Dheghom ( or ; <small>lit.</small> 'earth'), or (PIE: , <small>lit.</small> 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 DyÃÂus, the daylight sky and seat of the never-dying and heavenly gods, in a relationship of contrast and union, since the fructifying rains of DyÃÂus might 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.
The Proto-Indo-European (PIE) word for 'earth', Dheghom (<small>acc.</small> , <small>gen.</small> ), 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.
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 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 Litavë, 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').
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'. 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. 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. 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"), and in The Libation Bearers (; Mother Gaia). Likewise, several of the Orphic Hymns attach the epithet 'mother' to Earth (). 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) (Pá¹Âthvë Sà «kta, or Bhà «më Sà «kta), the celebrant invokes Prithvi as his Mother, because he is "a son of Earth". The word bhà «mi 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. On her own, Bhà «mi 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 dÃÂ- (from ) attached to mÃÂter ('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.
Another Proto-Indo-European epithet, *dðéõðà Âm dðengwo- or *dðéõðà Âm dðá¹Âgu- ('dark earth'), can be reconstructed from the Hittite formulae dankuià ¡ dagan-zipaà ¡ ('dark genius of the earth') and dankuà ¡ tÃÂkan, 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 *ÃÂrnÃÂ(yÃÂ) zemyà('dark earth'), which have retained the term *dðéõðà Âm. Other reflexes can be found in Greek Gaia Melaina (óñîñ üÃÂûñùýñ; '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. In a Russian fairy tale, the maiden is buried "under a blanket of black earth".
A formula *ÃÂá¹ÂnÃÂ(jÃÂ) zemjà('dark earth') can be reconstructed based on expressions found in the southern Slavic-speaking area, in ritual and burial contexts, like Ukrainian ÃÂorna zemlicja (in a Christmas carol); Slovene ÃÂerna zemlja (in incantations); Bulgarian ÃÂernata (in relation to the Earth, in curses), oà ¾enich se zadevojka ÃÂernozemka (metaphor for 'to die young'), "ÃÂõÃÂýð ÷õüÃÂ" ('black earth'); 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.
The Earth goddess was conceived as the dark dwelling of mortals, in contrast with DyÃÂus, the bright diurnal sky and the seat of the gods. Both deities often appear as a pair, the Sky Father (*Dyá¸Âws PhâÂÂtá¸Âr) uniting with Mother Earth (*Dðéõðà Âm MéhâÂÂtÃÂr) 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, Dðéõðà Âm is "a more fitting partner of Perk<sup>w</sup>unos than of DyÃÂus", since the former is commonly associated with fructifying rains as a weather god.
The EarthâÂÂHeaven couple was probably not at the origin of the other heavenly gods. The Divine Twins and H<sub>2</sub>éwsà Âs seem to have been conceived by DyÃÂus alone, since they are mentioned through the formulaic expressions *Diwós Népoth<sub>1</sub>e ('Descendants of DyÃÂus') and *Diwós D<sup>h</sup>uõh<sub>2</sub>tá¸Âr ('Daughter of DyÃÂus), respectively.
In Hittite mythology, the Storm God of Heaven, one of the most important in the Hittite pantheon, 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.
In the Vedic texts, Prithvi the mother is usually paired with Dyaus the father, as shown for instance in Samaveda hymns. Due to their complementary relationship, they are celebrated as universal parents. 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: à ¤ªà ¤°à ¥Âà ¤Âà ¤¨à ¥Âà ¤¯, 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.
According to Herodotus, the Scythians considered Earth to be the wife of Zeus.
Zeus is associated with Semele, a possible descendant of Dðéõðà Âm, but also with Demeter, which could be another cognate stemming from the Mother Earth. In the Danaids, Aeschylus describes how Ouranos and Chthôn are seized by a mutual desire for sexual intercourse: the rain falls, then Earth conceives and brings forth pasture, cereal crops, and foliage. Likewise, "Heaven and Earth" regularly appear as a duo among deities invoked as witnesses to Hittite treaties, and the Roman Tellus Mater is paired with Jupiter in Macrobius's Saturnalia.
The mating of Zeus and female characters with chthonic elements (Démeter) or associated with earth (such as Semele, Plataia and Themis) may be a remnant of the Sky/Earth coupling. Other religious expressions and formulas in Greek cultic practice attest to a wedding or union between a sky-god and an earth-mother: the Homeric Hymn to Gaia calls her "Wife of Starry Ouranos"; weddings in Athens were dedicated to both Ouranos and Gaia; an Orphic Hymn tells that the cultist is both "a child of Earth and starry Sky"; in Athens, there was a statue of Gaia on the Acropolis depicting her beseeching Zeus for rain; Zeus Chthonios and Gê Chthonia form a cultic pair in Mykonos; Zeus is invoked with an Earth Mother partner by their priestesses in Dodona; a funerary epigram of one Lycophron of Pherai, son of Philiskos, states he shall live "among the stars uplifted by his father" (Zeus), while his body "occupies mother earth".
