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Aspects of Indo-European Religion: The

Supernatural World of the Proto-Indo-
Europeans

Conference Paper January 2013

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Stanislav Vavrovsk
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 Aspects of Indo-European Religion: The Supernatural
World of the Proto-Indo-Europeans

Stanislav Vavrovsk

Northern Italian Bagnolo stele which has been interpreted as a representation of the Indo-
European cosmogonic myth (Mallory Adams 1997: 130;
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bagnolo2.jpg>)
Abbreviations of languages

Arm Armenian OE Old English

Av Avestan OHG Old High German
Grk Greek OIr Old Irish
Hit Hittite ON Old Norse
Lat Latin OPers Old Persian
Ltv Latvian OPrus Old Prussian
Lith Lithuanian PG Proto-Germanic
MIr Middle Irish PIE Proto-Indo-European
MHG Middle High German Skt Sanskrit
NC New Chinese Umb Umbrian
OC Old Chinese

Cosmogony and cosmology

Various Indo-European traditions point to a cosmogonic myth, according to which the

universe was created by the dismemberment of a primeval giant Norse Ymir, Vedic Prua,
etc. The giants flesh became the earth, his hair plants, his bones stones, his blood water, his
eyes the sun, his mind the moon, his brain the clouds, his breath the wind and his head
became the heavens. Another myth is the creation or foundation myth that is connected with a
sacrifice of a twin Indian Yam (the first man who died and consequently became the lord
of the dead), Iranian Yim xat (radiant Yima) and Germanic Tuisto. Yam and Yim
descend from PIE *h2i m hx- and the above mentioned Ymir ultimately originates from PIE
*h2i m hxii o- (another cognate is perhaps Ltv jumis double fruit), which is a suffixed
extension of *h2i m hx-. Both *h2i m hx- and *h2i m hxii o- go to PIE stem *h2i emhx- to imitate,
cf. Lat imitr, img, etc.1 The name Tuisto is derived from the root for two (PG *twa-) and
it is often taken to mean twin and perhaps bisexual (Mallory Adams 1997: 129).

The Proto-Indo-European might have believed that the sky was made from stones. This
conclusion is made on the basis of Avestan asman- meaning both stone and heaven with
such cognates as Skt aman- stone, Lith akmu stone, Grk anvil (and also Akmon,
the father of Ouranos) and perhaps PG *hemena heaven (Got himins, OE heofon). All these
are supposed to go back to PIE *h2k mn with the meaning of both stone and heaven. The
rationale behind this imagination could be the observation that some stones had fallen from
the sky. There are hints of metallic sky in the Younger Avesta and of bronze or Iron sky in
Homer that may be Bronze and Iron Age modifications of the more primitive concept.2

There is an idea of a world pillar or a world tree in some Indo-European traditions: references
to a prop or support (skambh-) of the sky in the R gveda, the Titan Atlas supporting the sky
and a pillar or pillars in Greek mythology, the pillar Irminsl and the tree Yggdrasil in

1
I am indebted to Stefan Schaffner (personal communication, January 2013) for these etymologies. On the other
hand, according to Martin Hulds entry in Mallory and Adams (1997: 608) Ymir (he writes mir) is not
relatable because the stem vowel must be long to account for the desinence and jumis is similarly
questionable.
2
In presenting some Indo-European cosmological concepts here and in the following paragraphs I mainly draw
upon West (2007: 342351) unless otherwise stated.
Germanic mythology. However, it is possible that these are not original Indo-European
concepts: the Greek myth may be derived from the Near East and the Indian and Germanic
ideas from the peoples of Northern Asia.

The land of the blest is another motif that appears in several Indo-European traditions. It is
situated to remote places in the north or to the White Island (in the Indian epic Mahbhratam
and in the Greek epic Aethiopis). Other locations include Ketumala and Javukhanda on the
west side of Mt Meru in Mahbhratam, the Isles of the Blest in the west according to Hesiod
and the Land of the Living (tr na mbeo) in the western sea in an Irish legend.

There was a concept of a celestial river identified with the Milky Way. This is evidenced both
by archaeology (depiction of the Milky Way on two Mycenaean gold rings) and philology: in
Homeric Greek the rivers used to have the epithet () flying in the sky and there are
also hints of rivers flowing in the sky in the Indo-Iranian tradition.

