Perkwunos
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Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo-E ...
: ', 'the Striker' or 'the Lord of Oaks') is the reconstructed name of the
weather god A weather god or goddess, also frequently known as a storm god or goddess, is a deity in mythology associated with weather phenomena such as thunder, snow, lightning, rain, wind, storms, tornadoes, and hurricanes. Should they only be in charge of ...
in
Proto-Indo-European mythology Proto-Indo-European mythology is the body of myths and deities associated with the Proto-Indo-Europeans, the hypothetical speakers of the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language. Although the mythological motifs are not directly attested ...
. The deity was connected with fructifying rains, and his name probably invoked in times of drought. In a widespread Indo-European myth, the thunder-deity fights a multi-headed water-serpent during an epic battle, in order to release torrents of water that had previously been pent up. The name of his weapon, ', which denoted both 'lightning' and 'hammer', can be reconstructed from the attested traditions. Perkwunos was often associated with
oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...
s, probably because such tall trees are frequently struck by lightning, and his realm located in the wooded mountains, '. A term for the sky, ', apparently denoted a 'heavenly vault of stone', but also 'thunderbolt' or 'stone-made weapon', in which case it was sometimes also used to refer to the thunder-god's weapon. Contrary to other deities of the Proto-Indo-European pantheon, such as (the
sky-god The sky often has important religious significance. Many religions, both polytheistic and monotheistic, have deities associated with the sky. The daytime sky deities are typically distinct from the nighttime ones. Stith Thompson's ''Motif ...
), or (the dawn-goddess), widely accepted
cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words in different languages that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymology, etymological ancestor in a proto-language, common parent language. Because language c ...
s stemming from the theonym are only attested in Western Indo-European traditions. The linguistic evidence for the worship of a
thunder god Polytheistic peoples from many cultures have postulated a thunder god, the personification or source of the forces of thunder and lightning; a lightning god does not have a typical depiction, and will vary based on the culture. In Indo-European c ...
under the name ' as far back as
Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo-E ...
times (4500–2500 BC) is therefore less secured.


Name


Etymology

The name ' is generally regarded as stemming from the
Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo-E ...
(PIE) verbal root ' ('to strike'). An alternative etymology is the PIE noun ' ('the
oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...
'), attached to the divine nomenclature ' ('master of'). Various
cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words in different languages that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymology, etymological ancestor in a proto-language, common parent language. Because language c ...
s can be found in the
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
oak-nymphs ''
Querquetulanae In ancient Roman religion and myth, the Querquetulanae or ''Querquetulanae virae'' were nymphs of the oak grove ''(querquetum)'' at a stage of producing green growth. Their sacred grove ''(lucus)'' was within the Porta Querquetulana, a gate in th ...
'' (from 'oak-tree'), the Germanic ('oak'), the
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 ...
('oak') and (a tribal name), the Punjabi ('sacred oak'), and perhaps in the
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 ...
spring-nymph . In Albanian, ''Perëndí'' (
definite In linguistics, definiteness is a semantic feature of noun phrases, distinguishing between referents or senses that are identifiable in a given context (definite noun phrases) and those which are not (indefinite noun phrases). The prototypical d ...
: ''Perëndía'') is the
name of God There are various names of God, many of which enumerate the various qualities of a Supreme Being. The English word ''god'' (and its equivalent in other languages) is used by multiple religions as a noun to refer to different deities, or speci ...
, the
sky The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from outer space. In the field of astronomy, ...
and
heaven Heaven or the heavens, is a common religious cosmological or transcendent supernatural place where beings such as deities, angels, souls, saints, or venerated ancestors are said to originate, be enthroned, or reside. According to the belie ...
, and is used capitalized to refer to the
Supreme Being In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...
. The plural indefinite form is ''perëndí'' while the plural definite form is ''perëndítë'', used uncapitalized to refer to the
deities A deity or god is a supernatural being who is considered divine or sacred. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines deity as a god or goddess, or anything revered as divine. C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as "a being with powers greate ...
. Some
dialectal The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a ...
alternative forms include: ''Perendí'', ''Perenní'', ''Perundí'', ''Perudí'', ''Perndí'' and ''Parandí''. ''Perëndí'' is generally considered a compound of the roots ''per-en-'' ("to strike') and ''-dí'' ("sky, god"),; ; ; . related to the verb Përkund meaning 'to swing, to sway, to
rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
(cradle)'. 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 ...
' thus either meant 'the Striker' or 'the Lord of Oaks'. A theory uniting those two etymologies has been proposed in the mythological association of oaks with thunder, suggested by the frequency with which such tall trees are struck by lightning. The existence of a female consort is suggested by gendered doublet-forms such as found in South Slavic , Old Norse , and Lithuanian . The noun ' also gave birth to a group of cognates for the ordinary word 'thunder', including
Old Prussian Old Prussian was a Western Baltic language belonging to the Baltic branch of the Indo-European languages, which was once spoken by the Old Prussians, the Baltic peoples of the Prussian region. The language is called Old Prussian to avoid con ...
,
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 ...
(), Latvian ('thunderbolt'), or Lithuanian ('thunder') and ('thunderstorm').