In the cosmogony of Pherecydes of Syros, male deity Zas (identified with Zeus and the celestial/heavenly heights) unites with female character Chthonie (associated with the earth and the subterranean depths) in sacred rites of marriage, a union that appears to hark back to "the theology of the rites of fertility-fecundity" and lays the foundation of the cosmos;
Ancient Roman scholar Varro, in his book De re rustica, listed five divine pairs, among which Juppiter, "father", and Tellus, "the Earth mother", both responsible for the fruitfulness of agriculture.
In Norse mythology, the goddess Jörd, a jötunn (giantess) whose name means 'earth' (from Proto-Germanic *erþà Â-, 'earth, soil, land'), begets the thunder-god Thor (Donar) with OdinnâÂÂnot a sky-god, although a chief god of the Norse pantheon. A line in the Gylfaginning by Norse poet Snorri Sturluson mentions that the Earth is both daughter and wife ("Jörðin var dóttir hans ok kona hans") of the All-Father, identified as Odinn.
Russian scholar O. G. Radchenko points that remnants of the coupling exist in East Slavic riddles, incantations and herb charms. As pointed by scholarship, Croatian historian Natko Nodilo saw an occurrence of the Masculine Heavens and Feminine Earth in the riddle Visok tata, plosna mama, bunovit zet, manita devojka ("Tall father, fat mother, rebellious son-in-law, frenzied maiden"), about the components of the world, and whose answer is "Sky, Earth, Wind and Fog". In a Russian incantation (Beschwörungsformel), heaven and earth are referred to as a father/mother pair: Ty nebo otec; ty zemlja mat'. ("You Heaven are father; you Earth are mother"). A folk expression "plaskófka matka, vysoki tatka" refers to "the low, flat earth" in contrast with "the highest sky".
Polish scholarship also indicates some holdover of the idea exists in the folklore of Poland, for instance, in folk riddle Matka nisko, ojciec wysoko, córka à Âlepa, syn szalony ("A mother low down, a father high up, a blind daughter and a mad son"), whose answer is "earth, heaven, night, wind".
In a charm collected in Arkhangelsky and published in 1878 by historian Alexandra Efimenko (), the announcer invokes "Mother-Earth" (ÃÂõüûàüðÃÂÃÂ) and "Father Heaven" (ýõñþ þÃÂõÃÂ). According to researcher Natalya Polyakova, there was among the Slavs an old belief that earth was fertilized by the heavenly rains and that it was a sin to profane her. If this happened, the heavenly father would no longer send her rains, and thus would cause drought.
Baltic scholarship recognizes in ancient Baltic beliefs a division of the world into a heavenly half, with masculine and dynamic attributes and associated with light and celestial bodies, and an earthly half, feminine and static, related to plants and waters.
According to Lithuanian ethnologue , in Baltic tradition, it was said that the earth closed off (as in "sleeping" or "hibernating") near the end of autumn/beginning of winter, and "opened up" with the coming of the spring - a season when the first rains begin to fall. For this reason, it was believed that Baltic thunder god Perkà «nas acted as the "opener" of the earth with his rains, making the grass grow and bringing life anew. In later tradition, it seems this deity was replaced by Saint George (Jurgis, Yurja, Sveti Juraj), who, in folksongs, was described as opening the earth in the spring with a key.
Dðéõðà Âm had a connection with both death and life: the deceased are made from her and shall eventually return to her, but the crop also grows from her moist soil fertilized by the rain of DyÃÂus. This points to a hierarchical conception of the status of mankind regarding the heavenly gods, confirmed by the widespread use of the term 'mortal' as a synonym of 'human' rather than 'living species' in Indo-European traditions. In a Hittite military oath, the earth is said to drink the blood of the fallen ("This not wine, it is your blood, and as the earth has swallowed this..."), as in Aeschylus' Seven Against Thebes (736) and in the Indian Mahabharata ("... the earth shall drink today the blood of their king").
The word for 'earth' underlies the many formations for designating humans, because they are seen as 'earthly' or fashioned from the earth itself. It is reconstructed in the derivative forms *dðõð(e)-mà Ân and *dðõðom-yos, which underwent a semantic shift from 'earthling' to 'human': Sanskrit jmán ('from the earth') and kṣámyaḥ ('earthly'), Latin homà  ('man'), Gothic guma ('man'), Old Lithuanian à ¾muõ ('man') and Old Prussian smoy ('man'), Old Irish duine ('man'), and Gaulish -xtonio ( 'man'?). The Neo-Phrygian term zemelà Âs (öõüõûÃÂÃÂ) is interpreted as meaning 'men', or 'terrestrial' as opposed to 'heavenly'.' In the words of linguist Antoine Meillet, those metaphors go back to a time when it was "natural to designate 'humans' by the distinctive features that distinguish them from the gods: mortality, life on earth".