The idea of the afterworld existed in many Indo-European traditions. The death was
conceived as a journey, the expression of going the way of no return is found both in Indian
epics and in Greek and Latin poetry. Similarly, in a Hittite ritual text it is said of the
underworld that what goes in does not come out again. The later Indian belief in
reincarnation or transmigration of souls seems to be in contradiction with the above
mentioned expressions. However, the idea of transmigration was known to Greek
philosophers, e.g. Pythagoras, and according to Caesars Comentarii de Bello Gallico (6. 14)
it existed also among the druids of Gaul: In primis hoc volunt persuadere, non interire
animas, sed ab aliis post mortem transire ad alios [...]. Therefore it is difficult to establish if
belief in reincarnation was present in Proto-Indo-European religion or not. In several
traditions it was believed that the afterworld was separated from the world of living by water
and the soul was transported across the water by an ld man *g erh2ont- (Grk , ON
karl) who served as a ferryman. Upon entering the afterworld the soul might encounter a dog
called *k rberos spotted (Grk , Skt rvara).3 In some traditions, the ruler of the
afterworld was the twin of the cosmogonic myth, e.g. Yam in the Indian tradition (see
above). As far as the location of the afterworld is concerned, there was such variation that it
could be located almost anywhere except east. Other details about the afterworld also varied
considerably but it seems that originally there was no concept of punishment for sins or
reward for virtue after death among Indo-Europeans (Mallory Adams 1997: 153).

Humans and gods

The Proto-Indo-Europeans were polytheists. They believed in many gods called *dei u s,
singular *dei u s the celestial one, the shining one. This word is related to another PIE word
with the meaning sky, day (*di u s) and both of them ultimately stem from *dei (u )- to
shine. There are also other terms for god but this one is perhaps the most widespread one
with reflexes including Lat deus, Skt dev, Av dauu demon, Hit iu (assibilation of the
initial dental), OPrus deiw(a)s, Lith divas, OCS div demon, OIr da, ON Tr name of war
god, (pl.) tvar gods, OE Tw name of war god (hence Twesdg Tuesday) and OHG Zo
name of war god but not Grk as Grk th corresponds to Lat f and there is other
evidence pointing to an original intervocalic s in the Greek word. Other PIE words denoting
gods can be reconstructed as well: *dh1s god (Grk < *dh1ss, Lat friae festival

3
West (2007: 392) gives Skt abla- supposedly a deformation of *arbra-.

3
day, Skt dhi with impetuosity, Arm pl. dik gods), *h2nsus god, spirit (Skt su
powerful spirit, sura divine, mighty; god, lord, Av ahur, ON ss, pl. sir and perhaps
also Hit au king) and perhaps *g utm something evoked, god. The last one is limited
to Germanic languages (Goth gu, ON go, OE god) and either stems from *g eu (H)- to call,
to invoke or is of substrate origin (Mallory Adams 1997: 231)

The Indo-European gods were imagined as anthropomorphic supernatural beings. They were
deemed to be immortal (*n mr ts), unaging and were primarily connected with the sky, hence
the name *dei u s the celestial ones. In contrast to gods, humans were connected with the
earth (*dg m > Lat humus, Grk cf. auto-chthon-ous) as the name *dg m(n)4
earthling (Lat hom hence ultimately English human, OE guma5) indicates. The humans
were often called *mrts mortals in contrast to immortal gods, cf. Grk (Hesychius)
man, mortal, Skt mrta mortal, Av marta- mortal, Arm mard man etc. Another
designation for a human being, perhaps the original Indo-European one as its distribution on
the peripheries of the Indo-European world suggests, was *mnus (hence English man < OE
mann, ON mar ~ mannr, Skt mnu-). It might be derived from the root *men- think, thus
having the meaning of that which can think, that which is endowed with mind.