Epithets

Other Indo-European theonyms related to 'thunder', through another root , are found in the Germanic (Thor), the Celtic (from an earlier ), and the Latin epithet (attached to Jupiter). According to scholar Peter Jackson, "they may have arisen as the result of fossilization of an original epithet or
epiclesis The epiclesis (also spelled epiklesis; from grc, ἐπίκλησις "surname" or "invocation") refers to the invocation of one or several gods. In ancient Greek religion, the epiclesis was the epithet used as the surname given to a deity in reli ...
" of , since the Vedic weather-god
Parjanya Parjanya ( sa, पर्जन्य ) according to the Vedas is a deity of rain, thunder, lightning, and the one who fertilizes the earth. It is another epithet of Indra, the Vedic deity of the sky and heaven. Description It is assumed Parjanya is ...
is also called ('Thunderer'). George E. Dunkel regarded as an original epithet of , the Sky-God. It has also been postulated that was referred to as ('son of Dyēus'), although this is based on the Vedic poetic tradition alone.


Depiction


Weapon

is usually depicted as holding a weapon, named ' in the Baltic and Old Norse traditions, which personifies the lightnings and is generally conceived as a club, mace, or hammer, made of stone or metal. In the Latvian poetic expression ("Pērkōn throws his mace"), the mace (), is
cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words in different languages that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymology, etymological ancestor in a proto-language, common parent language. Because language c ...
with the
Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...
, the hammer thrown by the thunder god
Thor Thor (; from non, Þórr ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred groves ...
, and also with the word for 'lightning' in the
Old Prussian Old Prussian was a Western Baltic language belonging to the Baltic branch of the Indo-European languages, which was once spoken by the Old Prussians, the Baltic peoples of the Prussian region. The language is called Old Prussian to avoid con ...
, the
Old Church Slavonic Old Church Slavonic or Old Slavonic () was the first Slavic languages, Slavic literary language. Historians credit the 9th-century Byzantine Empire, Byzantine missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius with Standard language, standardizing the lan ...
, or the Welsh .


Fructifying rains

While his thunder and lightning had a destructive connotation, they could also be seen as a regenerative force since they were often accompanied by fructifying rains.
Parjanya Parjanya ( sa, पर्जन्य ) according to the Vedas is a deity of rain, thunder, lightning, and the one who fertilizes the earth. It is another epithet of Indra, the Vedic deity of the sky and heaven. Description It is assumed Parjanya is ...
is depicted as a rain god in the ''
Vedas upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the ...
'', and Latvian prayers included a call for to bring rain in time of drought. The Balkan Slavs worshipped Perun along with his female counterpart , the name of a ritual prayer calling for fructifying rains and centred on the dance of a naked virgin who had not yet had her first monthly period. The earth is likewise referred to as "menstruating" in a Vedic hymn to Parjanya, a possible cognate of . The alternative name of , , also recalls ' pseudonym , and Zeus' oak oracle located at ''
Dodona Dodona (; Doric Greek: Δωδώνα, ''Dōdṓnā'', Ionic and Attic Greek: Δωδώνη, ''Dōdṓnē'') in Epirus in northwestern Greece was the oldest Hellenic oracle, possibly dating to the second millennium BCE according to Herodotus. Th ...
''. Perëndi is especially invoked by
Albanians The Albanians (; sq, Shqiptarët ) are an ethnic group and nation native to the Balkan Peninsula who share a common Albanian ancestry, culture, history and language. They primarily live in Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Se ...
in
incantation An incantation, a spell, a charm, an enchantment or a bewitchery, is a magical formula intended to trigger a magical effect on a person or objects. The formula can be spoken, sung or chanted. An incantation can also be performed during ceremo ...
s and songs praying for rain.
Rituals A ritual is a sequence of activities involving gestures, words, actions, or objects, performed according to a set sequence. Rituals may be prescribed by the traditions of a community, including a religious community. Rituals are characterized, ...
were performed in times of summer drought to make it rain, usually in June and July, but sometimes also in the spring months when there was severe drought. In different Albanian regions, for rainmaking purpose, people threw water upwards to make it subsequently fall to the ground in the form of rain. This was an imitative type of magic practice with ritual songs. A mythical multi-headed water-serpent is connected with the thunder-deity in an epic battle. The monstrous foe is a 'blocker of waters', and his heads are eventually smashed by the thunder-deity to release the pent-up torrents of rain. The myth has numerous reflexes in mythical stories of battles between a serpent and a god or mythical hero, who is not necessarily etymologically related to ', but always associated with thunder. For example, the Vedic and (the personification of drought), the Iranian /''Sirius'' and (a demon of drought), the Albanian and (an amphibious serpent who causes streams to dry up), the Armenian and , the Greek Zeus and Typhoeus as well as
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= ...
and
Python Python may refer to: Snakes * Pythonidae, a family of nonvenomous snakes found in Africa, Asia, and Australia ** ''Python'' (genus), a genus of Pythonidae found in Africa and Asia * Python (mythology), a mythical serpent Computing * Python (pro ...
, or the Norse Thor and .


