Mokoš

Mokosh ( ) is a Slavic goddess. No narratives about this deity have survived and scholars must rely on academic disciplines like philology to discern details about her.

According to etymological reconstruction, Mokosh was the goddess of earth, waters and fertility. Later, according to most researchers, she was reflected in bylinas and zagovory as Mat Zemlya, the personification of Earth in East Slavic folklore. Another reconstruction was made on the basis of ethnography; at the end of the 19th century, the names kikimora as ''Mokusha'' or ''Mokosha'' were recorded in the Russian North. The coincidence is explained by kikimora being a demonized version of the goddess and, by approximating between the two, researchers have portrayed Mokosh as the goddess of love and birth, with a connection to night, the moon, spinning, sheep farming and women's economy. Spinning was the occupation of several European goddesses of fate, which led to the characterization of Mokosh as a deity who controls fate. This reconstruction disagrees with data on her etymology, which shows spinning could not have been the deity's main role.

In 980, prince Vladimir the Great established a wooden statue of Mokosh, along with other deities, on a hill in Kyiv, Ukraine. Some historians have described this event as a manifestation of Vladimir's pagan reformation but other scholars deny such a reformation was carried out, and the question of its existence is debatable in modern scholarship. In 998, during the Christianization of Kievan Rus', statues of deities were destroyed. Mokosh was mentioned in various ''Words'' and ''Teachings'' against Paganism along with the vilas, but is not described by them.

In academia, the opinion has spread that the cult of Mokosh has passed to the folk-Christian Paraskeva Friday, the personification of Friday associated with water and spinning. Because of this identification, Paraskeva began to be considered a day dedicated to the goddess, and a conclusion about the popularity of Mokosh among women in Christian times was drawn. In later studies, the idea of an approximation with Paraskeva was criticized because Paraskeva's association with spinning, water, and Friday has Christian rather than pagan roots.

The Slavic version of the basic myth theory, based on ethnographic and linguistic data, depicts Mokosh as Perun's wife. It is believed Mokosh cheated on Perun with Veles, causing Perun to kill Mokosh's children. The theory has not been recognized in academia. The supposition Mokosh is depicted on the Zbruch Idol and on North Russian 19th-century embroideries has also been rejected. Archaeologist Boris Rybakov's theory the goddess' original name was ''Makosh'' is not supported by other researchers.

Name and characteristics

In Old East Slavic texts, the name ''Mokosh'' is rendered as ''Mokošĭ'' (), ''Mokŭšĭ'' () – in ancient texts uppercase was not used. According to Oleg Trubachyov, the form ''Mokŭšĭ'' was formed through the secondary adideation of ''*Mokošь'' and ''*kъšь'' "fate". Grammatically, the theonym Mokosh belongs to the feminine gender, from which it is inferred that the deity was specifically a goddess. In older studies and later chronicles, she may have appeared to be a male deity, but this variant is secondary to the original. According to the most-reasonable and widespread etymology the theonym was formed by the suffixal method from the Proto-Slavic stem ''*mok-'' meaning "wet" with the suffix ''*-ošь''. Vladimir Toporov and Vyacheslav Ivanov comment this etymology is "indisputable", understanding her name as "She who is wet". The first to put forward such an etymology was Vatroslav Jagić, who believed the theonym is a translation or an amplification of the Greek word ''malakiya'', and therefore ''Mokosh'' was a literary fiction. Toporov, Ivanov and Max Vasmer consider Jagić's position to be incorrect.

According to Michał Łuczyński, the theonym may have appeared after the 3rd century AD due to the occurrence of the �sound, which arose in Slavic languages as part of the first palatalization. He derives the name of the goddess from the unattested noun ''*mokošь'' "someone/something wet" because the suffix ''*-ošь'' forms the names of the bearers of features, and he drives this noun from the v-tematic '' *moky'' ( ''*mokъve'') "wet place, mud" ( Polish ''mokwa'', Ukrainian ) and compares the name ''Mokosh'' to other names ending in ''-osh'' that are derived from v-thematic words with topographical meaning, Old Polish ''Bagosz'' (< '' *bagy''), ''Narosz'' (< ''*nary''). In connection with this etymology, he considers Mokosh to be a "pluvial goddess with uranic characteristics". Similarly, understands the theonym to derive from a word meaning "moist, swampy place". Toporov, Ivanov, and Łuczyński believe the theonym ''Mokosh'' is a later epithet that replaced the original, unknown name of the deity. Ivanov and Toporov compare the etymology with Lithuanian ''makusyti'' "to splash", "to walk on mud"; ''makasyne'' "slush", "mud", "mixture", "mess".

