Kurdalægon (Digor Ossetian: Курдалæгон), also spelled and known as Kuịrdalägon, Kurd-Alägon, Aläugon, Kurd-Alä-Uärgon,Digor Ossetian: Курд-Алӕ-Уӕргон is the heavenly deity of blacksmiths in Ossetian mythology. His epithet is "the heavenly one"; he shoes the dead man's horse, thus helping him on his journey to the other side. He is a close friend of the Narts.
Despite being associated with other blacksmith deities in different Indo-European mythologies (like Vulcan) he does not have the status of a god. Ossetian mythology is considered to be monotheistic, with only Xwytsau being considered God, and all the others (called zædtæ and dæwdžytæ) being considered deities of a lower class.
Etymology Ossetian is a contraction of , where Kurd and Alæ are epithets, meaning "blacksmith" and "Alan/Aryan", respectively, and Wærgon is the original name of Kurdalægon. The whole phrase means "Alan/Aryan Blacksmith Wærgon". Kurd originates from *kur-ta- or *kur-tar-, which is agent noun of *kur- "to heat", "to incandesce". Ossetian alæ originates from arya-, and originally meant "Aryan", and later "Alan".
The original name Wærgon is derived from Old Ossetic *wærg "wolf" (see Warg). The linguist Vasily Abaev compares it to the name of the Roman god Vulcan. But since the name in its normal form is stable and has a clear meaning—kurd ("smith") + Alaeg (the name of one of the Nartic families)+ on ("of the family")—this hypothesis has been considered unacceptable by Dumezil.G. Dumezil La religion romaine archaïque Paris, 1974, part II, chap. 2. It. tr. Milano 1977 p. 284 n. 12.
See also Tlepsh Vulcan Kaveh the Blacksmith
References
Sources Abaev, V.I. Historical-Etymological Dictionary of Ossetian language