Striker and god of oaks

The association of with the
oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...
is attested in various formulaic expressions from the
Balto-Slavic languages The Balto-Slavic languages form a branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European family of languages, traditionally comprising the Baltic languages, Baltic and Slavic languages. Baltic and Slavic languages share several linguistic traits ...
: Lithuanian (
Perkūnas Perkūnas ( lt, Perkūnas, lv, Pērkons, Old Prussian: ''Perkūns'', ''Perkunos'', Yotvingian: ''Parkuns'', Latgalian: ''Pārkiuņs'') was the common Baltic god of thunder, and the second most important deity in the Baltic pantheon after Di ...
's oak), Latvian ('Pērkōn's oak'), or
Old Russian Old East Slavic (traditionally also Old Russian; be, старажытнаруская мова; russian: древнерусский язык; uk, давньоруська мова) was a language used during the 9th–15th centuries by East ...
('
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, f ...
's oak'). In the
Albanian language Albanian ( endonym: or ) is an Indo-European language and an independent branch of that family of languages. It is spoken by the Albanians in the Balkans and by the Albanian diaspora, which is generally concentrated in the Americas, Europ ...
, a word to refer to the lightning—considered in
folk beliefs In folkloristics, folk belief or folk-belief is a broad genre of folklore that is often expressed in narratives, customs, rituals, foodways, proverbs, and rhymes. It also includes a wide variety of behaviors, expressions, and beliefs. Examples of ...
as the "fire of the sky"—is ''shkreptimë'', a formation of '' shkrep'' meaning "to flash, tone, to strike (till sparks fly off)". An association between strike, stones and fire, can be related to the observation that one can kindle fire by striking stones against each other. The act of producing fire through a strike—reflected also in the belief that fire is residual within the
oak trees An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...
after the thunder-god strikes them—indicates the potential of lightning in the myth of creation. The Slavic thunder-god Perūn is said to frequently strike oaks to put fire within them, and the Norse thunder-god
Thor Thor (; from non, Þórr ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred groves ...
to strike his foes the giants when they hide under an oak. According to the Belarusian folklore, Piarun made the first fire ever by striking a tree in which the Demon was hiding. The striking of devils, demons or evildoers by is another motif in the myths surrounding the Baltic Perkūnas and the Vedic Parjanya. In Lithuanian and Latvian folkloric material, / is invoked to protect against snakes and illness.


Wooded mountains

is often portrayed in connection with stone and (wooded) mountains; mountainous forests were considered to be his realm. A cognate relationship has been noted between the Germanic (' ountainousforest') and the
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 ...
(' aksforests'). The
Old Russian chronicles Old or OLD may refer to: Places * Old, Baranya, Hungary * Old, Northamptonshire, England *Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, ...
describe wooden idols of Perūn on hills overlooking
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 ...
and
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 ...
, and both the Belarusian Piarun and the Lithuanian Perkūnas were said to dwell on lofty mountaintops. Such places are called in Lithuanian, meaning the "summit of Perkūnas", while the Slavic word designated the hill over Novgorod where the sanctuary of was located. Prince
Vladimir the Great Vladimir I Sviatoslavich or Volodymyr I Sviatoslavych ( orv, Володимѣръ Свѧтославичь, ''Volodiměrъ Svętoslavičь'';, ''Uladzimir'', russian: Владимир, ''Vladimir'', uk, Володимир, ''Volodymyr''. Se ...
had an idol of cast down into the Dnepr river during the
Christianization of Kievan Rus' Christianization ( or Christianisation) is to make Christian; to imbue with Christian principles; to become Christian. It can apply to the conversion of an individual, a practice, a place or a whole society. It began in the Roman Empire, conti ...
. In
Germanic mythology Germanic mythology consists of the body of myths native to the Germanic peoples, including Norse mythology, Anglo-Saxon mythology, and Continental Germanic mythology. It was a key element of Germanic paganism. Origins As the Germanic language ...
, ''Fjörgynn'' was used as a poetic synonym for 'the land, the earth', and she could have originally been the mistress of the wooded mountains, the personification of what appears in
Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
as ('wooded mountain'). Additionally, the Baltic tradition mentions a perpetual sacred fire dedicated to and fuelled by oakwood in the forests or on hilltops. Pagans believed that Perkūnas would freeze if Christians extinguished those fires. Words from a stem ' are also attested in the Hittite ('rock, cliff, boulder'), 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 ...
('mountains'), as well as in the
Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
goddess and the epithet ('lord of mountains'), attached to her father . Lubotsky, Alexander.
Indo-Aryan Inherited Lexicon
. ''Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Project''.
Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince o ...
. s.v. ''asman''- and ''párvata''-.


