Lithunian Pantheon

[Hercus Monte]

Gabija (also known as Gabieta, Gabeta)


is the spirit of the fire in Lithuanian mythology. She is the protector of home and family.

http://www.romuva.lt/new/uploads/images/Gabija.jpg http://www.romuva.lt/new/uploads/images/Gabija%201.jpg

Perkūnas (Lithuanian: Perkūnas, Latvian: Pērkons, Prussian: Perkūns, Finnish: Perkele, Yotvingian: Parkuns)


He was the common Baltic god of thunder, one of the most important deities in the Baltic pantheon. In both Lithuanian and Latvian mythology, he is documented as the god of thunder, rain, mountains, oak trees and the sky.

http://www.romuva.lt/new/uploads/images/Perkunas2.jpg http://www.romuva.lt/new/uploads/images/Perkunas.jpg

Laima (also Lama in Latvian)


all knowing goddess of birth and destiny. She was associated with childbirth, marriage, and death; she was also the patron of pregnant women. Laima and her functions are identical to the Hindu goddess Lakshmi.

http://www.romuva.lt/new/uploads/images/Laima1.jpg http://www.romuva.lt/new/uploads/images/Laima.jpg


Žemyna


is the goddess of the earth in Lithuanian mythology. She is usually regarded as mother goddess and one of the chief Lithuanian gods similar to Latvian Zemes māte. Žemyna personifies the fertile earth and nourishes all life on earth, human, plant, and animal. All that is born of earth will return to earth, thus her cult is also related to death. As the cult diminished after baptism of Lithuania, Žemyna's image and functions became influenced by the cult of Virgin Mary.

http://www.romuva.lt/new/uploads/images/Zemyna1.jpg http://www.romuva.lt/new/uploads/images/Zemyna.jpg


Austėja


household goddess of bees.

http://www.romuva.lt/new/uploads/images/Dievai/Austeja.jpg http://www.romuva.lt/new/uploads/images/Dievai/Austeja1.jpg


Info taken from http://www.romuva.lt/

I'll add more later.

[Skomand]

August Schleicher's Lithuanian grammar of 1856 put Lithuanians on the linguistic and ethnographic map of Europe.
While collecting material on a linguistic field-trip to East-Prussia, he wrote reports to the Austrian Academy of Sciences who financed the trip.
One of the reports is dedicated to Lithuanian mythology and superstition.



http://hostarea.de/out.php/i316732_schleicher1.jpg (http://hostarea.de/show.php/316732_schleicher1.jpg.html)



http://hostarea.de/out.php/i316733_schleicher2.jpg (http://hostarea.de/show.php/316733_schleicher2.jpg.html)


http://hostarea.de/out.php/i316734_schleicher3.jpg (http://hostarea.de/show.php/316734_schleicher3.jpg.html)

http://hostarea.de/out.php/i316735_schleicher4.jpg (http://hostarea.de/show.php/316735_schleicher4.jpg.html)


August Schleicher: Briefe an den Secretär, über die Erfolge einer nach Litauen unternommenen wissenschaftlichen Reise. In: Sitzungsberichte. Philosophisch-historische Classe der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien. 1853

http://books.google.de/books?id=A30FAAAAQAAJ&pg=PP12&dq=August+Schleicher&as_brr=1&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=August%20Schleicher&f=false

[Pure ja]

Perkūnas (Lithuanian: Perkūnas, Latvian: Pērkons, Prussian: Perkūns, Finnish: Perkele, Yotvingian: Parkuns)


He was the common Baltic god of thunder, one of the most important deities in the Baltic pantheon. In both Lithuanian and Latvian mythology, he is documented as the god of thunder, rain, mountains, oak trees and the sky.

http://www.romuva.lt/new/uploads/images/Perkunas2.jpg http://www.romuva.lt/new/uploads/images/Perkunas.jpg


Perkele.

