Dheghom

Dheghom ( or ; ), or (, lit. 'the Broad One'), is the reconstructed name of the Earth-goddess in the Proto-Indo-European mythology.

The Mother Earth () is generally portrayed as the vast () and dark () abode of mortals, the one who bears all things and creatures. She is often paired with Dyēus, the daylight sky and seat of the never-dying and heavenly gods, in a relationship of contrast and union, since the fructifying rains of Dyēus bring nourishment and prosperity to local communities through formulaic invocations. Dheghom is thus commonly associated in Indo-European traditions with fertility, growth, and death, and is conceived as the origin and final dwelling of human beings.

Name and etymology The Proto-Indo-European (PIE) word for 'earth', Dheghom (acc. , gen. ), is among the most widely attested words in Indo-European languages (cf. Albanian and ; Hittite , ; Sanskrit ; Greek ; Latin ; Avestan ; Tocharian ; Old Irish , Lithuanian ; Old Slavonic ), which makes it one of the most securely reconstructed PIE terms. On the other hand, the linguistic evidence for the ritualization of the name is not systematically spread across the inherited traditions, as she also appears under other names and epithets, principally (the 'Broad One').

If the PIE Earth-goddess is reliably reconstructed under the name Dheghom, with being one of her epithets, she was most likely the Earth herself conceived as a divine entity, rather than a goddess of the earth, Proto-Indo-European mythology still relying on a strong animistic substrate.

Epithets Based on comparative analysis of textual and epigraphic evidence, historical linguists and philologists have been able to reconstruct with a comfortable level of certainty several epithets and expressions that were associated with Dheghom in Proto-Indo-European times: (the 'Broad One'), ('Mother-Earth'), and, in this form or a similar one, ('Dark Earth').

The Broad One The commonest epithet applied to the earth in Indo-European poetic traditions is (the 'Broad One'), which is the feminine form of , meaning 'flat, vast, broad'. A group of cognates appear in various divine names, including the Vedic earth-goddess , the Greek nymph Plataia, the Gaulish goddess Litavī, and Norse Fold (a name of Jörð). The epithet is also attested in nearly identical poetic expressions associating and : Avestan ('broad earth'), Sanskrit ('broad earth'), and Old Hittite ('broad ... earth[-genius]').

Another similar epithet is the 'All-Bearing One', the one who bears all things and creatures. She was also referred to as 'much-nourishing' or 'rich-pastured' in Vedic, Greek, and Old Norse ritual expressions sharing the root ('much').

In the Proto-Indo-European cosmology, the earth was likely perceived as a vast, flat and circular continent surrounded by waters ('The Ocean').

Mother Earth The Earth-goddess was widely celebrated with the title of 'mother' (), and often paired with , the 'sky-father'. She is called ('Mother Earth-genius') in Hittite liturgy, and paired with the Storm-god of heaven, as well as ('Mother Moist Earth') in the Russian epic poems. To the Vedic goddess of the earth Prithvi is often attached the epithet ('mother') in the Rigveda, especially when she is mentioned together with Dyaus, the sky-father. The Baltic earth-goddess Zemyna is likewise associated with the epithets 'Mother of the Fields' and 'Mother of the Forests'.Dixon-Kennedy, Mike. Encyclopedia of Russian and Slavic myth and legend. ABC-CLIO. 1998. p. 320. . She is also treated respectfully as mother of humans. Similarly, the cult of the "Earth Mother" in old Slavic religion and traditions associated the earth with the progenetrix's role.Matossian, Mary Kilbourne. "In the Beginning, God Was a Woman". In: Journal of Social History 6, no. 3 (1973): 334-335. Accessed April 11, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3786544. In a legend from Smolensk, it is told that a human has three mothers: a birth mother () and two great () mothers, Mother Moist Earth and the Mother of God.Ingerflom, Claudio-Sergio; Kondratieva, Tamara. "«Bez carja zemlja vdova»: Syncrétisme dans le Vremennik d'Ivan Timofeev". In: Cahiers du monde russe et soviétique, vol. 34, n°1-2, Janvier-Juin 1993. Noblesse, État et société en Russie XVIe - début du XIXe siècle. pp. 262. [DOI: https://doi.org/10.3406/cmr.1993.2352]; www.persee.fr/doc/cmr_0008-0160_1993_num_34_1_2352 Additionally, the Anglo-Saxon goddess Erce (possibly meaning 'bright, pure') is called the 'mother of Earth' () and likely identified with Mother Earth herself in a ritual to be performed on an unfruitful plough-land. She is also called ('Mother of men') in Old English poetry.