Stony skies

A term for the sky, ', denoted both 'stone' and 'heaven', possibly a 'heavenly vault of stone' akin to the biblical
firmament In biblical cosmology, the firmament is the vast solid dome created by God during his creation of the world to divide the primal sea into upper and lower portions so that the dry land could appear. The concept was adopted into the subsequent ...
. The motif of the stony skies can be found in the story of the Greek Akmon ('anvil'), the father of Ouranos and the personified Heaven. The term was also used with the meaning 'thunderbolt' in Homeric and Hesiodic diction. Other cognates appear in the Vedic ('stone'), the Iranian deity ('stone, heaven'), the Lithuanian god (mentioned alongside himself), and also in the Germanic (german: Himmel, en, heaven) and (cf. Old Norse: , which could mean 'rock, boulder, cliff' or 'hammer'). is described in a 16th century treatise as a ', 'a sizeable stone', which was still worshipped in Samogitia.
Albanians The Albanians (; sq, Shqiptarët ) are an ethnic group and nation native to the Balkan Peninsula who share a common Albanian ancestry, culture, history and language. They primarily live in Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Se ...
believed in the supreme powers of thunder-stones (''kokrra e rrufesë'' or ''guri i rejës''), which were believed to be formed during lightning strikes and to be fallen from the
sky The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from outer space. In the field of astronomy, ...
. Thunder-stones were preserved in family life as important
cult object In the practice of religion, a cult image is a human-made object that is venerated or worshipped for the deity, spirit or daemon that it embodies or represents. In several traditions, including the ancient religions of Egypt, Greece and Ro ...
s. It was believed that bringing them inside the house could bring good fortune, prosperity and progress in people, in livestock and in agriculture, or that rifle bullets would not hit the owners of the thunder-stones. A common practice was to hung a thunder-stone pendant on the body of the cattle or on the pregnant woman for good luck and to contrast the
evil eye The Evil Eye ( grc, ὀφθαλμὸς βάσκανος; grc-koi, ὀφθαλμὸς πονηρός; el, (κακό) μάτι; he, עַיִן הָרָע, ; Romanian: ''Deochi''; it, malocchio; es, mal de ojo; pt, mau-olhado, olho gordo; ar ...
. The mythological association can be explained by the observation (e.g.,
meteorite A meteorite is a solid piece of debris from an object, such as a comet, asteroid, or meteoroid, that originates in outer space and survives its passage through the atmosphere to reach the surface of a planet or Natural satellite, moon. When the ...
s) or the belief that thunderstones (polished ones for axes in particular) had fallen from the sky. Indeed, the Vedic word is the name of the weapon thrown by
Indra Indra (; Sanskrit: इन्द्र) is the king of the devas (god-like deities) and Svarga (heaven) in Hindu mythology. He is associated with the sky, lightning, weather, thunder, storms, rains, river flows, and war.  volumes/ref> I ...
, Thor's weapon is also called , and the thunder-stone can be named (' Perkuna's stone') in the Lithuanian tradition. Scholars have also noted that and are said to strike rocks instead of oaks in some themes of the Lithuanian and Belarusian folklores, and that the Slavic sends his axe or arrow from a mountain or the sky. The original meaning of ' could thus have been 'stone-made weapon', then 'sky' or 'lightning'.