Põrguline (in estonian) = Hell-dweller, the Devil
põrkuma (eemale) = to bounce (off)
põrkama (vastu) = to bounce (against)
põrgatama = to dribble basketball :-), to smash (elementary particles)
põrguti = particle collider
põruma = to jolt, to fail (in an exam)
põrunud professor = nutty professor

pragu = crack
pragune+ma = to break up, to crack
pragama = to scold (with someone)
pröökama = to crack at someone (põder pröökab = moose cracks at man)
röökima = to roar, to bellow
praak = product with a defect, a scrap
pragin = cracking noise (often associated with branches cracking in a fire)

(nahka) parkima = to tuck (skin)

[Hercus Monte]

Põrguline (in estonian) = Hell-dweller, the Devil

Perkūnas is not the devil, he's just an extremely unpleasant, evil god.

[Pure ja]

Perkūnas is not the devil, he's just an extremely unpleasant, evil god.

Piru (finnish) = Devil
pirrud (estonian) = lighting sticks
pird (singular) = lighting stick
pire (estonian) / pirteä (finnish) = perky, swift

[Pure ja]

Perkūnas is not the devil, he's just an extremely unpleasant, evil god.

There is one who is both at sky and underground - a fallen meteorite.
Such meteorite craters in Estonia are often called as an entrance / hallway to hell (põrgu eeskoda), or the grave of hell (Ilumetsa Põrguhaud).

Ilumetsa meteorite impact is estimated to be more than 6600 years old.

If I would try to translate Perkūnas as a fallen meteorite into estonian language, it would be
'põrkune' = the one that has impacted on the ground and either bounced or smashed, cracking the ground in the process and also causing a cracking sound. And it came swiftly as a jolt of fire.

[Hercus Monte]

There is one who is both at sky and underground - a fallen meteorite.
Such meteorite craters in Estonia are often called as an entrance / hallway to hell (põrgu eeskoda), or the grave of hell (Ilumetsa Põrguhaud).

Ilumetsa meteorite impact is estimated to be more than 6600 years old.

If I would try to translate Perkūnas as a fallen meteorite into estonian language, it would be
'põrkune' = the one that has impacted on the ground and either bounced or smashed, cracking the ground in the process and also causing a cracking sound. And it came swiftly as a jolt of fire.
Perkūnas in not linked to the underworld, he's the god of sky and havens.
the gods that are linked with hell are Praamžius, Prakorimas (Prakūrimas) and Pikuolis (Pikulas, Patulas, Piktulis, Drebkulis, Dargūnas, Galūnas, Ragočius, Pikčius, Pragarėlis, Tratintojas).

[Pure ja]

Perkūnas in not linked to the underworld, he's the god of sky and havens.
the gods that are linked with hell are Praamžius, Prakorimas (Prakūrimas) and Pikuolis (Pikulas, Patulas, Piktulis, Drebkulis, Dargūnas, Galūnas, Ragočius, Pikčius, Pragarėlis, Tratintojas).

Pikuolis / Pikulas / Piktulis?

And the estonian thunder (god) is often called Pikne.

Pitkänen -> Pitkane -> Pitkne -> Pikne
Also can be called as Pikku, Piku.

Pikk+ne = tallish

Mostly associated with a sky god, but sometimes also depicted as a devil.
--------
The connection between Põrgu and Estonian meteorite craters is quite clear. Põrgu is not only about meteorites, but meteorite craters are almost all about Põrgu (or a fallen Sun).

Baltic inhabitants only saw what came down from the sky, they didn't witness the actual impact.
Estonian ancestors have witnessed at least 3 large meteorite impacts during holocene. We are the experts here ;-)

[Hercus Monte]

​^

Piktulis literally means angry man.
Perkūnas literally means thunder. Per - through, kūnas - body. (goes straight through the body).



--------
The connection between Põrgu and Estonian meteorite craters is quite clear. Põrgu is not only about meteorites, but meteorite craters are almost all about Põrgu (or a fallen Sun).

Baltic inhabitants only saw what came down from the sky, they didn't witness the actual impact.
Estonian ancestors have witnessed at least 3 large meteorite impacts during holocene. We are the experts here ;-)
that's an interseting theory, but Perkūnas is an Indo-european god, his closest relatives (apart from Finnish Perkele) are Thor, Þunraz (the common Germanic thunder god) and the Slavic Perun.

I doubt witnessing something like a meteor coming down to Estonia could have spread one of the most universal pagan deities in europe.

all of them are derived from Perkwunos.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perkwunos

[Hercus Monte]

on the topic of Meteorite craters.
Skomand already posted about this, so I'm just gonna add some more information about this ''devil''.