In many Indo-European mythologies the gods were described as gold- or yellow-haired,

gold-coloured, gold-charioted or gold-armoured and even their weapons and dwellings
were said to be made of gold. Another characteristic feature of Indo-European gods was that
they were many-named *pl h1uh1n h3mn 6 (Grk , Skt puru ma), although it
seems that each deity was supposed to have one true name (West 2007: 129) with other
names being epithets perhaps for tabuistic reasons. The language spoken by the gods was
supposed to be usually the same as that of men; however, occasionally certain persons or
things are said to have a different name among the gods (and sometimes among other orders
of being) from the one familiar to mankind (West 2007: 160). Gods could travel long
distances very quickly and they used to assemble on high and inaccessible mountains
(Olympus, mythical Mt Meru, Himlaya, Mt Kailsa). Indo-European gods did not eat human
food and they owed their immortality to special food or drink they were nourished by Grk
ambrosia or Skt amtam amrita identified with soma (Skt sma, Av haom,
both from PII *sauma-) of the Indo-Iranian tradition. Both and amtam are
etymologically connected with the adjective *n mr ts immortal, non-dying(Grk ,
Skt amta). Greek nectar is also close in meaning. It goes to PIE *nek tr h2
overcoming death, from stems *nek - death (cf. dead > necromancy, necropolis or
H. P. Lovecrafts Necronomicon) and *terh2- to bring across, to overcome (Hit tarzi
defeats, Skt trati brings across, overcomes7, Grk penitrating, clear, Lat intrre
to enter). There was a widespread motif that the food or drinks of the gods were located at a
remote place separated from the outside world by a narrow and dangerous passage or guarded
by a monster (West 2007: 158159).

4
Mallory and Adams (1997: 366) have the form *dg m on- but I quote here the reconstruction presented in
Fortsons Indo-European Language and Culture (2004: 110) which I find more plausible on phonetic grounds.
5
It has survived in Modern English in an altered form in bridegroom (Fortson 2004: 110; Mallory Adams 2006:
120).
6
This reconstruction is taken from Janda (2009: 3) where it is followed by a question mark.
7
West (2007: 158) gives an example from the Atharvaveda: tari mr tyum I will overcome death (AV 4. 35.
1).

4
Pantheon

There are basically two approaches to the study of Indo-European religion and mythology: the
linguistic approach and the one of comparative mythology. The names of gods that can be
safely reconstructed at the Proto-Indo-European level are not very numerous. In some cases
we have good reason to believe that the Proto-Indo-Europeans had a god or goddess with
certain functions but it is difficult to reconstruct his or her name.

One of the best attested names of gods is Father Sky *di u s ph2tr. He might have been the
head of the Proto-Indo-European pantheon as was the case in Greece and Rome, see Fortson
(2004: 23):

The appearance of the word father as part of the I[ndo-]E[uropean] Sky-gods title probably referred
to his hierarchical position at the head of the pantheon, and not necessarily to any role as progenitor. It
would be like the same use of Latin pater father in the ancient phrase pater familis head of the
household.

There are good cognates for this deity in several groups of the Indo-European language family.
xact correspondences are found in Italic (Lat Iuppiter, Umb Iupater), Illyrian (-),
Greek ( ) and Indo-Iranian (Skt dyu pit ) while partial cognates or structural
correspondences appear in Anatolian (Luw tati tiwaz Daddy Sky, Hit atta Itanu Father
Sun-god with Itanu being a Hattic loanword)8 and perhaps in Slavic as the Old Russian
Stribog Father God. In the last example *di u s had been replaced by the presumably
Iranian loanword bog god (OPers baga god < PIE *bhag- apportion) and stri- has been
sought to explain as a cognate of the PIE *p(h2)tr- father (Gamkrelidze Ivanov 1995, Vol.
2: 455, 667, 680), however, I do not find the putative correspondence phonologically
convincing.

The dawn goddess *h2uss (Dawn) is indisputably the best attested Indo-European female
deity that can be quite safely postulated for the Proto-Indo-European religion. She has
cognates throughout of the Indo-European world: Lat Aurra, Grk , Skt U and Lith
Aurn. In Greek, Indic and Baltic traditions she has the epithet of Sky Daughter which
might be inherited from PIE *dug h2tr diu s: Grk , Skt duhit div and Lith
divo dukt.