Vasmer and many modern academics consider Mokosh to be the goddess of fertility, waters and earth, which brings her closer to the later Mat Zemlya, who is often mentioned in bylinas and zagovory. Aleksander Gieysztor commented that the association with Mat Zemlya is shared by most researchers. Mokiyenko and Henryk Łowmiański also suggested a connection with rain.

Linguist Andrey Zaliznyak and religious academic Andrzej Szyjewski have likened Mokosh to the Iranian Anahita because the latter is also called "Wet" or "Broad ,Spread out". In a similar way, philologist Nikolay Zubov links her to the Scythian goddess of earth and water Api. On the basis of their approximation with Anahita, Toporov and Ivanov attribute the function of procreation to Mokosh and consider the goddess Zhiva to be her "higher hypostasis", opposite to the "low hypostasis" that is Mokosh.

Celtologist Viktor Kalygin approximated Mokosh to the Irish goddess Macha, in his opinion originally the goddess of fertility. He raised the theonym Macha to ''*mokosiā'', which “exactly corresponds to the name of the Slavic goddess Mokosh.” This etymological coincidence is supported by linguist Václav Blažek. Religious scholar Patrice Lajoye points out that Mokosh and Macha have a number of features in common. The theonym Macha is related to the following appellatives: Old Irish ''macha'' "cow paddock, milking parade ground or field", ''machaire'' "large field or plain", which were formed after the spirantization of three possible Proto-Celtic forms with the meaning "plain": ''*MakViā'', ''*MakVviā'', ''*MakVsiā'', where ''V'' is the Celtic or . Celtologist Garrett Olmsted derives the theonym Macha from another form of PC ''*magos'' "plain, field". The common semantic meaning for Macha and Mokosh may be "moist soil", leading to the meanings "field, meadow" on the one hand and "water nymph", "fairy" or "fertility goddess" on the other. Macha was understood by the Irish as a trifunctional goddess: as seer, warrior and guarantor of prosperity. Mokosh, unlike Macha, was not a warrior, but from the 16th century her name was used to refer to witches and healers, indicating a possible function as a prophetess. Irish mythology tells the story of a widowed villager, Cruinniuc, to whom Macha arrived one day in the form of a beautiful girl and wordlessly began to care for his home. She became pregnant with Cruinniuc, and from that moment on, their home was prosperous. Later, as a result of breaking the order, Macha tells Cruinniuc that he has broken the contract, so she leaves him and curses the local men to experience labor pains for five days and four nights for nine generations. This view of Macha as a house fairy correlates with ethnographic data about Mokosh as a house spirit.

Obsolete and questionable etymologies

Slavist put forward a hypothesis for the theonym's origin based on parallels with the Baltic languages. According to him, the theonym ''Mokosh'' has a counterpart in Lithuanian in the words ''makstýti'' ("to weave") ''mèksti'' ("to knit"), and ''mãkas'' ("purse"); related to the Russian ("bag, purse"), and thus the theonym comes from Proto-Slavic ''*mokos-'' ("spinning", "weaving"). Toporov and Ivanov, who are proponents of the moisture etymology, "rehabilitate" Ilinsky's etymology, seeing a connection in the Lithuanian stems in the words ''mazgas'' ("knot"); ''megzti'' ("to knit", "to tie") with ''mazgoti'' ("to wash"). ESSJa and Martin Pukanec called Ilinsky's etymology "hypothetical".

