Goddess Demeter and some Issues of the Georgian Pagan Cosmogony

Abstract

This article is the attempt of definition of the archaic meanings of several lexemes.
There are diVerent views on the meaning of the first part of Greek Goddess Demeter`s (Δημήτηρ) name - De
(De-meter).
In our opinion, de derives from Proto-Indo-European (PIE) root *dyeu- (“to shine”, “heaven”, “god”). From
this root are derived following words related with God: «Sanskrit deva “god” (literally “shining one”); diva
“by day”; Avestan dava- “spirit, demon”; Greek delos “clear”; Latin dies “day”, deus “god”; Welsh diw, Breton
deiz “day”; Armenian tiw “day”; Lithuanian dievas “god”, deina “day”; Old Church Slavonic dini, Polish dzień,
Russain den “day”; Old Norse tivar “gods”; Old English Tig, genitive Tives, name of a god» (Online Etimology
Dictionary https://www.etymonline.com/word/*dyeu-#etymonline_v_52651). (21.05.2022) Whereas this lexeme
produces several words associated with God, in our opinion, it is not impossible that the word semantically
close to Goddess was derived from same root; as Demeter is a female deity associated with fertility, birth,
origination of the new life and de, the first part of her name is phonologically close to the above mentioned
root, we regard that it is quite possible that this de was associated with the root *dyeu-, transformed from it,
with the meaning of “deity mother”.
According to the widespread opinion, the second part of Demeter (meter)originates from PIE root *mater-
(“mother”); assuming that the word de, having the meaning “mother”, comprises the first part of this composite
name, one can oVer that the initial meaning of the second part would be slightly diVerent and Mater in the
early period meant the “parent”, “birth giver”; in our opinion, Demeter includes two PIE roots (*dyeu+*mater- >
Demeter) and its meaning is “deity mother parent” (words from root *mater in English and other Indo-European languages, influenced by one of the languages, possibly have further changed their semantics and later
formed into lexemes with meaning of “Mother”).
We regard that Georgian word Dedamits’a (dedamiwa, – its modern meaning – “Mother Earth”) is also
associated with PIE *dyeu root. Exploring of the first part of this word, deda (deda – “Mother”) in the context of
the other Kartvelian, particularly Svan, Mingrelian words diuo (diუ̂o), de (de), dia (dia) oVer that archaic form
of word deda sounded as diuo or dea, dia – as *dyeu-,the PIE root with the semantics of “god” and supposedly
reconstructed Kartvelian lexemes, phonologically and semantically are close to one another, we regard that
the hypothesis that they could be semantically linked closer, and that proposed meaning of archaic Kartvelian
word was not only mother, but also deity mother and that it originated from the above root; we regard that
დედა ღვთაება დემეტრე და ქართული წარმართული კოსმოგონიის ზოგიერთი საკითხი
૰ฌ෢૰ ૰ฌʼa (miwa), the other part of dedamiwt’sa is derived from Proto-Indo-European root as well, in particular,
from *mater-; we propose that in Georgian language word meter has obtained the form mit’sa and its meaning
became “earth” (stages of transformation of the second part of Georgian word can be provided as follows:
*mater- > meter > metra > mitra > mitsʼra > mitsʼa); in our opinion, word dedamits’a initially sounded like diuo
mater /meter (diუ̂o mater /meter) and its meaning was “deity mother parent”. Discussing these issues, the
work provides examples of replacement of consonant t (t) with consonant tsʼ (w).
Further, in the article we focus on the PIE root *(s)keu-, that is regarded as the origin of modern English
word sky and other Indo-European words with the same semantics, with the meaning of “cover”, “conceal”.
In relation with the mentioned root we considered skneli (skneli), Georgian lexeme philologically close to it,
which, ater attaching of Georgian sujx ze (Ze-skneli /ze-skneli ), obtains meaning of “Sky” and ater adding
of Georgian sujx qve (qve-skneli /qve-skneli) its meaning is underworld, hell. Meaning of Georgian word
skneli is not precisely specified yet, we have studied this lexeme in the context of the other Georgian words
and Kartvelian root as well and this allowed assuming that skneli means “the restricted place divided from the
other spheres” and its meanings are also associated with “covering” and “concealing”; as skneli is semantically
closely associated with *(s)keu-, we oVered that it originates from this root.
The article mentions also that Greek lexeme σκότος (`darkness~), in our opinion, originates from *(s)keuas well; this lexeme is mentioned several times in the Gospel and it implies dark depth (Sheol, gehenna), that
is also divided from the world and cannot be seen from here.
In the work we have also studied genesis of Georgian word varkulavi (varskulavi, – “Star”). In our opinion,
archaic form of the mentioned lexeme is ma-/r/skul-ar-i (ma/r/skul-ar-i), meaning, in English “being in the
sky”, “living in heaven”. Consequently, we oVered that in the opinion of pagan Georgians (Kartli has converted
to Christianity at the state level in early 4th century) the stars were the angels living in the heaven – zeskneli,
seen from the Earth as stars (according to I. Javakhishvili, pagan Georgians knew seven heavens, i.e. they
believed that there were higher heavens above zeskneli).
As we can see, etymology of the words is very helpful for better understanding of Georgian pagan religion.
Work focuses on the following issue as well: though Kartvelian languages do not belong to Indo-European
family, there still are some common points between Kartvelian languages and the ones of this family. This
could be explained by introduction of words from one language into the other; we do not reject the theory
known in the linguistics, according to which, the fact of interrelation between the words could indicate distant
relation between the languages.