A similar epithet, Mother of All (), is ascribed to the Greek earth-goddess Gaia, as recorded for instance in Aeschylus' Prometheus Unbound (; "Oh! universal mother Earth"),Aeschylus (1926). Herbert W. Smyth (transl.) Prometheus Bound. 88. Harvard University Press. and in The Libation Bearers (; Mother Gaia).Aeschylus (1926). Herbert W. Smyth (transl.) The Libation Bearers. 45. Harvard University Press. Likewise, several of the Orphic Hymns attach the epithet 'mother' to Earth ().Macedo, José Marcos; Kölligan, Daniel; Barbieri, Pedro. Πολυώνυμοι. A Lexicon of the Divine Epithets in the Orphic Hymns. Würzburg University Press, 2021. p. 127. . In a Samaveda hymn dedicated to the Vedic fire god Agni, he is described as "rapidly ... [moving] along his mother earth". In an Atharva Veda hymn (12.1) (Pṛthvī Sūkta, or Bhūmī Sūkta), the celebrant invokes Prithvi as his Mother, because he is "a son of Earth". The word bhūmi is also used as an epithet of Prithvi meaning 'soil' and in reference to a threefold division of the universe into heavens, sky, and earth.Soiver, Deborah A., State University of New York Press (Nov 1991), p. 51, The Myths of Narasimha and Vamana: Two Avatars in Cosmological Perspective On her own, Bhūmi is another Vedic deity with Mother-Earth attributes.

The Greek goddess of the harvest and agriculture Demeter could also be a cognate, possibly deriving from an Illyrian root dā- (from ) attached to māter ('mother'), although this proposition remains controversial in scholarship. The Roman evidence for the idea of Earth as a mother is doubtful, as it is usually associated with the name Terra rather than Tellus (the pre-Imperial earth-goddess), and the attested tradition may have been influenced by Greek motifs.

In Albanian the Earth Mother Goddess or Great Mother (Magna Mater) is simply referred to as Dhé "Earth", and traces of her worship have been preserved in Albanian tradition.; ; .

Dark Earth Another Proto-Indo-European epithet, *dʰéǵʰōm dʰengwo- or *dʰéǵʰōm dʰṇgu- ('dark earth'), can be reconstructed from the Hittite formulae dankuiš dagan-zipaš ('dark genius of the earth') and dankuš tēkan, which were frequently used to name the underworld, but sometimes also the earth's surface, and partially from the Albanian and Slavonic expressions dhe të zi ('black earth') and *črnā(yā) zemyā ('dark earth'), which have retained the term *dʰéǵʰōm. Other reflexes can be found in Greek Gaia Melaina (γαîα μέλαινα; 'black earth'), or in Old Irish domun donn ('brown earth'). A Lithuanian expression takes the form "may the black earth not support me".

In Latvian dainas about plant fertility, the color black symbolized a good and abundant harvest, and the black soil was considered the most fertile.Ūsaitytė, Jurgita. "Žemės epitetas: tradicijos kaita" [The Epithet of the Earth: The Change of Tradition]. In: Tautosakos darbai [Folklore Studies]. 2000, 19. pp. 58-59, 61. In a Russian fairy tale, the maiden is buried "under a blanket of black earth".Ransome, Arthur. Old Peter's Russian Tales. London and Edinburgh: T. C. & E. C. Jack, Ltd., 1916. pp. 32-36.