Aitvaras (Atvaras, atvars, Kaukas, Pūkis, Damavykas, Sparyžius, Koklikas, Gausinėlis, Žaltvikšas, and Spirukas)
.............In Finnish folklore, Ajatar (also spelled Aiatar, Ajattaro or Ajattara)
............ In Estonian Äi, Äijo or Äijattar.

An Aitvaras looks like a white or black rooster with a fiery tail (meteorite). An Aitvaras may hatch from an egg of a 9–15 year old rooster. If the Aitvaras dies, he becomes a spark.
In many cases, this Lithuanian creature is described as having the appearance of a rooster while indoors and the appearance of a dragon outdoors. An Aitvaras will lodge itself in a house and will most often refuse to leave. It brings both good and bad luck to the inhabitants of the house. Aitvaras provide their adopted home with stolen gold and grain, often getting the household into trouble. According to many, an Aitvaras can be purchased from the devil - the price being that person's soul.

http://i.imgur.com/F7MNZe7.jpg

[Pure ja]

on the topic of Meteorite craters.
Skomand already posted about this, so I'm just gonna add some more information about this ''devil''.

Aitvaras (Atvaras, atvars, Kaukas, Pūkis, Damavykas, Sparyžius, Koklikas, Gausinėlis, Žaltvikšas, and Spirukas)
.............In Finnish folklore, Ajatar (also spelled Aiatar, Ajattaro or Ajattara)
............ In Estonian Äi, Äijo or Äijattar.

An Aitvaras looks like a white or black rooster with a fiery tail (meteorite). An Aitvaras may hatch from an egg of a 9–15 year old rooster. If the Aitvaras dies, he becomes a spark.
In many cases, this Lithuanian creature is described as having the appearance of a rooster while indoors and the appearance of a dragon outdoors. An Aitvaras will lodge itself in a house and will most often refuse to leave. It brings both good and bad luck to the inhabitants of the house. Aitvaras provide their adopted home with stolen gold and grain, often getting the household into trouble. According to many, an Aitvaras can be purchased from the devil - the price being that person's soul.


Äi / Äijö is just another name for Ukko / Uku.

However, in my mind, Ait+varas and Kaukas associate with estonian 'kratt' and 'pisuhänd' - which were flying creatures who had to steal riches from others and bring it back to the master.

Here is a nice description:
http://www.para-web.org/archive/index.php/thread-4511.html

ait (in estonian) = barn
varas = a thief
kaugas = pouch, bag
kaukas = in the bag, in the pouch

Pūkis ~ (in estonian) Puuk = a tick (who sucks the blood / riches of victims)

So, basically, we are talking about thiefs and pocket thiefs here ;-)

I am sure that those words have a different meaning in baltic languages :-)

However, note that 'pisu+händ' actually also relates to Pikne / Pitkne, since 'pisu' is used both as a 'small' and as a 'tall' (in finnish language 'pisin' is 'the longest') and hence 'pisuhänd' designates a flying creature with a long tail. Falling meteorites have long tails.

There are other names for similar creatures - (flying) snakes, Põhja Konn (Nordic Frog), etc.
According to scandinavian sagas, the last European dragon was killed in Estonian Läänemaa.

EDIT.
And even the estonian national epic Kalevipoeg ends with the verse that eerily speaks about another coming of a meteorite:

http://et.wikisource.org/wiki/Lühikene_seletus_Kalevipoja_laulude_sisust#XX

Aga ükskord algab aega,
Kus kõik pirrud kahel otsal
Lausa lähvad lõkendama;
Lausa tuleleeki lõikab
Käe kalju kammitsasta:
Küll siis Kalev jõuab koju
Oma lastel õnne tooma,
Eesti põlve uueks looma."

(my own free translation)
Once there will come time,
when all lighting sticks
catch fire on both ends;
bisecting flames of fire,
trapped hand (pulls) from the cliff-wall:
then will Kalev come back home
bring his children luck and fortune,
to recreate a new generation of estonians.

