Perëndi

Perëndi (definite Albanian form: Perëndia) is the Albanian word for God, the sky and heaven.[1][2][3] Perëndi is thought to have been a sky and thunder god in the Albanian pagan mythology,[4] and to have been worshiped by the Illyrians in antiquity.[5] His name has been retained in the Albanian language—along with the names Zot (Heavenly Father) and Hyj (Heavenly Glow)—to refer to the Supreme Being after the spread of Christianity.[6] Another archaic Albanian divine name of the sky and thunder god is Zojz, from PIE Dyeus (Daylight-Sky-God).[7] In some of his attributes, Perëndi could be related to the weather and storm gods Shurdh and Verbt,[5] and to the mythological demigod drangue.

Etymology

In Albanian, Perëndí (definite: Perëndía) is the name of God, the sky and heaven, and is used capitalized to refer to the Supreme Being. The plural indefinite form is perëndí while the plural definite form is perëndítë, used uncapitalized to refer to the deities. Some dialectal alternative forms include: Perendí, Perenní, Perundí, Perudí, Perndí and Parandí. Although the Albanian root perëndoj ("to set of the sun"), ultimately derived from Latin parentari, the passive correlate of parentare ("a sacrifice to the dead, to satisfy"), has also been proposed,[8] the complex form Perëndí is generally considered a compound of the roots per-en- ("to strike') and -dí ("sky, god"):[9]

  • The first element belongs to the family of Proto-Indo-European mythological names endowed with regular reflexes of the same root *per-, "to strike", and a suffix -en/n- which has reflexes also in other Indo-European divine names like *peruhₓnos "the one with the thunder stone", or Perun/Perunŭ, the Slavic thunder god, cf. *Perkwunos, the Proto-Indo-European weather-god.[3][10][11] The non-enlarged root *per- is found also in the Hittite Peruna- ("deity" and "holy cliff"), in the Pamir Perun (a war-god), cognate with Pashto Pērunē (the name for the Pleiades, cf. Avestan paoiriiaēinī-), and probably in Ancient Greek κεραυνός ("thunderbolt") an epithet of Zeus and the name of a separate deity, which might have been a synonymic substitution for the prohibited form *περαυνός. While velar enlargements are found in Lithuanian Perkūnas (which could be the prohibited form of Perūnas), in Old Norse Fjörgynn, in Rigvedic Parjanya (god of storm and rain) and probably in Thracian Perkos/Perkon (Περκων/Περκος), a horseman hero.[3][11][12] Terms from the root *pér-ur- and related to stone are also attested in Hitt. pēru ("rock, cliff, boulder"), Aves. pauruuatā ("mountains"), and Skt párvata ("rocky, cliff, mountain").[11][13][14]
    In the Albanian language, a word to refer to the lightning—considered in folk beliefs as the "fire of the sky"—is shkreptimë, a formation of shkrep meaning "to flash, tone, to strike (till sparks fly off)".[15] An association between strike, stones and fire, can be related to the observation that one can kindle fire by striking stones against each other. The act of producing fire through a strike—reflected also in the belief that fire is residual within the oak trees after the thunder-god strikes them—indicates the potential of lightning in the myth of creation.[11]

The Proto-Indo-European theonymic roots *dei- ("to shine") and *perkwu-s ("sky/rain/oak associations") may be grouped together under the classifications of "celestial luminosity".[20] In ritual songs for rainmaking, Albanians used to pray to the Sun (Dielli, Shën Dëlliu, Ilia or Perëndia) and after repeating three times the invocation, they used to say: Do kemi shi se u nxi Shëndëlliu ("We will have rain because the Holy Sun went dark").[21]

Mythology

In Albanian mythology, Perëndi is the consort of the love-goddess Prende, comparable to Frigg, Odin's wife in Norse mythology.[22]

Rituals

Lightning and thunder-stones

In Albanian folk beliefs the lightning was regarded as the "fire of the sky" (zjarri i qiellit) and was considered the "weapon of the deity" (arma/pushka e perëndisë), indeed an Albanian word to refer to the lightning is rrufeja, related to the Thracian rhomphaia, an ancient pole weapon.[23] Albanians believed in the supreme powers of thunder-stones (kokrra e rrufesë or guri i rejës), which were believed to be formed during lightning strikes and to be fallen from the sky. Thunder-stones were preserved in family life as important cult objects. It was believed that bringing them inside the house could bring good fortune, prosperity and progress in people, in livestock and in agriculture, or that rifle bullets would not hit the owners of the thunder-stones.[23] A common practice was to hung a thunder-stone pendant on the body of the cattle or on the pregnant woman for good luck and to contrast the evil eye.[24]

In Albanian culture, the heaviest type of oath swearing (Alb. beja më e rëndë) is taken by a thunder-stone "which comes from the sky" (beja me gur/kokërr reje/rrufeje që vjen nga perëndia). It was a very serious oath and people were afraid of it even though they were telling the truth.[24] The act of absolving himself of any allegation of theft was performed in the following way: the thunder-stone was taken in the left hand and was touched by the right hand saying:[25]

Për këtë kokërr rejet, nuk ta kam vjedhë as unë, as kush i shpisë sime e nuk e di se kush ta ka vjedhë! Në të rrejsha, reja më gjoftë!

