Uralic mythologies

Elements of a Proto-Uralic religion can be recovered from reconstructions of the Proto-Uralic language.

According to linguist Ante Aikio, although "evidence of immaterial culture is very limited" in the Proto-Uralic language, "a couple of lexical items can be seen as pointing to a shamanistic system of beliefs and practices." The concept of soul dualism, which is widely attested among Uralic-speaking peoples, probably dates back to the Proto-Uralic period: the word *''wajŋi'' (‘breath-soul') designated the soul bound to the living body, which only left it at the moment of death, whereas *''eśi'' (or *''iśi'', *''ićći'') referred to the 'shadow-soul', believed to be able to leave the body during lifetime, as when dreaming, in a state of unconsciousness or in a shaman's spirit journey.

The Indo-Iranian loanword *''pi̮ŋka'' designated a 'psychedelic mushroom', perhaps the one used by the shaman to enter altered states of consciousness. The verb *''kixi''- meant both 'to court f birds and 'to sing a shamanistic song', suggesting that it referred to states of both sexual and spiritual excitement. If the etymology remains uncertain, the word 'shaman' itself may be rendered as *''nojta'', and the shamanic practice as *''jada''-, although semantic variations in the daughter languages make the reconstruction debatable (cf. Erzya Mordvin ''jɑdɑ''- 'to conjure, do magic, bewitch', East Khanty ''jɔːl''- 'to tell fortunes, shamanize', Ket Selkup ''tjɑːrә''- 'to curse; quarrel').

Several Finno-Ugric languages have a theonym that can be derived from the Proto-Finno-Ugric word ''*ilma'' meaning sky or weather. These include Udmurt ''Inmar'', Komi-Zyrjan ''Jen'', Khanty ''Num-Ilәm'' and Finnish ''Ilmarinen''. These theonyms suggest an early central Proto-Finno-Ugric sky-god.

See also

* Finnic mythologies

References

Citations

Bibliography

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Further reading

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* Hajdú, Péter (ed.). ''Uráli népek: Nyelvrokonaink kultúrája és hagyományai'' ralic peoples: Culture and traditions of our linguistic relatives Budapest: Corvina Kiadó. 1975. . (in Hungarian)
*Jauhiainen, Marjatta. ''The Type and Motif Index of Finnish Belief Legends and Memorates: Revised and enlarged edition of Lauri Simonsuuri’s Typen- und Motivverzeichnis der finnischen mythischen Sagen'' (FFC No. 182). FF Communications 267. Helsinki: Academia Scientiarum Fennica, 1998.
*Jones, Prudence; Pennick, Nigel (1995). ''A History of Pagan Europe''. Routledge. pp. 178–183. .
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*Krupp E.C. (2000). "Sky Tales and Why We Tell Them". In: Selin H., Xiaochun S. (eds). ''Astronomy Across Cultures. Science Across Cultures: The History of Non-Western Science''. Vol. 1. Springer, Dordrecht. pp. 20–21. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4179-6_1
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* Leeming, David. ''From Olympus to Camelot: The World of European Mythology''. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. 2003. pp. 134-138.
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*Siikala, Anna-Leena. "What Myths Tell about Past Finno-Ugric Modes of Thinking". In: Siikala, Anna-Leena (Ed.). ''Myths and Mentality: Studies in Folklore and Popular Thought''. Studia Fennica Folkloristica 8. Helsinki: SKS, 2002. pp. 15–32.
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* Valk, Ülo (2000). "Ex Ovo Omnia: Where Does the Balto-Finnic Cosmogony Originate? The Etiology of an Etiology". In: ''Oral Tradition'' 15: 145–158.
* Vértes, Edit (1990). ''Szibériai nyelvrokonaink hitvilága'' he belief systems of our linguistic relatives in Siberia Budapest: Tankönyvkiadó. . (In Hungarian)
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Uralic mythology