The three sons of Old Kalev are likely the three holocene meteorite impacts into Estonia - Tsõõrikmäe, Ilumetsa, Kaali. The youngest and strongest son Kalevipoeg would be the Kaali meteorite, which is also the youngest and largest of the three meteorite impacts. Old Kalev himself could be either the newly-found Vaida crater or more likely the much larger Neugrund crater. Neugrund crater has littered much of the Estonian coastal areas and islands with ejected large stone boulders. As I already wrote once, the grave of Odin in Odensholm island is the closest land spot to the Neugrund meteorite crater. And the Karja church in Saaremaa carries the same symbol (Karja triskele, look to the left) that is also associated with Odin. Due to the Neugrund impact crater, Odensholm / Osmussaar is also near underground faults, which sometimes cause earthquakes - largest in Estonia. Neugrund meteorite crater would be the hallway to Hell that the dead Kalevipoeg was sent by Taara to guard, so that the Devil could not escape. And the fist of Kalevipoeg is stuck either in the crater wall, or in the Baltic Clint (the largest wall in the neighbourhood), which passes by nearby. When Kalevipoeg tries to get his fist free, it causes earthquakes.

The Neugrund crater is an impressive "land"-formation (underwater), it might have been a dry ground shortly at the initial stage of the last ice age, when the Balto-Scandian ice sheet was still forming. It is even possible that the Neugrund "land"-formation had some significance to the early humans who inhabited the region before the last ice age and who somehow guessed the origin of the impact crater.

So, the ending verse is certainly right in the sense that if another meteorite will impact Estonia, it will certainly change the future of estonians. But the verse also suggests that the ancestors of estonians were good at profiting from the fame of the land of fallen meteorites and fallen suns. If another one falls, it would become a significant tourist attraction, for sure ;-)

But this speculation would also again show that the epic of Kalevipoeg is not a far-fetched fairytale, at least not entirely.

[Hercus Monte]

ait (in estonian) = barn
varas = a thief
kaugas = pouch, bag
kaukas = in the bag, in the pouch


hope this helps you out.

daržinė; klojimas; kluonas; klėtis = barn
Vagis = a thief
maišiukas; krepšelis = pouch, bag
maišiuke; krepšelį = in the bag, in the pouch

[lI]

I recently had a pleasure of stubling upon a Lithuanian equivalent of Pure ja, just thought I'd share:

Neseniai buvau Lenkijoje ir vienas senas lenkų žolininkas pavaišino midum su gydomąja žole.
Jis tą gėrimą pavadino - LITWOROWKA.
Paklausiau, iš kur toks keistas pavadinimas, panašiai skamba, kaip nuo LITWA...
O jis ir sako: ši žolė iš Tatrų priekalnių, kur kažkadais ir buvo jūsų LITWA http://forum.istorija.net/images/emoticons/sm12.gif
Tai vos neužspringau tuo midum.
Ir, vėl klausiu, iš kur tokios žinios, o jis šyptelėjo į ūsą: seni žmonės pasakojo...

Gal ką girdėjote apie tą augalą:
Lenkų LITWOR - Vaistinė šventagaršvė (lot. Angelica archangelica).
http://www.infomed.lt/vaistazoles/vaistine_sventagarsve_lot_angelic (http://www.infomed.lt/vaistazoles/vaistine_sventagarsve_lot_angelica_archangelica-70d039911f.html)...

LIT + WOR (VOR), kur VOR reikštų senas, senobinis.
Tai taip išeitų - senovinis lietuvių gydomasis augalas - šventagaršvė?

Štai mūsų žynių, gyduolių palikimas iš Tatrų protėvynės.
Kažkaip faktai dėliojasi, kad kažkur Karpatuose ir Tatruose palikę slavus, į šiaurę nusidanginome iki Valdajaus ir Suomijos įlankos krantų.
Kur mūsų senasis TOLYNAS (dabartinis est. TALLINN)... http://www.lapetite-pologne.com/product_info.php?products_id=474

Taip taip - iš protėvynės. Ten dar ir Dunojus teka - iš čia visi tie Dunojėliai liaudies dainose.