Less certain is the earth goddess. There is the expression Mother Earth in many Indo-
European languages but the words for earth are often not etymological cognates, cf. Hit
anna Daganzipa (Mother Earth, West 2007: 175), Skt Pr thiv mt or bh mi-mt
(Mother Earth), Slavic Mat Syra Zemlja (mother moist earth), Ltv Zemes Mte, OE folde,
fra mdor (earth, mother of men). Mother earth is a figure ubiquitous around the world
and not specifically Indo-European, but within the I[ndo-]E[uropean] family itself there is no
reason why her name could not be inherited (Fortson 2004: 23). The more that the notion of
earth explicitly personified as a goddess and a mother is not at all universal, e.g. to my
knowledge it is lacking in Chinese mythology.9

8
Mallory and Adams (1997: 230; 2006: 431) have Isanus while other authors (Gamkrelidze Ivanov: 1995)
quote Itanu; I prefer the latter which is also the form given in A Grammar of the Hittite Language by Hoffner
and Melchert (2008: 22).
9
It is true that the Chinese have associated the Sky (NC tin [tin55], OC thn ) with the masculine principle
(NC yng [j35], OC la ) and the Earth (NC d [ti51], OC draih ) with the feminine one (NC yn [jin55], OC

5
The Divine Twins represent a very widespread and characteristically Indo-European
mythological theme (Mallory Adams 1997: 161), nevertheless [t]here is no convincing
lexical set for these sons of the sky god (Mallory Adams 2006: 432): They have the
following names: Skt Avnau having (to do with) horses, N satyau Saviours 10 , Grk
Sons of Zeus, Lith Divo sunliai Sons of God.

The thunder gods name *perkunos or *peruHnos seams to be limited to North Germanic,
Baltic and Slavic areas with the possible exception of Skt Parjnya (weather god): ON
Fjrgyn (mother of the thunder god rr), OPrus percunis (thunder) and Perun, Lith
Perk nas (thunder god), ORus Perun. One possible etymology is that these names are
derived from *perkus oak (Lat quercus oak, ON fjr tree, Gaul oak-forest),
because the Scandinavian, Baltic and Slavic thunder gods are associated with the oak.
Another explanation is that they come from the root *per- to strike.

Other reconstructions are even less certain. The sea god is reconstructed as *trih2tn watery
(one?) on the basis of phonological and semantic similarities between Greek and Old
Irish triath (gen. trethan) but this reconstruction remains rather doubtful (Mallory Adams
1997: 504). It is likely that the Indo-Europeans had a war-god because this kinde of deity is
represented in perhaps all Indo-European pantheons: Indic (ndra)11, Greek (), Roman
(Mrs < OLat Mvors), Germanic (Tr, Tw, Zo) etc. However it is difficult to reconstruct the
Proto-Indo-European war-gods name because of the considerable variation among IE peoples.
*Mu orts has been postulated on the basis of Latin Mrs (Mvors) and Sanskrit (pl.) Marut
(Maruts, the companions of the war-god ndra) but in this case the amount of irregular
sound change one has to assume, in the absence of an exact semantic equation, is more than
most historical linguists are prepared to accept (Mallory Adams 2006 : 411)12.

The former gods and other supernatural beings

There existed the notion of the former gods (Hit karilie iune, Grk , Skt
p rve dev ), identified as the Titans in Greek mythology, as the Sdhyas in R gveda or as
the Anunnaki of Babylonian pantheon in Hittite texts, that ruled before the present gods.
According to the Greek and Hittite tradition there might have been twelve former gods in
Indo-European mythology.13 The former gods were defeated and overthrown by the ruling
pantheon and according to some traditions they were driven to the lower world (Hittite),
below earth and sea (Greek, Iliad 14. 203 f.). There is a description of a cosmic battle in
Mahbhratam, however, the opponents of the gods in that battle are their elder brothers
Asuras/Dnavas who unlike Sdhyas are nowhere identified with the former gods.