Evidence


Theonyms

The following deities are
cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words in different languages that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymology, etymological ancestor in a proto-language, common parent language. Because language c ...
s stemming from ' or related names in Western Indo-European mythologies: *PIE: ''*per-'', 'to strike' (or ''*pérkʷus'', the '
oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...
'), **PIE: ''*per-kwun-os'', the
weather god A weather god or goddess, also frequently known as a storm god or goddess, is a deity in mythology associated with weather phenomena such as thunder, snow, lightning, rain, wind, storms, tornadoes, and hurricanes. Should they only be in charge of ...
, ***
Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages * Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originati ...
: ****
Old Prussian Old Prussian was a Western Baltic language belonging to the Baltic branch of the Indo-European languages, which was once spoken by the Old Prussians, the Baltic peoples of the Prussian region. The language is called Old Prussian to avoid con ...
: Perkunis, ****
Yotvingian Sudovian (also known as Yotvingian, or Jatvingian) was a Western Baltic language of Northeastern Europe. Sudovian was closely related to Old Prussian. It was formerly spoken southwest of the Nemunas river in what is now Lithuania, east of Gali ...
: Parkuns (or ''Parcuns''), **** Latgalian: ''Pārkiuņs'' ( ltg); **** Lithuanian:
Perkūnas Perkūnas ( lt, Perkūnas, lv, Pērkons, Old Prussian: ''Perkūns'', ''Perkunos'', Yotvingian: ''Parkuns'', Latgalian: ''Pārkiuņs'') was the common Baltic god of thunder, and the second most important deity in the Baltic pantheon after Di ...
'','' the god of rain and thunder, depicted as an angry-looking man with a tawny beard, **** Latvian: Pērkōns, whose functions are occasionally merged with those of
Dievs Lithuanian Dievas, Latvian Dievs, Latgalian Dīvs, Old Prussian Dìews, Yotvingian Deivas was the primordial supreme god in the Baltic mythology and one of the most important deities together with Perkūnas and he was brother of Potrimpo. He ...
(the sky-god) in the Latvian ''dainas'' (folk songs), ****
Percunatele Perkunatete, Perkunatele or Perkūnėlė is in Baltic mythology the thunder goddess mother of Perkūnas, in Slavic mythology referred to as Percunatele mother of Perun, which is probably derived from the Balts. Like many such goddesses absorbed int ...
or Perkunatele, a female deity associated with Perkunas, as mother or wife; ** PIE: ''*per-uh₁n-os'', the 'one with the thunder stone', *** Slavic: *''perunъ'' ****
Old Church Slavonic Old Church Slavonic or Old Slavonic () was the first Slavic languages, Slavic literary language. Historians credit the 9th-century Byzantine Empire, Byzantine missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius with Standard language, standardizing the lan ...
: Perūn (Перýн), the 'maker of the lightning', ****
Old Russian Old East Slavic (traditionally also Old Russian; be, старажытнаруская мова; russian: древнерусский язык; uk, давньоруська мова) was a language used during the 9th–15th centuries by East ...
: Perunŭ, Belarusian: Piarun (Пярун),
Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...
: Peraun, **** Slovak: Parom; ****
Bulgarian Bulgarian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria * Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group * Bulgarian language, a Slavic language * Bulgarian alphabet * A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria * Bul ...
: Perun ();Jakobson, Roman (1955). "While Reading Vasmer's Dictionary" In: ''WORD'', 11:4: p. 616. OI: 10.1080/00437956.1955.11659581/ref> ****
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 ...
: Piorun ("lightning"); ****
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 ...
:
Peryn Peryn ( rus, Перынь, p=pʲɪˈrɨnʲ) is a peninsula near Veliky Novgorod (Russia), noted for its medieval pagan shrine complex, and for its later well-preserved monastery. Location The Peryn peninsula is at the confluence of Lake Ilmen ...
, a peninsula in Novgorod, Russia, connected to a historical worship of Slavic Perun. **** South Slavic: Perun and
Perperuna Dodola (also spelled ''Dodole'', ''Dudola'', ''Dudula'' etc.) and Perperuna (also spelled ''Peperuda'', ''Preperuda'', ''Preperuša'', ''Prporuša'', ''Papaluga'' etc.), are Balkans, Balkan Rainmaking (ritual), rainmaking pagan customs practiced ...
, a reduplicated feminine derivative from Perun's name which parallels the Old Norse couple Fjörgyn–Fjörgynn and the Lithuanian Perkūnas–Perkūnija'','' **PIE: ''*per-kwun-iyo'' (feminine ''*per-kwun-iyā'', the 'realm of Perkwunos', i.e. the oodedmountains), ***
Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...
: , ****
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 ...
: the
Hercynian The Variscan or Hercynian orogeny was a geologic mountain-building event caused by Late Paleozoic continental collision between Euramerica (Laurussia) and Gondwana to form the supercontinent of Pangaea. Nomenclature The name ''Variscan'', come ...
(''Hercynia'') forest or mountains, ancient name of the Ardennes and the
Black Forest The Black Forest (german: Schwarzwald ) is a large forested mountain range in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is t ...
, which was also known as ''Arkunia'' by the time of Aristotle; ''
Hercuniates This is a list of ancient tribes in the ancient territory of Illyria ( grc-gre, Ἰλλυρία; la, Illyria). The name ''Illyrians'' seems to be the name of a single Illyrian tribe that was the first to come into contact with the ancient Greek ...
'' (’Ερκουνιατες; attached to the suffix -''atis'' 'belonging to'), the name of a Celtic tribe from
Pannonia Pannonia (, ) was a province of the Roman Empire bounded on the north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia. Pannonia was located in the territory that is now wes ...
, as described by
Pliny Pliny may refer to: People * Pliny the Elder (23–79 CE), ancient Roman nobleman, scientist, historian, and author of ''Naturalis Historia'' (''Pliny's Natural History'') * Pliny the Younger (died 113), ancient Roman statesman, orator, w ...
and
Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...
. *** Germanic: ''*fergunja'', meaning 'mountain', perhaps 'mountainous forest' (or the feminine equivalent of ''*ferga'', 'god'),' ****
Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...
: Fjörgyn, the mother of the thunder-god
Thor Thor (; from non, Þórr ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred groves ...
, the goddess of the wooded landscape and a poetic synonym for 'land' or 'the earth', ****
Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
: (𐍆𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌲𐌿𐌽𐌹), '(wooded) mountain', and , 'world',
Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
: , 'mountain', 'wooded hill', ****
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 ...
: ''Firgunnea'', the Ore Mountains, and ''Virgundia Waldus'', ''Virgunnia'', 'oaks forest', *** Slavic: , 'wooded hills' (perhaps an early borrowing from Germanic), ****
Old Church Slavonic Old Church Slavonic or Old Slavonic () was the first Slavic languages, Slavic literary language. Historians credit the 9th-century Byzantine Empire, Byzantine missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius with Standard language, standardizing the lan ...
: ,
Old Russian Old East Slavic (traditionally also Old Russian; be, старажытнаруская мова; russian: древнерусский язык; uk, давньоруська мова) was a language used during the 9th–15th centuries by East ...
: ''peregynja'', 'wooded hills';
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 ...
: (toponym),