A formula *čṛnā(jā) zemjā ('dark earth') can be reconstructed based on expressions found in the southern Slavic-speaking area, in ritual and burial contexts, like Ukrainian čorna zemlicja (in a Christmas carol); Slovene černa zemlja (in incantations); Bulgarian černata (in relation to the Earth, in curses), oženich se zadevojka černozemka (metaphor for 'to die young'), "черна земя" ('black earth');ДЯБЕВЯ, МЯРИЯНД ЕВ. "ЕПИТЕТИ въ БЪЛГЯРСКЯТЯ НДРОДНЯ ПЪСЕНЬ". СОФИЯ: Печатница "Култура". 1939. pp. 124, 203, 270. Serbo-Croatian zagrlila (poljubila) ga je (crna) zemlja (meaning 'he has died'); Serbian crna zemlja.

In another line of scholarship, the formula of the dark earth seems to be related to invocation or oaths, where the announcer summons the Earth as an observer or witness, as seen by Solon's elegiac Fragment 36. The Slavic deity 'Moist Earth' (Syra Zemlya) was similarly invoked during oaths and called to witness in land disputes.

Role

Mating with the Sky Father

The Earth goddess was conceived as the dark dwelling of mortals, in contrast with Dyēus, the bright diurnal sky and the seat of the gods. Both deities often appear as a pair, the Sky Father (*Dyḗws Ph₂tḗr) uniting with Mother Earth (*Dʰéǵʰōm Méh₂tēr) to bring fertility and growth. The Earth is thus often portrayed as the giver of good things: she is exhorted to become pregnant in an Old English prayer, and Slavic peasants described Zemlja as a prophetess that shall offer favourable harvest to the community. The unions of Zeus with Semele and Demeter is similarly associated with fertility and growth in Greek mythology. According to Jackson, however, Dʰéǵʰōm is "a more fitting partner of Perkwunos than of Dyēus", since the former is commonly associated with fructifying rains as a weather god.

The Earth–Heaven couple was probably not at the origin of the other heavenly gods. The Divine Twins and H2éwsōs seem to have been conceived by Dyēus alone, since they are mentioned through the formulaic expressions *Diwós Népoth1e ('Descendants of Dyēus') and *Diwós Dhuǵh2tḗr ('Daughter of Dyēus), respectively.

Anatolian In Hittite mythology, the Storm God of Heaven, one of the most important in the Hittite pantheon,Singer, Itamar. Hittite Prayers. Leiden: Brill. 2002. p. 82. has been syncretized with local Anatolian or Hattian deities, merging with a local storm god with terrestrial characteristics. At a later point, the Storm God of Heaven was paired with local goddess Wurulemu, with chthonic traits.Green, Alberto Ravinell Whitney. The Storm-god in the Ancient Near East. Published for Biblical and Judaic Studies - The University of California, San Diego. Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbraus. 2003. pp. 144-152.

Indo-Iranian

In the Vedic texts, Prithvi the mother is usually paired with Dyaus the father,"O Heaven (our) father, Earth (our) guileless mother", the Rigveda, 6.51.5, trans. West (2007). as shown for instance in Samaveda hymns.Samaveda. Book IV, Chapter I, Decade IV.Samaveda. Book VII, Chapter III, Hymn XIV. Due to their complementary relationship, they are celebrated as universal parents.Kinsley, David R. "Goddess in Vedic Literature". In: Hindu Goddesses: Visions of the Divine Feminine in the Hindu Religious Tradition. University of California Press, 1986. p. 8. Accessed May 10, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt1pp3m5.5. However, other texts of sacred literature attribute different partners to the Earth goddess: in an Atharveda Hymn (12.1), Prithvi is coupled with Parjanya (Sanskrit: पर्जन्य, parjánya), a deity of rain and fertilizer of earth. In the same hymn, verse 6 (12.1.6), Indra, another Vedic deity of thunder and rain, is described as "consort" and protector of Earth.Kinsley, David R. "Goddess in Vedic Literature". In: Hindu Goddesses: Visions of the Divine Feminine in the Hindu Religious Tradition. University of California Press, 1986. p. 9. Accessed May 10, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt1pp3m5.5.

According to Herodotus, the Scythians considered Earth to be the wife of Zeus.

Graeco-Roman