m ), but these are rather abstract concepts. Earth is not addressed as mother, unlike in Indo-European
tradition.
10
This translation is disputed (West 2007: 187).
11
The IE proto-form *(H)indros has been proposed allegedly cognate to either Greek swell (Mallory
Adams 1997: 561) or Slavic *jdr strong, fresh (but originally pit, kernel), but because of the wrong
vocalization it might be a loanword (Lubotsky 1999: 311).
12
See also Glen Gordons article Getting the origins of Mars and Vulcan right on his blog Paleoglot
(<http://paleoglot.blogspot.com/2008/11/getting-origins-of-mars-and-vulcan.html>).
13
The Hittite former gods are sometimes said to be seven or nine in number, but most often twelve, like the
Titans. (West 2007: 162)

6
The motif of the former gods having been driven below earth might have originated in the
Babylonian mythology, which has a parallel story, but there is also the possibility that it is of
Indo-European origin. (West 2007: 163)

Numerous mythological traditions suggest that the imaginary world of the Proto-Indo-
Europeans was apart from gods most likely populated by other races as well. These might
include nymphs, elves (?*h2(e)l bh-), dwarfs and giants. The Proto-Indo-Europeans had a
myth about slaying a dragon or a serpent. The word for this monster was *h1gis
(gen.*h1gis): Skt hi, Av ai, Grk snake, Arm i (< *gi-) snake, viper,
probably also TochB auk snake. Another word for dragon might be *dr k - that would be
cognate with the English word dragon which is itself a loan from Greek: Grk , MIr
muir-dris (< *-dr k si(h2)-) sea-monster. This word has its origin in the verbal stem *derk - to
see from the potentially lethal gaze of dragons (Mallory Adams 1997: 169). Belief in
various spirits was probably also present in the Proto-Indo-European society: phantoms
*drougs (from *drougs to deceive; OIr airdrech ~ aur-drach phantom, ON draugr
phantom, Skt drgha- deceiving), nocturnal spirits *lem- (Lat pl. lemurs nocturnal
spirits, Grk female devourer of infants) and a kind of spirit or ghost called *du es-
(from *du es- to breathe; MHG getws phantom, Lith dvasi spirit).

Parallels in other traditions

It has been argued that there are some parallels to Indo-European mythology and religion in
other traditions, e.g. the motif of the gods assembly existed also in the Near Eastern Semitic
tradition and the world tree reminds us of Finno-Ugric and other North Asian mythologies.
But so far little has been written about Indo-European and pre-Buddhist Chinese parallels
concerning the imagination of the supernatural.

Interestingly enough, there is a parallel to the Indo-European creation myth in Chinese

mythology. When the primeval giant Png [pan35ku21] (OC Bn k)14 died (it is not
specified why and how),

his breath became the wind and the clouds, his voice became the thunder, his left eye the sun, his right
eye the moon, [...] his blood rivers, [...] his skin and muscles became the soil, the hair on his head and
his beard the stars, his body hair trees and grass, his teeth and bones became metals and stones [...]
(Yun 1980: 4).

Pngs metamorphosis is in many points identical and in other points similar to that of Ymir
or Prua. Another Chinese myth tells us how goddess Nw [ny21wa55] (OC Nra kri)
mended the sky with stones. This again brings the association of the Indo-European
concept of the sky as being made from stones. The world pillar or world tree is echoed in
China by the idea of a heavenly ladder (NC tint [tin55ti55], OC thn th ). It is

14
Chinese names and terms are first given in Modern Standard Mandarin (= NC, New Chinese) using the official
Hny Pnyn [xan51jy21 pin55jin55] romanization followed by IPA transcription in square brackets to
accommodate non-Sinologists. The Old Chinese pronunciation has to be reconstructed and there is much
controversy in the field. The so-called Minimal Old Chinese forms (Schuessler 2009) are used in this paper
because they avoid more controversial features and may be regarded as consensual to a certain extent. Finally,
traditional Chinese characters are also provided.

7
sometimes identified as a mountain, usually called Knln [kun55lun35] (OC Kn run) ,
other times it is described as a huge tree called Jinm [tin51mu51] (OC Kans mk) .

These sketchy remarks present just a few examples of similarities between some Chinese and
Indo-European mythological concepts and further research would undoubtedly reveal more.
The question remains if such parallels can be explained as universal features, chance
resemblances or if they are traces of prehistoric contacts.

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