*Deh₂nu- is the hypothetical goddess of water in Proto-Indo-European mythology, drawing connections to the Vedic deity Dānu, the Irish Danu, the Welsh Dôn, and the names of rivers such as the Danube[1], Don, Dnieper, and Dniester.
Although Mallory and Adams acknowledge a likely lexical link, they argue there's insufficient evidence to confirm a distinct river goddess in Proto-Indo-European beliefs, pointing out the general concept of river deification mainly in the Indic tradition. Additionally, a hypothesis for a sea deity named *Trih₂tōn, inspired by the Greek Triton and the Old Irish term for sea, trïath, lacks support according to Mallory and Adams due to minimal lexical similarity and the absence of a corresponding sea god in Irish mythology. [2] The narrative also mentions the Ossetian deity Donbettyr, who is appeased with offerings for waterwheel functioning[3], and suggests Donnán of Eigg as a Christian adaptation of this figure..[4][5]
Furthermore, the Dan river in Central Asia might share etymological roots with this deity.[6]
Mythology[]
Within various Indo-European cultures, she is often viewed as a maternal figure of a mythical tribe, the *Deh₂newyóes, inferred from groups like the Vedic Danavas, the Irish Tuatha Dé Danann, the Greek Danaoi, and the Norse Danes. This tribe, under the leadership of Bel, is believed to have battled a hero named *H₂nḗrtos, potentially linking to figures such as the Nart of the Nart saga, the epithet nṛtama for Indra, and the Norse deity Njord.[5]
| Culture | H₂nḗrtos | Deh₂nu- | Bel |
|---|---|---|---|
| India | nṛtama, epithet of Indra | Danu, Danava
Dewi Danu (?) |
Mahabali, Vali (?) |
| Iran | Narava | Danava | ????? |
| Ossetia | Nart | Donbettyr | Bliago (?) |
| Armenia | ari, epithet of Hayk,
Ara the Handsome (?) |
???? | Bel, Barsamin |
| Greece | Andromeda, Alexandros | Danaos, Danaids, Danae, Danaans,
Poseidon (?) |
Belos |
| Wales | ???? | Dôn | Beli |
| Ireland | ???? | Danu | Bile |
| Scandinavia and Iceland | Njǫrðr | Dan, the Danes | Beli |
The *Deh₂newyóes[]
The *Deh₂newyóes were the mythical tribe of the goddess *Deh₂nu with her as the figurehead. Some cultures have the figure of this tribe mentioned.
References[]
- ↑ Mallory, J.P; Mair, Victor H. (2000). The Tarim Mummies: Ancient China and the Mystery of the Earliest Peoples from the West. London: Thames and Hudson. p. 106. ISBN 9780500051016. https://archive.org/details/tarimmummiesanci00mall.. V. I. Adaev (1949) (in ru). Moscow: Publishing house of Soviet Academy of Sciences. p. 236. http://i.ironau.ru/pdf/osjazfolk1949.pdf.
- ↑ Mallory, James P.; Adams, Douglas Q. (2006). The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. pp. 434. ISBN 978-0-19-929668-2. https://books.google.com/books?id=tF5wAAAAIAAJ.
- ↑ "Proto-Indo-European Goddesses". 2022-03-02. http://www.piereligion.org/pantheon.html. Retrieved 2023-03-02.
- ↑ "Danu, a Pagan Goddess". 2021-05-13. http://piereligion.org/danu.html. Retrieved 2023-03-07.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/291942914_The_Indo-European_H2nert-s_and_the_Danu_tribe
- ↑ "Language Log » Blue-Green Iranian "Danube"". https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=44784. Retrieved 2023-03-07.
- ↑ https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deh%E2%82%82nu