In Albanian tradition the Earth â or â is deeply respected so that she would carefully receive the dead in her chest. For instance, during the last phase of the Albanian traditional mourning practice â Gjâma â after a usual lament, the mourners sit on their knees in a row and continuing the last call of the dead person, they sit on the ground, put their foreheads upon the earth and caress the earth with their hands, as if they want to express love and care for the earth. They stay like this until someone of the house, specifically charged with this task, goes and lifts them up.
In all Albanian lands the burial custom required to put a metal coin in the grave, inserting it in the dead's hand or mouth, or on one side of the body. A general explanation was that it served "to pay for the place of the grave" or "to pay the Earth so that she keeps the dead inside her". This is a reflection of the cult of the Earth, associated "with the place of the new dwelling in the eternal life", with the coin representing a symbolic gift to the Earth. Coins of this type have also been found by archaeologists in the graves of the Albanians in the Middle Ages and in those of the Illyrians in antiquity.
In a religious context, Chthôn (çøÃÂý) was conceived as the nether land of the underworld deities and the dead (Iliad 6,411; 8,14; Theogony 119; etc.), and often as the world itself as opposed to the sky.
Another reflex of Dðéõðà Âm as the mother of mortals and their final resting place may also be found in Demetrioi ('of Demeter'), an Athenian designation for the dead, and in Aeschylus's verses in Choephori 127: "Yea, summon Earth, who brings all things to life, / And rears and takes again into her womb." In addition, Demeter was worshipped in some Greek cities in relation to her connection to the Underworld (cf. epithet Chthonia, 'of the earth, underworld'), besides her typical association with grains and crops. Demeter was also associated with the role of ward or mother of the dead: according to Plutarch's On the Face in the Moon's Orb, Demeter, who rules over the earth and all earthly things, separates the soul from the body after a human dies.
A similar imagery is described by poet Euripides, in his play The Suppliants, lines 530âÂÂ536: "Let the dead now be buried in the earth, / and each element return to the place from where it came to the body, / (...) the body to the ground; / for in no way did we get it / for our own, but to live our life in, and after that its mother earth must take it back again". A funerary epigram of one Lycophron of Pherai, son of Philiskos, states his body, given by mother, now "occupies mother earth" (ü÷ÃÂÃÂÃÂñ óἥý).
Moreover, historical sources on Baltic mythology, specially on Lithuanian and Latvian religions and practices, describe the dual role of goddesses Zemyna and Zemes Mate: while they were connected to the fertility of the land, they were also associated with receiving the dead and acting as their ruler and guardian.
In Latvian dainas, Zemes Mate is associated with fellow Mahte ("Mothers") Velu Mate ('Mother of Dead Souls') and Kari Mate ('Mother of Graves'). According to researcher Elza Kokare, Zemes Mate and Kari Mate act as the resting places of the dead, guarding its body and holding the key to their graves. As an individual character, Zemes mate is invoked as a person's final resting place. Pieces of Lithuanian folklore also make references to Earth as mother of humans and their final abode after death.
Funeral lamentations, such as some collected in Veliouna in the 19th and 20th centuries, attest the expression "sierÃ à ¾emelÃÂ" as the destination of the deceased to whom the lament is dedicated. In a later military death lament, the "sierÃ à ¾emelÃÂ" is said to drink the blood of the fallen soldier, after being shot. An issue of Lithuanian newspaper Draugas published a dainas wherein the person invokes the earth as "à ¾eme, à ¾eme, siera à ¾emele", and asks it to take her, a maiden, having already taken father and mother ("AtÃÂmei tÃÂvàir motinÃÂlÃÂ"), but the earth scolds her.
Old Slavic beliefs seem to attest some awareness of this ambivalent nature of the Earth: it was considered men's cradle and nurturer during one's lifetime, and, when the time of death came, it would open up to receive their bones, as if it were a "return to the womb".