Thunder-god's weapon

The name of Perkwunos' weapon ''*meld-n-'' is attested by a group of
cognates In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words in different languages that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical eff ...
alternatively denoting 'hammer' or 'lightning' in the following traditions: *
PIE A pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing that contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients. Sweet pies may be filled with fruit (as in an apple pie), nuts ( pecan pie), brown sugar ( sugar pie), swe ...
: , 'to grind', **Northern PIE: ''*mel-d-(n)-'', 'thunder-god's hammer > lightning', *** Germanic: ''*melðunijaz'', ****
Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...
: '' mjǫllnir'', the hammer of
Thor Thor (; from non, Þórr ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred groves ...
; cf. also ''myln'', 'fire', ***
Balto-Slavic The Balto-Slavic languages form a branch of the Indo-European family of languages, traditionally comprising the Baltic and Slavic languages. Baltic and Slavic languages share several linguistic traits not found in any other Indo-European bran ...
: ''*mild-n-'', **** Slavic: *''mlъldni'', *****
Old Church Slavonic Old Church Slavonic or Old Slavonic () was the first Slavic languages, Slavic literary language. Historians credit the 9th-century Byzantine Empire, Byzantine missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius with Standard language, standardizing the lan ...
: ''mlъni'' or ''mlъnii'',
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 ...
: ''múnja'' (муња), Slovene ''mółnja'',
Bulgarian Bulgarian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria * Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group * Bulgarian language, a Slavic language * Bulgarian alphabet * A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria * Bul ...
: ',Rhys, John. ''Lectures on the origin and growth of religion as illustrated by Celtic heathendom''. London, Edinburgh tc. Williams and Norgate. 1892. p. 59. Macedonian: ''молња'', 'lightning', *****
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 ...
: ''mólnija'' (молния), 'lightning',
Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...
''maladnjá'' ( dial.) 'lightning without thunder', Belarusian: ''маланка'', 'lightning', *****
Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...
: (
arch An arch is a vertical curved structure that spans an elevated space and may or may not support the weight above it, or in case of a horizontal arch like an arch dam, the hydrostatic pressure against it. Arches may be synonymous with vaul ...
.
),
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 ...
(dial.), Lusatian: ''milina'' (arch.) 'lightning' (modern 'electricity'), ****
Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages * Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originati ...
: ''*mildnā'', *****
Old Prussian Old Prussian was a Western Baltic language belonging to the Baltic branch of the Indo-European languages, which was once spoken by the Old Prussians, the Baltic peoples of the Prussian region. The language is called Old Prussian to avoid con ...
: , 'lightning bolt', ***** Latvian: ''milna'', the 'hammer of the Thunderer', Pērkōns, ***
Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...
: *''meldo''-, ****
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 ...
: ''Meldos'', an epithet of thunder divinity
Loucetios In Gallo-Roman religion, Loucetios (Latinized as Leucetius) was a Gallic god known from the Rhine-Moselle region, where he was identified with the Roman Mars. Scholars have interpreted his name to mean ‘lightning’. Mars Loucetius was worshi ...
; as well as ''Meldi'' (*''Meldoi''), a tribal name, and ''Meldio'', a personal name. ****
Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
: , 'lightning, thunderbolts' ( sing. , 'bolt of lightning'), and ''Mabon am Melld'' or ''Mabon fab Mellt'' ('Mabon son of Mellt'), ****
Breton Breton most often refers to: *anything associated with Brittany, and generally ** Breton people ** Breton language, a Southwestern Brittonic Celtic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken in Brittany ** Breton (horse), a breed **Ga ...
: ''mell'', 'hammer', ****
Middle Irish Middle Irish, sometimes called Middle Gaelic ( ga, An Mheán-Ghaeilge, gd, Meadhan-Ghàidhlig), is the Goidelic language which was spoken in Ireland, most of Scotland and the Isle of Man from AD; it is therefore a contemporary of late Old Engli ...
: ''mell'', 'rounded summit, small hill', possibly via semantic contamination from , '(wooded) mountains'. Another PIE term derived from the verbal root ('to grind'), ('grinding device'), also served as a common word for 'hammer', as in Old Church Slavonic ''mlatъ'', Latin ''malleus'', and Hittite ''malatt'' ('sledgehammer, bludgeon'). 19th-century scholar
Francis Hindes Groome Francis Hindes Groome (30 August 1851 – 24 January 1902), son of Robert Hindes Groome, Archdeacon of Suffolk, was a writer and foremost commentator of his time on the Romani people, their language, life, history, customs, beliefs, and lore. Li ...
cited the existence of the "Gypsy" (
Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnicities * Romani people, an ethnic group of Northern Indian origin, living dispersed in Europe, the Americas and Asia ** Romani genocide, under Nazi rule * Romani language, any of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Roma ...
) word ''malúna'' as a loanword from Slavic ''molnija''. The Komi word ''molńi'' or ''molńij'' ('lightning') has also been borrowed from Slavic.


Heavenly vault of stone

* PIE: ''*h₂eḱ-'', 'sharp', **PIE: *''h₂éḱmōn'' ( gen. *''h₂ḱmnós''; loc. *''h₂ḱméni''), 'stone, stone-made weapon' > 'heavenly vault of stone', *** Indo-Aryan: *''Haćman'', ****
Vedic upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the ...
: ''áśman'', 'stone, sling-stone, thunderbolt', ****
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 ...
: '' asman'', 'stone, sling-stone, heaven', ***
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 ...
: '' ákmōn'' (ἄκμων), 'anvil, meteoric stone, thunderbolt, heaven', ***
Balto-Slavic The Balto-Slavic languages form a branch of the Indo-European family of languages, traditionally comprising the Baltic and Slavic languages. Baltic and Slavic languages share several linguistic traits not found in any other Indo-European bran ...
: *''akmen''-, **** Lithuanian: ''akmuõ'', 'stone', **** Latvian: ''akmens'', 'stone', *** Germanic: ''*hemō'' (gen.''*hemnaz'', dat. *''hemeni''), 'heaven', ****
Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
: ''himins'', 'heaven', ****
Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
: ''heofon'',
Old Frisian Old Frisian was a West Germanic language spoken between the 8th and 16th centuries along the North Sea coast, roughly between the mouths of the Rhine and Weser rivers. The Frisian settlers on the coast of South Jutland (today's Northern Friesl ...
: ''himel'',
Old Saxon Old Saxon, also known as Old Low German, was a Germanic language and the earliest recorded form of Low German (spoken nowadays in Northern Germany, the northeastern Netherlands, southern Denmark, the Americas and parts of Eastern Europe). It i ...
: ''heƀan'',
Old Dutch In linguistics, Old Dutch (Dutch: Oudnederlands) or Old Low Franconian (Dutch: Oudnederfrankisch) is the set of Franconian dialects (i.e. dialects that evolved from Frankish) spoken in the Low Countries during the Early Middle Ages, from aroun ...
: ''himil'',
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 ...
: ''himil'', 'heaven', ****
Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...
: ''himinn'', 'heaven',' A Metathesis (linguistics), metathesized stem *''ḱ(e)h₂-m-(r)-'' can also be reconstructed from Proto-Slavic language, Slavic ''*kamy'' ('stone'), Germanic ''*hamaraz'' ('hammer'), and Greek ''kamára'' ('vault')''.''