Boris Rybakov considered ''Makosh'' to be a more accurate reading of the goddess' name, dividing the theonym into two parts: ''ma-'' and ''-kosh'', where ''ma-'' was short for ''mother'' (Old East Slavic мати, ''mati''), approaching a certain Cretan-Mycenaean goddess named ''Ma'' in a culture very distant from the Slavs. He understood the second part ''-kosh'' as an Old East Slavic word meaning "fate". Rybakov thus translates this theonym as "Mother of good fate", identifying her with the goddess of fate, and also at the same time as "Mother of good harvests", since fruit could be placed in the basket (see ''*košь''), adding that Mokosh is also the goddess of fertility, as well as the "Mother of luck", since, in his opinion, the harvest is luck. Leo Klejn, who sticks to the reconstruction of Mokosh as the goddess of women's labor, particularly spinning, criticizes Rybakov, noting that such functions are not supported by anything. The etymology is also criticized: ''mother'' can be shortened to ''ma'' mainly in the language of children. Klejn points out that in Russian, compound words are constructed differently: the main noun stands at the end and the defining word at the beginning, and gives such examples as '' Bogo-matier'' and '' Daz-bog'', so the expected form of a name would be ''*Koshma''. The word is indeed found in Russian, but is of Tatar origin. The notation ''Makosh'' itself is not standard in chronicles, unlike ''Mokosh''. ESSJa, Toporov, and Ivanov reject Rybakov's etymology.

According to Nikolay Galkovsky, the name ''Mokosh'' was borrowed from an unknown source. Evgeny Anichkov believed that the name was derived from the ethnonym of Finno-Ugric group, the ''Mokshas'', part of the Mordvins, which he believes explains why Vladimir the Great had to establish statues of Slavic gods: The gods of Vladimir's pantheon were of non-Slavic origin, where Perun was said to have been brought from Scandinavia as the personal god of the Rurikids, and other gods established by Vladimir, such as Mokosh, were gods of peoples neighboring the Slavs, whose statues were established by Vladimir to centralize his power. Anichkov compared Finnish toponyms such as ''Moksha'', which is a right tributary of the Oka, ''Ropsha'', ''Shapsha'', ''Kapsha'', ''Kiddeksha'' with the name of the goddess. , on the other hand, believed that ''Mokosh'' was derived from the Finnish demon ''Moksha''. This view has not met with widespread acceptance. Henryk Łowmiański, who had no doubts about the Slavic etymology, considers the demon ''Moksha'' to be most likely a loan from the Slavs, or that the sound similarity is coincidental; Gieysztor also considered the demon to be a loan. Later researchers and Zubov denied the Finno-Ugric origin of Mokosh. Toporov, Iwanov and ESSJa share a similar point of view. Mikhail Vasilyev believes that the connection with the Finnish ethnonym ''Moksha'' is coincidental, while the very "affiliation of Mokosh with Slavic paganism is indisputable". Michal Téra suggested that the Mokosh was borrowed from the Slavs and later demonized.

Etymologies connecting theonym with Sanskrit "rich", "noble", or, according to Natalya Guseva, '' moksha,'' "liberation," and "death" are questionable; as well as the relationship with Ancient Greek "lustful", "violent", with Old Lithuanian ''kekše'' "prostitute", Avestan ''maekantis;'' and "tree sap." Thracian origin of Mokosh is also doubtful. Gieysztor called the etymology of Vittore Pisani, who considered the theonym to be a word composed of the roots ''mot-'' "to spool, to reel" and ''-kos'' "abundance", "unbelievable".

Onomastics

There is onomastic data that can be linked to Mokosh: the Croatian masculine surname and given name ''Mokoš'', the masculine terms , in the Russian proverb ; "rusalka"; "troublesome person"; in Yaroslavl region "phantom, ghost". In Tver and Novgorod regions "to cry, beg for something". In Novgorod meaning "to obsessively demand something, to pester with requests" is also attested. Russian dialects include the words "foolish, stupid woman", "whore, hussy" and , meaning the constellation Aquarius. From the Belarusian family ., the proper noun , was attested in Pskov's from 1585, belonging to cannon maker.

The toponyms of the Czech village '' Mokošín'' was attested since 11th century, and hill ''Mokošin Vrch''; Slovene former stream ; Sorbian ''Мосоcize'', ''Mockschiez''; Polish '' Mokoszyn'', ''Mokosznica'', ''Mokossko'', ''Mokos''; located near Stralsund in the former Polabian lands of Germany, the Old Polabian toponym ''Muuks'', ''Mukus'' attested in 1310; The modern town of , northwest of Dresden, was named ''Mococize'' in 1091. Near Pegnitz in northeastern Bavaria there is a village of , which, in the 14th century, was called ''Mochcus'' or ''Mokoš''; Croatian ''Mokosica'' near Dubrovnik, mountain ''Mukoša'' near Marloh and smaller mountains ''Mukos'', ''Mokoš'' and ''Mokos''; Macedonian ''Mukos''; in Chernihiv Oblast, Russia, and swampy area, in Belarus. There was a wasteland or lye called in Cherepovetsky Uyezd the ethnographer Mikhail Gerasimov noted. It is likely the onomastics materials speak of the Proto-Slavic antiquity of the goddess, or the toponyms are derived from ''*mokosъ'' ("floodplain meadow") or directly from the stem root ''*mok-''. Zubov said in light of the word ''mokosha'' as a term for a troublesome person, the relationship with Mokosh becomes problematic. Ilyinsky lists a number of toponyms similar to the theonym, but denies their kinship, recognizing toponyms derived from the root ''*mok-'' ("to (get) wet"), from words ''makushka'', ''mak'' ("poppy") and from dialectal form of given name Maximus: . Linguist Stanisław Urbańczyk considers the correlation of toponyms with Mokosh to be questionable.