Tolynas, tada Ilsintis ( Helsinkis ) - čia jau prolietuviai ilsėdavosi, o Nuovargio šalį - Nuovargiją - pasiekdavo visai pavargę. Pailsėję traukdavo į pietus - pakeliui įkurdami Uoslį, tada per Duoniją tiesiai traukdavo į Varlyną.


He also reminds me of a few episodes from this one (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgfb5wbep_Y) XD
pani profesora Lądowe
pan Giedriusz, profesor magistr historyk
&
po poiłiudnu z Brużem

[Hercus Monte]

I recently had a pleasure of stubling upon a Lithuanian equivalent of Pure ja, just thought I'd share:


He also reminds me of a few episodes from this one (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgfb5wbep_Y) XD
pani profesora Lądowe
pan Giedriusz, profesor magistr historyk
&
po poiłiudnu z Brużem
jo, būtent. O, vokiečiai( Vo kieti) tai išgirdę taip supyko, kad mes tą douniją ir Nouvargiją taip gerai pažystam, net mūsų bernus lynais(berlynas) sumušė. ;)

ir kur tokių kadrų randa?

[Pure ja]

​^

Piktulis literally means angry man.
Perkūnas literally means thunder. Per - through, kūnas - body. (goes straight through the body).


that's an interseting theory, but Perkūnas is an Indo-european god, his closest relatives (apart from Finnish Perkele) are Thor, Þunraz (the common Germanic thunder god) and the Slavic Perun.

I doubt witnessing something like a meteor coming down to Estonia could have spread one of the most universal pagan deities in europe.

all of them are derived from Perkwunos.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perkwunos

Be as it may, one needs to explain the estonian / baltic-finnic words.

[Hercus Monte]

Be as it may, one needs to explain the estonian / baltic-finnic words.
maybe they're just loan-words?

[Pure ja]

hope this helps you out.

daržinė; klojimas; kluonas; klėtis = barn
Vagis = a thief
maišiukas; krepšelis = pouch, bag
maišiuke; krepšelį = in the bag, in the pouch

It doesn't. But thanks anyway.
I am more interested in what the names of your deities derive from, not from pouches.

[Pure ja]

maybe they're just loan-words?

Might be.
But such loanwords should have a history.
A very old history, if we take into account the Ilumetsa meteorite impact dating of more than 6600 years ago.

[Hercus Monte]

Might be.
But such loanwords should have a history.
A very old history, if we take into account the Ilumetsa meteorite impact dating of more than 6600 years ago.
I doubt we should take a meteorite crater into account. don't get me wring, it's nice that you have it and all but I don't think such a relatively minor event left a lasting impression.
I think we have loan-words because we're neighbors.

[Pure ja]

​^

Piktulis literally means angry man.
Perkūnas literally means thunder. Per - through, kūnas - body. (goes straight through the body).


that's an interseting theory, but Perkūnas is an Indo-european god, his closest relatives (apart from Finnish Perkele) are Thor, Þunraz (the common Germanic thunder god) and the Slavic Perun.


Does it always have to be either one or the other?

Thor / Taara / Torum is a widely used deity, almost eurasiatic.

[Pure ja]

I doubt we should take a meteorite crater into account. don't get me wring, it's nice that you have it and all but I don't think such a relatively minor event left a lasting impression.


If in doubt, then just forget it.
FYI, it (meteorite impacts) certainly left a lasting impression to the baltic-finnic folk-lore.



I think we have loan-words because we're neighbors.

I am almost surprised that you are using 'we' form here, since it seems that you think it has been a one-way street and you doubt that we should consider any other direction at all.

[Hercus Monte]

I am almost surprised that you are using 'we' form here, since it seems that you think it has been a one-way street and you doubt that we should consider any other direction at all.
I'm certain we have/had loanwords as well (even if i'm not aware of them).
not just loanwords of course, old Lithuanian used to have three additional cases, formed under the influence of the Finnic languages.
the inessive case, illative case, adessive case and allative case, which correspond to the prepositions "in", "into", "at" and "towards", respectively. They were formed by affixing a postposition to one of the previous cases:


The inessive added -en to the original locative.
The illative added -n(a) to the accusative.
The adessive added -pie to the original locative.
The allative added -pie to the genitive.



The inessive has become the modern locative case, while the other three have disappeared.
as you see we still have one finnic case :p