Other possible cognates

*Indo-Iranian languages, Indo-Iranian: **Historical Vedic religion, Vedic:
Parjanya Parjanya ( sa, पर्जन्य ) according to the Vedas is a deity of rain, thunder, lightning, and the one who fertilizes the earth. It is another epithet of Indra, the Vedic deity of the sky and heaven. Description It is assumed Parjanya is ...
, the god of rain, thunder and lightning (although Sanskrit Sound change, sound laws rather predict a form; an intermediate form ''*pergénio'' has therefore been postulated, possibly descending from ''*per-kwun-iyā''). **Nuristani languages, Nuristani: Pärun (or ''Pērūneî''), a war god worshipped in Kafiristan (present-day Nuristan Province, Afghanistan), **Persian language, Persian: Piran Viseh, Piran (Viseh), a heroic figure present in the Shahnameh, the national epic of Greater Iran; it has been suggested his name might be related to the Slavic religion, Slavic deity
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, f ...
, **Scythian religion, Scythian: in the 19th century, Russian folklorist Alexander Afanasyev and French philologist Frédéric-Guillaume Bergmann (:fr:Frédéric-Guillaume Bergmann, fr) mentioned the existence of a Scythian deity named ''Pirkunas'' or ''Pirchunas'', an epithet attached to the "Scythian Divus" and meaning 'rainy'. *
Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...
('
oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...
'), **Hispano-Celtic: ''Erguena'' (''ERGVENA''), a personal name thought to mean 'oak-born' (''*pérkʷu-genā'') or to derive from ''*pérkʷu-niya'' 'wooded mountain'. **Celtiberian language, Celtiberian: ''berkunetakam'' ('Perkunetaka'), a word attested in the Botorrita plaque, Botorrita Plate I and interpreted as a sacred oak grove, **Pyrenees: the theonym ''Expercennius'', attested in an inscription found in Cathervielle and possibly referring to an oak god. His name might mean 'six oaks'. **
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 ...
: ''ercos'' ('oak'), ***Gallo-Roman culture, Gallo-Roman: references to 'Deus Ercus' (in Gallia Aquitania, Aquitania), 'Nymphae Percernae' (Gallia Narbonensis, Narbonensis), and a deity named 'Hercura' (or ''Erecura'') which appears throughout the provinces of the Roman Empire. Patrizia de Bernardo Stempel argues that ''Aerecura''/''Hercura'' derives from a Celtic ''*perk(w)ura''. **Irish mythology, Irish: Erc mac Cairpri, Erc (mac Cairpri), mentioned at the end of ''Táin Bó Cúailnge'', and placed on the Kingship of Tara, throne of Tara by Conchobar mac Nessa in ''Cath Ruis na Ríg for Bóinn''; although an alternative etymology from
PIE A pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing that contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients. Sweet pies may be filled with fruit (as in an apple pie), nuts ( pecan pie), brown sugar ( sugar pie), swe ...
''*perk-'' ('color') > ''*perk-no'' ('[spotted] fish') has been proposed by Eric P. Hamp, Hamp and Ranko Matasović, Matasović. *Greek mythology, Greek: (κεραυνός), the name of Zeus’s thunderbolt, which was sometimes also deified (by Metathesis (linguistics), metathesis of *; although the root *''ḱerh₂-'', 'shatter, smash' has also been proposed), and the ''Herkyna'' spring-nymph, associated with a river of the same name and identified with Demeter (the name could be a borrowing as it rather follows Celtic sound laws), * Hittite: the words and are attested in a Hittite text of ''The Song of Ullikummi'', and refer to a female being made of 'Rock' or 'Stone' who gives birth to a rocky creature. *Italica, Italic: **Italian language, Italian: ''porca'', a word meaning 'fir tree' in the Trentino dialect. Mallory and Adams suppose it is a loanword from Raetic. *Slavic languages, Slavic **Pomeranian language, Pomeranian: ''Porenut'', latinized as ''Porenutius'' in the work of Saxo Grammaticus. The name is believed to refer to a deity worshipped in the port city of Rügen in ancient times as a possible son of Perun. *Romano-Germanic culture, Romano-Germanic: inscriptions to the Matres and Matronae, Matronae 'Ala-ferhuiae' found in Bonn, Altorf, Altdorf, or Dormagen. *Paleo-Balkan languages, Paleo-Balkanic: **Illyrian mythology, Illyrian: Perëndi, a sky and thunder god (from ''per-en-'', an extension of
PIE A pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing that contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients. Sweet pies may be filled with fruit (as in an apple pie), nuts ( pecan pie), brown sugar ( sugar pie), swe ...
''*per'', 'to strike', attached to ''-di'', the sky-god Dyeus, Dyēus, thus related to ''*per-uhₓn-os'' (see above); although the Albanian ''perëndoj'', 'to set (of the sun)', from Latin ''parentare'', 'a sacrifice (to the dead), to satisfy', has also been proposed as the origin of the deity, **Thracian religion, Thracian: Perkos/Perkon (Περκος/Περκων), a horseman hero depicted as facing a tree surrounded by a snake. His name is also attested as Ήρω Περκω and Περκώνει "in Odessos and the vicinities". *Caucasus Mountains, Caucasus: it has been suggested that the characters Пиръон (''Piryon'') and Пиръа (''Pirya'') may attest the presence of the thunder god's name in the Caucasus.


