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In comparative mythology, sky father is a term for a recurring concept in polytheistic religions of a sky god who is addressed as a "father", often the father of a pantheon and is often either a reigning or former King of the Gods. The concept of "sky father" may also be taken to include Sun gods with similar characteristics, such as Ra. The concept is complementary to an "earth mother".
"Sky Father" is a direct translation of the Vedic Dyaus Pita, etymologically descended from the same Proto-Indo-European deity name as the Greek Zeûs Pater and Roman Jupiter, all of which are reflexes of the same Proto-Indo-European deity's name, *Dyēus Ph₂tḗr.<ref>dyaus in Vedic still retained the meaning "sky", while the Greek Zeus had become a proper name exclusively.</ref> While there are numerous parallels adduced from outside of Indo-European mythology, there are exceptions (e.g. In Egyptian mythology, Nut is the sky mother and Geb is the earth father).
In historical religionEdit
| Name | Etymology | Mythology | Parent Mythology | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Horus | From Late Latin {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, from Ancient Greek {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), from Egyptian {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}. | Egyptian | Afroasiatic | In Ancient Egypt, Horus was ruler of the sky. He was shown as a male humanoid with the head of a falcon. It is not uncommon for birds to represent the sky in ancient religions, due to their ability to fly. However, in Egyptian mythology the sky was perceived as the goddess Nut. |
| Tengri | Borrowed from a Turkic language; ultimately from Proto-Turkic {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ('sky, heaven, god'). Compare Turkish {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ('god'). | Turkic, Mongolic | Altaic | Chief god of the early religion of the Turkic and Mongolic peoples. |
| Aten | Egyptian | Afroasiatic | Was a Monotheistic Sun God under the pharaoh Akhenaten. | |
| Wākea | Hawaiian | Austronesian | ||
| Ranginui | Māori | Austronesian | The sky father and earth mother {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, embraced and had divine children. | |
| Dyaus Pita | From Sanskrit {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}). From Proto-Indo-European *Template:PIE; synchronically analyzable as {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, nominative singular of {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, 'sky') + {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, 'father'). | Indo-Aryan (Hinduism | Indo-European) | In the early Vedic pantheon, appears already in a marginal position, but in comparative mythology is often reconstructed as having stood alongside Prithvi Mata "Earth Mother" in prehistoric times. |
| Jupiter | From Latin {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ('father Jove'), from Proto-Italic {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (literally 'sky father') | Italic | Indo-European | Often depicted by birds, usually the eagle or hawk, and clouds or other sky phenomena. Nicknames included Sky God and Cloud Gatherer. |
| lang}} | From Ancient Greek {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}). From Proto-Hellenic {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, related to Mycenaean Greek {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}} /diwos/); from Proto-Indo-European Template:PIE. | Hellenic | Indo-European | |
| Dagr | From Proto-Germanic {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ('day, name of the D-rune'). Cognate with Old English {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (Modern English day), Old Frisian {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, Old Saxon {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, Old Dutch {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, Old High German {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, Gothic {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European Template:PIE ('to burn'). | Nordic | Indo-European | The personification of the daylit sky. |
| Perun | Slavic | Indo-European | ||
| Diepatura | Illyrian | Indo-European | ||
| Zojz | A derivation of Proto-Indo-European Template:PIE | Albanian | Indo-European | |
| Perkūnas | From Proto-Balto-Slavic *Perkūnas, from Proto-Indo-European Template:PIE, from Template:PIE ("oak"). | Baltic | Indo-European | |
| Týr | lang}} ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), from Proto-Germanic {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}; identical to {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ('god'). From Proto-Indo-European Template:PIE ('god'). Vṛddhi derivative of Template:PIE ('sky, heaven') | Germanic | Indo-European | |
| Bochica | Muisca | Native American | In what is now Colombia, the Muisca worshipped this sky father.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> | |
| Gitche Manitou | Native American | Native American | Common character in creation myths.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> | |
| Shangdi | lang}} (Hanyu Pinyin: {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}; literally 'king above') | Confucianism | Sino-Tibetan | Supreme God worshipped in ancient China. It is also used to refer to the Christian God in the Standard Chinese Union Version of the Bible. In China, in Daoism, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), meaning sky, is associated with light, the positive, male, etc., whereas {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) meaning earth or land, is associated with dark, the negative, female, etc. |
| Tian | lang}} (lit. 'sky' or 'heaven') | Confucianism | Sino-Tibetan | lang}} ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, lit. 'Lord' or 'Lord in Heaven') is translated from the English word, Lord, which is a formal title of the Christian God in Mainland China's Christian churches. |
| Tianfu | lang}} (Hanyu Pinyin: {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) | Taoism | Sino-Tibetan | Another word used to refer to the Christian God in the Standard Chinese Union Version of the Bible. |
| An or Anu | (Template:Langx, from {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, 'sky, heaven') or {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, originally {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (Template:Langx) | Sumerian, Assyrian and Babylonian | Sumerian, Assyrian and Babylonian | The father deity of the Sumerian and Assyro-Babylonian pantheon and is also the earliest attested Sky Father deity. |
| Ukko | From Proto-Finnic {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}. Probably a Finnic pet form of {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ('man, male'). | Finnish | Uralic | |
| Taevaisa | lang}} 'sky', {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} 'father' | Uralic | The word by which adherents in Estonia of the Maausk (faith of the land) and the Taara native beliefs refer to God. Although both branches of the original Estonian religion — which are largely just different ways of approaching what is in essence the same thing, to the extent that it remains extant — are pantheistic, heaven has a definite and important place in the ancient pre-Christian Estonian belief system. All things are sacred for those of the faith of the land, but the idea of a sky father — among other "sacrednesses" — is something all Estonians are well aware of. In newer history, after the arrival of Christianity, the ideas of a sky father and "a father who art in heaven" have become somewhat conflated. One way or another, the phrase {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} remains in common use in Estonia. | |
| lang}} | Basque | Vasconic | lang}} by Aymericus Picaudus tells that the Basques called God {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, a word found in compounds for the names of some week days and meteorological phenomena.<ref name="Trask">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Barandiaran">Template:Cite book</ref> The current usage is {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, that can be interpreted as 'the lord of above'. The grammatical imperfection of the word leads some to conjecture that it is a folk etymology applied to {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, now considered a shorter synonym. |