Proto-Indo-European religion

The religion of the Proto-Indo-Europeans is not directly attested, but reconstruction has been attempted based on the existence of similarities among the deities, religious practices and mythologies of the Indo-European peoples. The hypothesized reconstructions below are based on linguistic evidence using the comparative method. Archaeological evidence is difficult to match to any specific culture in the period of early Indo-European culture in the Chalcolithic. Other approaches to Indo-European mythology are possible, such as the trifunctional hypothesis of Georges Dumézil.

Linguists are able to reconstruct the names of some deities in the Proto-Indo-European language (PIE) from many types of sources. Some of the proposed deity names are more readily accepted among scholars than others.

The term for "a god" was *deiwos, reflected in Hittite, sius; Latin, deus, divus; Sanskrit, deva; Avestan, daeva (later, Persian, div); Welsh, duw; Irish, dia; Old Norse, tívurr; Lithuanian, Dievas; Latvian, Dievs.

*Dyēus Ph₂tēr

*Perkunos

Fjörgyn

*H₂eus(os)

*PriHeh₂

*PltHa wiHa

*Deh₂nu-

*H₂epom Nepots

with a genitive form *Sh₂-en-s

The form Arap Ushas for *H₂eus(os) appears in Albanian folklore, but is a name of the Moon. See also the names for the Sun which follow. An extension of the name may have been *H₂eust(e)ro, but see also the form *as-t-r, with intrusive -t- [between s and r] in northern dialects". Anatolian dialects: Estan, Istanus, Istara; Greek, Hestia, goddess of the hearth; Latin Vesta, goddess of the hearth; in Armenian as Astghik, a star goddess; possibly also in Germanic mythology as Ēostre or Ostara; and Baltic, Austija. The name *Deh₂nu- has been connected with the Dan rivers which run into the Black Sea (Dnieper, Dniester, Don, and Danube) and other river names in Celtic areas.

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