Legacy

Louis Léger stated that the Polabians adopted Perun as their name for Thursday (''Perendan'' or ''Peräunedån''), which is likely a calque of German ''Donnersdag''. Some scholars argue that the functions of the Luwians, Luwian and Hittite mythology, Hittite weather gods Tarḫunz and Tarḫunna ultimately stem from those of Perkwunos. Anatolians may have dropped the old name in order to adopt the epithet *''Tṛḫu-ent-'' ('conquering', from PIE ''*terh2-'', 'to cross over, pass through, overcome'), which sounded closer to the name of the Hattians, Hattian Storm-god ''Taru (god), Taru''. According to scholarship, the name ''Tarhunt-'' is also cognate to the Vedic present participle ''tū́rvant-'' ('vanquishing, conquering'), an epithet of the weather-god
Indra Indra (; Sanskrit: इन्द्र) is the king of the devas (god-like deities) and Svarga (heaven) in Hindu mythology. He is associated with the sky, lightning, weather, thunder, storms, rains, river flows, and war.  volumes/ref> I ...
.


Toponyms

Scholarship indicates the existence of a holdover of the theonym in European toponymy, specially in Eastern European and Slavic languages, Slavic-speaking regions. In the territory that encompasses the modern day city of Kaštela existed the ancient Dalmatian city of Salona. Near Salona, in Late Antiquity, there was a hill named ''Perun''. Likewise, the ancient oronym ''Borun'' (''monte Borun'') has been interpreted as a deformation of the theonym ''Perun''. Their possible connection is further reinforced by the proximity of a mountain named ''Dobrava (toponym), Dobrava'', a widespread word in Slavic-speaking regions that means 'oak grove'. Places in South-Slavic-speaking lands are considered to be reflexes of Slavic god Perun, such as ''Perunac'', ''Perunovac'', ''Perunika'', ''Perunićka Glava'', ''Peruni Vrh'', ''Perunja Ves'', ''Peruna Dubrava'', ''Perunuša'', ''Perušice'', ''Perudina'', and ''Perutovac''. Scholar Marija Gimbutas cited the existence of the place names ''Perunowa gora'' (Poland), ''Perun Gora'' (Serbia), ''Gora Perun'' (Romania), and ''Porun'' hill (Istria). Patrice Lajoye associates place names in the Balkans with the Slavic god Perun: the city of ''Pernik'' and the mountain range ''Pirin'' (in Bulgaria), as well as a location named ''Përrenjas'' in South Albania. He also proposes that the German city of ''Pronstorf'' is also related to Perun, since it is located near Segeberg, whose former name was ''Perone'' in 1199. The name of the Baltic deity Perkunas is also attested in Baltic toponyms and hydronyms: a village called ''Perkūniškės'' in Žemaitija, north-west of Kaunas, and the place name ''Perkunlauken'' ('Perkuns Fields') near modern Gusev.Balode-Anelauskaitė, Laimutė. "Baltic names of deities in the hydronyms of Latvia and Lithuania". In: ''Perspectives of Baltic philology''. 1 / ed. by Jowita Niewulis-Grablunas, Justyna Prusinowska, Ewa Stryczyńska-Hodyl. Poznań: Wydawnictwo Rys, 2008. pp. 21-40. .


Footnotes


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *Zaroff, Roman. "Organized pagan cult in Kievan Rus: The invention of foreign elite or evolution of local tradition? [Organizirani poganski kult v kijevski drzavi: Iznajdba tuje elite ali razvoj krajevnega izrocila?]". In: ''Studia mythologica Slavica''. 2 (1999): 56-60. 10.3986/sms.v2i0.1844.


Further reading

;General studies: *Blinkenberg, Christian. ''The Thunderweapon In Religion And Folklore: a Study In Comparative Archaeology''. Cambridge [Eng.]: The University press, 1911. * * * * * * Laurinkiene, Nijole. ''Senovés Lietuviu Dievas Perkunas''. Vilnius, Lithuania: Lietuvu Literaturos Tautosakos Institutas. 1996. ;For the etymology of the Indo-European weather-god, see: * ;For the association with "stones", "mountains" and "heaven", see: * * * {{Cite journal, last=Mitchell, first=Stephen A., date=1985, title=The Whetstone as Symbol of Authority in Old English and Old Norse, journal=Scandinavian Studies, volume=57, issue=1, pages=1–31, issn=0036-5637, jstor=40918675 Proto-Indo-European deities Sky and weather gods Thunder gods Etymologies Nature gods Reconstructed words Proto-Indo-European mythology