Toporov associates Mokosh with a character from a Slovenian fairy tale called ''Mokoška'', ''Mokuška'', ''Mokoška'', which is also known as or Lamwaberl. The story was recorded in 1855 by Davorin Trstenjak, who heard it from in Lower Styria According to the tale:

Lamwaberl used to live in Grünau, a marshy place not far away from Šent Florjan Square, near the Ložnica iverthat often overflowed its banks. Archaeological artifacts confirm that in the olden times the place had been cultivated. A lone farming estate is situated there now, but once upon a time there stood the castle of Mokoška, a heathen princess who lived in it. The castle was surrounded by gardens that were always green. She occasionally helped people but sometimes also harmed them; she was especially wont to taking children with her. At long last, God punished her. On a stormy night, the castle and all its gardens sank into the ground. But Mokoška was not doomed. She continued to appear, disguised in different female forms. She still carries off children, especially those who have been neglected by their parents

Sources

Old East Slavic sources

Mokosh is mentioned in a 980 account in the early-12th-century text ''Primary Chronicle'', the oldest copy of which is part of the ''Laurentian Codex'' of 1377:

And Vladimir began to reign alone in Kyiv. And he placed idols on the hill outside the palace: a Perun in wood with a silver head and a gold moustache, and Khors Dazhbog, and Stribog, and Simargl, and Mokosh. And they offered sacrifices and called them gods, and they took their sons and daughters to them and sacrificed them to the devils. And they profaned the earth with their sacrifices, and Rus’ and that hill were profaned by blood.

In historiography, this event is known as the pagan reform or the first religious reform of Vladimir. One point of view, considering the reform, treats it as a transition to monotheism; according to philologist Viljo Mansikka, and historians Aleksey Shakhmatov and Henryk Łowmiański, initially there was only Perun in the ''Primary Chronicle'', and later other gods were added to make Vladimir a polytheist. The philologist Anichkov shared Shahmatov's position, although he noted: "there is no objective data to recognize this insertion". Historian Evgeny Anichkov said the existence of the Kyiv pantheon is recorded in parallel sources. Another historian, Leo Klejn considered the event a reintroduction of paganism; the idols were erected immediately after the assassination of Yaropelk, who had sympathies for Christianity and pursued a pro-Christian policy, and after the enthronement of Vladimir. The Perun idol was already standing on a hill in Kyiv at the home of prince Igor.

It has been debated the text's passage about "bringing their sons and daughters" refers to either human sacrifice or participation in a ritual. Modern academics consider the text from "And they offered" to "and that hill", and beyond to be a paraphrase of Psalm verses (). Vasilyev considers the existence of frequent human sacrifices for the Kyiv pantheon as a historical fact, but according to historian , the issue of human sacrifices and the reform is debatable, and the text about Vladimir's reform is a reworking of the '' Chronicle of George Hamartolos'', which mentions the creation of six idol gods of deities with Belphegor leading and one female figure, Astarte. According to the ''Chronicle'', the idols were made of gold and silver, and defiled earth is also mentioned. Lukin said the story of Vladimir's pantheon and human sacrifices is a chronicler's construction from the 1170s, and the names of the deities were taken from oral tradition the chronicler knew of.

Among the deities established by Vladimir, Mokosh was the only goddess. Philologist Nikolay Zubov said: "according to the generally accepted opinion, in the circle of Vladimir's pantheon, this is the most mysterious figure".

The chronicle then tells how the elders and boyars decided to cast lots to kill a boy or girl as a sacrifice to the gods. In Kyiv lived a Christian and Varangian