Dana - according to N. I. Kostomarov , the goddess of water in Slavic mythology , the patroness of rivers, streams and reservoirs [1] . The hypothesis is considered erroneous by modern science.
Kostomarov's construction
Comparing Slavic and other European mythologies on the subject of a female deity of water, N.I. Kostomarov came to the conclusion that such a deity existed among the Eastern Slavs. He argues his conclusion by citing the names of the rivers: Dvina, Danube, Don, Dnieper (Danapris) and the refrain in ritual songs: given, given . He compared these roots with the West Slavic names Devonia, Dzevanna and the Celtic Divon, concluding that this root and a similar deity were preserved among the Eastern Slavs, which was expressed in the above hydronyms and refrain. About Dan Kostomarov writes: “like water, the beginning of things, always beautiful, always fresh, she was a virgin and together a wife, that is, the wife of the sun.”
Modern point of view
Modern science does not even comment on this conclusion of Kostomarov, in view of its groundlessness and fallacy. They are especially noticeable, given modern scientific evidence.
The reasons for the appearance of such "deities" were described by L. N. Vinogradova:
Motivated by the desire to describe Slavic mythology by analogy with the elaborate antique, the authors of the first works on Slavic paganism created long lists of so-called "deities", the names of which were obtained in sometimes very dubious ways (for example, obscure names and names found in sayings, conspiracies, formulas were used oaths and curses, song refrains, etc., and then some mythological image was conceived). Thus arose (and, unfortunately, still do not leave the pages of some of the latest mythological dictionaries) numerous cherries, ice, lovers, zevoi, paillanders, zimzers and other artificially created "characters" whose inclusion in the archaic beliefs of the Slavs is not confirmed by reliable written sources, nor the data of oral folk culture [2] .
According to modern linguistics, the hydronyms Don , Dnieper (here the Dniester , Donets , etc.) are of Iranian origin - cf. Osset. don , avest. dānu- , Skt. dấnu- [3] . The hydronym Danube is of Celtic origin ( Dānuvius ), probably related to the above root. Dvina hydronym has a different root, in no way connected with the above, which so far does not have a generally recognized satisfactory etymology [4] .
The names Virgo, Devonia , to which Kostomarov appeals, trying to justify their constructions, are not the names of any particular female deity, in reality these are Mokoshi epithets [5] .
Notes
- ↑ Kostomarov M. І. I. The meaning of the mythology of the Slavs // Slov'yanska mіfologіya. Vibrancy prazі z folklore studies and literary studies / Order., Prim. І. P. Betko, A.M. Polotay; entry into Art. M.T. Yatsenka. - K .: Libid, 1994 .-- S. 201-256. - 384 p. - (Literary memory of Ukraine). - ISBN 5-325-00183-3 .
- ↑ Vinogradova L.N. Folk demonology and the mythological and ritual tradition of the Slavs. M .: Indrik, 2000.S. 7.
- ↑ Toporov V.N. , Trubachev O.N. Linguistic analysis of the hydronyms of the Upper Dnieper. M.: Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1962.S. 224.
- ↑ Fasmer M. Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language
- ↑ Zubov N.I. Scientific Phantoms of the Slavic Olympus Archived May 23, 2011 on the Wayback Machine // Living Old. M., 1995. No. 3 (7). S. 46-48.