I swear by this thunder-stone that I have not stolen it, nor anyone of my house and I don't know who stole it! If I lied to you, cloud strike me!

Rainmaking

Perëndi is especially invoked by Albanians in incantations and songs praying for rain.[2] Rituals were performed in times of summer drought to make it rain, usually in June and July, but sometimes also in the spring months when there was severe drought. In different Albanian regions, for rainmaking purpose, people threw water upwards to make it subsequently fall to the ground in the form of rain. This was an imitative type of magic practice with ritual songs.[26]

In Nowruz or in the Albanian Spring Day (Dita e Verës), in particular, in some villages of the region of Kurvelesh in southern Albania people addressed the following prayer to the deity for plants and cattle:[27]

O perëndi, nepna shi në vërri!
Të bëhet misri dhe shelegu me bri!

Oh 'sky', give us rain on winter pastures!
So that corn may be made and lamb grow horns!

The following is a hetero-homometric ritual song for rainmaking which includes also the figure of Peperona (or Rona, in other cases also Perperuga, Dudula or the masculine form Dordolec or Durdulec), a traditional mythical character of Balkan folklore:[28]

Rona-rona, Peperona,
bjerë shi ndë arat tona!
Të bëhetë thekëri
i gjatë gjer në çati,
gruri gjer në perëndi,
ashtu edhe misëri!

Rona-rona, Peperona,
pour rain on our fields!
So that oats will frow
as high as the roof,
wheat as high as the 'sky'.
and corn as well!

See also

References
  1. West 2007, p. 240.
  2. Gamkrelidze 1995, p. 528.
  3. Jakobson 1985, pp. 6, 19-21.
  4. Poghirc 1987, p. 178.
  5. Treimer 1971, pp. 31–33.
  6. Lurker 2005, p. 150.
  7. Mann 1952, pp. 32.
  8. Orel 1998, pp. 315–316.
  9. West 2007, pp. 242–244; Mallory & Adams 1997, pp. 582–583; Jakobson 1985, pp. 6, 19–21; Treimer 1971, pp. 31–33.
  10. West 2007, pp. 166–167, 242-244.
  11. Mallory & Adams 1997, p. 582–583.
  12. Jackson 2002, p. 75–76.
  13. Kloekhorst 2008, p. 669.
  14. de Vaan 2008, pp. 506–507.
  15. Demiraj 1997, pp. 363-364.
  16. West 2007, pp. 167, 242-244.
  17. Demiraj 1997, pp. 431-432.
  18. Mann 1977, p. 72.
  19. Treimer 1971, p. 32.
  20. York 1993, pp. 230–240, 248.
  21. Gjoni 2012, pp. 85–86.
  22. Lambertz 1973, pp. 455-509.
  23. Tirta 2004, pp. 82, 406.
  24. Tirta 2004, p. 101.
  25. Tirta 2004, p. 102.
  26. Tirta 2004, p. 310.
  27. Tirta 2004, p. 308.
  28. Pipa 1978, p. 58.

Bibliography
  • Demiraj, Bardhyl (1997). Albanische Etymologien: Untersuchungen zum albanischen Erbwortschatz. Leiden Studies in Indo-European (in German). 7. Amsterdam, Atlanta: Rodopi.
  • de Vaan, Michiel (2008). Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages. Brill. ISBN 9789004167971.
  • Gamkrelidze, Ivanov (1995). Indo-European and the Indoeuropeans. Mouton de Gruyter.
  • Gjoni, Irena (2012). Marrëdhënie të miteve dhe kulteve të bregdetit të Jonit me areale të tjera mitike (PhD) (in Albanian). Tirana: University of Tirana, Faculty of History and Philology.
  • Jakobson, Roman (1985). "Linguistic Evidence in Comparative Mythology". In Stephen Rudy (ed.). Roman Jakobson: Selected Writings. VII: Contributions to Comparative Mythology: Studies in Linguistics and Philology, 1972–1982. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 9783110855463.
  • Jackson, Peter (2002). "Light from Distant Asterisks. Towards a Description of the Indo-European Religious Heritage". Numen. 49 (1): 61–102. doi:10.1163/15685270252772777. ISSN 0029-5973. JSTOR 3270472.
  • Kloekhorst, Alwin (2008). Etymological Dictionary of the Hittite Inherited Lexicon. Brill. ISBN 9789004160927.
  • Lambertz, Maximilian (1973). "Die Mythologie der Albaner - Perëndi". In Hans Wilhelm Haussig (ed.). Wörterbuch der Mythologie (in German). 2. pp. 455–509.
  • Mallory, James P.; Adams, Douglas Q. (1997). Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-884964-98-5. (EIEC).
  • Lurker, Manfred (2005). The Routledge Dictionary of Gods and Goddesses, Devils and Demons. Routledge, Taylor & Francis. ISBN 0-203-64351-8.

Mann, Stuart E. (1952). "The Indo-European Consonants in Albanian". Language. Linguistic Society of America. 28 (1): 31–40. doi:10.2307/409988. JSTOR 409988.

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