymics or anthroponomastics, from Ancient Greek ἄνθρωπος ''anthrōpos'' / 'human', and ὄνομα ''onoma'' / 'name') is the study of ''anthroponyms'', the proper names of human beings, both individual and co ...
, and theonyms, e.g.: copy of ''
Novgorod First Chronicle
The Novgorod First Chronicle (russian: Новгородская первая летопись) or The Chronicle of Novgorod, 1016–1471 is the most ancient extant Old Russian chronicle of the Novgorodian Rus'. It reflects a tradition different ...
'': "... и
стриба сенмарекла мокошь", ''Sermon and Revelation by the Holy Apostles'': "
пероуна и
хорса дыя и
трояна", ''Sermon by Saint Gregory, found in the comments'': "молятся (...) нероуноу.
хорсу мокоши".
Moon god
Some scholars, who also assume an Iranian etymology, believe that Chors was a lunar god, and that the meaning of his name refers not to the rays of the sun, but to the rays of the moon.
It is pointed out here that Vseslav was called a "wolf" and
werewolfism is associated with the moon, while the prince's journey itself takes place at night when the sun is absent from the sky, thus he could not cut the path of the sun but the moon. Additionally, it is also pointed out that Tmutarakan is not located from Kyiv to the east, but to the southeast. A probable misunderstanding of the phrase "to the hens" is also pointed out. In Old East Slavic this phrase meant "until late; at night", "until dawn, before dawn", and Russian dial. phrase до вторых кочетов meant "until late; after midnight' (literally: "to the other roosters"). As phrases beginning with "до" meant night and morning phrases starting with "со" (cf. со вторыми кочетами), it can be concluded that Vseslav arrived in the city at night, not in the morning. Łuczynski also points out that the epithet "great" (OES великому, ''velikomu'') used in relation to Khors in ''The Tale'', which is usually taken as an argument for the solar interpretation, can be understood differently: in Slavic folklore the epithet "great" is often used in relation to the moon, e.g. the
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 ...
''wielki księżyc'',
Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian () – also called Serbo-Croat (), Serbo-Croat-Bosnian (SCB), Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BCS), and Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS) – is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and ...
and
Slovenian
Slovene or Slovenian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Slovenia, a country in Central Europe
* Slovene language, a South Slavic language mainly spoken in Slovenia
* Slovenes
The Slovenes, also known as Slovenians ( sl, Sloven ...
''velik mesec'', and he further compares the Old Russian phrase to the Old Norse
kenning
A kenning ( Icelandic: ) is a figure of speech in the type of circumlocution, a compound that employs figurative language in place of a more concrete single-word noun. Kennings are strongly associated with Old Norse-Icelandic and Old English po ...
''mána vegr'' "sky", literally "the way of the moon".
The interpretation of the name ''Khors'' as "emaciated" was supported by linguist Wanda Budziszewska. She reports that the waning moon was called "puny, frail" among the Slavs: Polish dial. (
Podhale
Podhale (literally "below the mountain pastures") is Poland's southernmost region, sometimes referred to as the "Polish Highlands". The Podhale is located in the foothills of the Tatra range of the Carpathian mountains. It is the most famous ...
and the
Cracow area) ''wietek'', ''wiotek'', Old Czech ''vetech'',
Belarusian ''v́òtak'' and Russian ''vétoch''. In Old Polish, the word ''wiotchy'' meant "frail because of wear, use, old age" (PS
''*vetъxъ'').
Alleged idol
The German traveler Johann David Wunderer, who traveled in Russia from 1589 to 1590 and described
Pskov
Pskov ( rus, Псков, a=pskov-ru.ogg, p=pskof; see also names in other languages) is a city in northwestern Russia and the administrative center of Pskov Oblast, located about east of the Estonian border, on the Velikaya River. Population ...
in his memoir, mentioned the statues of Khors and
Uslad that were supposed to be located near Pskov:
In his diary, Wunderer described Pskov freshly, although when he was editing the manuscript, he added elements that are borrowed from other sources, and they add more detailed information that, however, are easily identifiable. Wunderer could not have known the names of the gods depicted on the stone primarily because the Uslad he mentions is in fact a
pseudodeity, his name came about as a result of a distortion of a passage in ''
Primary Chronicle
The ''Tale of Bygone Years'' ( orv, Повѣсть времѧньныхъ лѣтъ, translit=Pověstĭ vremęnĭnyxŭ lětŭ; ; ; ; ), often known in English as the ''Rus' Primary Chronicle'', the ''Russian Primary Chronicle'', or simply the ...
'' in which a golden statue of
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 ...
is described,
Sigismund von Herberstein
Siegmund (Sigismund) Freiherr von Herberstein (or Baron Sigismund von Herberstein; 23 August 1486 – 28 March 1566) was a Carniolan diplomat, writer, historian and member of the Holy Roman Empire Imperial Council. He was most noted for his extensi ...
recognized the word ''golden'' (''us zlat'') as an independent name ''Uslad'', and he never existed in the Russian pantheon. Many historians considered the mentioned passage unreliable.
Wunderer realized that a field camp of
Stephen Báthory
Stephen Báthory ( hu, Báthory István; pl, Stefan Batory; ; 27 September 1533 – 12 December 1586) was Voivode of Transylvania (1571–1576), Prince of Transylvania (1576–1586), King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania (1576–1586) ...
, who
besieged Pskov in 1581-1582, had once been located near the statues, and this information led to the location of the statues he described. The camp was located south of Pskov and lay on both sides of the Promiezhitsa stream, which separated the flat terrain around the city from the wooded hills and mountains that stretched all the way to the Cheremcha river, and the statues must have been located near it. The existence of the idol was unexpectedly confirmed when, during excavations in 1897, the so-called ''stone baba'' (a conventional name for stone statues depicting people in Eastern Europe) was found between Promiezhitsa and the factory. The statue was probably not found in its original place, but that place must have been nearby anyway. During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, the statue, which was in the Pskov Museum, was lost, but photographs from 1928-1929 have survived. The idol was about 100 cm. long, and had a cross on its chest, which was made at the same time as the rest of the sculpture, but the idol was deliberately damaged, and only the head is preserved in good condition.
According to Russian archaeologist the figure is related to the Slavic paganism. The location of the statue and the sign of the cross coincide exactly with Wunderer's description. The cross, which is an ancient symbol of the sun, is supposed to testify to the relationship of the god in the statue with the sun, and the statue itself is supposed to represent Khors or
Dazhbog
Dazhbog (russian: Дажьбо́г, Дажбог), alternatively Daždźbok ( be, Даждзьбог), Dažbog, Dazhdbog, Dajbog, Daybog, Dabog, Dazibogu, or Dadzbóg, was one of the major gods of Slavic mythology, most likely a solar deity and ...
. Some researchers have suggested that the statue belongs to Christian culture. The statue is dated to the 8th to 10th century.
References
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{{Slavic mythology
Slavic gods
Solar gods
Lunar gods
Fertility gods
Life-death-rebirth gods