In Polish curses, the malediction is aimed towards "the Holy Earth" (à ÂwiÃÂta ziemia) not receiving the remains of the person cursed (as in, Bodaj ciàà ÂwiÃÂta ziemia nie przyjÃÂà Âa! and Oby ciàà ÂwiÃÂta ziemia nie przyjÃÂà Âa!). Researcher Anna Engelking cited that scholar Boris Uspensky wrote "a comprehensive analysis of the mythical trope of holy earth: the mother of humankind, which gives birth to people and accepts their bodies after death". Similarly, the imagery appears in "funeral hymns and speeches", e.g., Powracasz w ziemiÃÂ, co twàmatkàbyà Âa,/ Teraz ciàstrawi, niedawno à ¼ywià Âa ("You return to earth that has been your mother,/ She has fed you so far, now youâÂÂll be devoured").
The imagery of the terre humide ("moist earth") also appears in funeral lamentations either as a geographical feature (as in Lithuanian and Ukrainian lamentations) or invoked as Mère-Terre humide ("Mother Moist Earth"). The imagery and expression of "Mother Moist Earth" seem to have persisted well into the 21st century, although divorced from its sacral aspect.
In a Ukrainian lamentation, the mourner invokes earth as his "damp mother" ("ÃÂõüûõ ö üþà÷õüûõ, üðÃÂàÃÂøÃÂðÃÂ"), and asks it to take him, the mourner ("a young one"), since it has already taken father ("þÃÂÃÂÃÂ") and mother ("ýõýÃÂúÃÂ", endearing or diminutive form of "ýõÃÂýÃÂ").
In Belarusian folk songs, the earth is invoked as "syroj ziamli-matuà ¡cy" ('damp earth-mother'), and even referred to as the resting place of the mourner's loved one ("à ½oà Âcieà Âki piasok, syraja ziamlia, Tut pachavana milaja maja"; English: 'Yellow sand, damp earth: here my dear is buried'). In addition, phraseological studies by linguist Olga A. Lyashchynskaya () recognize the incidence of the expression in Belarusian: expression "ÃÂÿðÃÂààÃÂÃÂÃÂþù ÷ÃÂüûÃÂ" ('to sleep in the damp earth') is a metaphor for death; expression "ûÃÂöðÃÂààÃÂÃÂÃÂþù ÷ÃÂüûÃÂ/÷ÃÂüõûÃÂÃÂÃÂ" ("to lie in the damp earth/ground") denotes a burial ("to be interred"); "ðöðýÃÂÃÂÃÂð ÷ <ÃÂÃÂÃÂþÃÂ> ÷ÃÂüûÃÂù" ("to marry the [moist] earth") means "to die".
Serbian idiomatic expressions also associate the earth with the grave, and the formula "dark earth" ("crna zemlja") appears in reference to the resting place of the dead.
Mat' Syra Zemlya is also invoked in wedding songs by the orphan bride for her parents to bless her journey to the new household.
In Book 10 of the Rigveda, Hymn XVIII (a funeral hymn), verses 10-13, the earth is invoked to receive the body of the departed and to cover him gently, as a mother does a child: "10. Betake thee to the lap of Earth the Mother, of Earth far-spreading, very kind and gracious. (...) 11. Heave thyself, Earth, nor press thee downward heavily: afford him easy access, gently tending him. Cover him, as a mother wraps her skirt about her child, O Earth." A second hymn in Vedic sacred literature requests Earth to open up and explicitly receive the dead, while also mentioning the "two kings", Yama and Varuna: "Open thy arms, o Earth, receive the dead/ With gentle pressure and with loving welcome / Embrace him tenderly, e'en as a mother / Folds her soft vestment round the child she loves. / Soul of the dead, depart (...)".
In the à Âatapatha BrÃÂhmaá¹Âa, written by Vedic sage Yajnavalkya, there is reference to a ritual of the placement of the bones of the deceased in the earth after cremation. According to the Kanda XIII,8,3,3, the text says that "May Savitri deposit thy bones in the mother's lap [mÃÂturupastha].' Savitri thus deposits his bones in the lap of the mother [mÃÂturupastha], this earth [pá¹Âthivyai]; 'O Earth, be thou propitious unto him!'".
Cognates stemming from *dðéõðà Âm are attested in the following mythologies:
Two parallel terms meaning 'human, earthling' are also attested as derivatives of the stem *dð(é)õð-:
Additionally, remnants of the noun *dðéõðà Âm can be found in formulaic phrases and religious epithets:
Other mythologies may show the presence of characters and expressions that are etymologically cognate to *Dheghom. However, these cognates are less secured:
Cognates stemming from the epithet *PlÃÂ¥thâÂÂéwihâ (the 'Broad One') are attested in the following traditions:
The word also survived in common terms for 'land, field':
In non-Indo-European traditions, a notable descendant of *PlÃÂ¥thâÂÂéwihâ occurs as Ibu Pertiwi; her name borrowed from Vedic Pá¹Âithvë, she is a national personification of Indonesia.
Other cognates are less secured:
Although not considered a cognate to either Dðéõðà Âm or PlÃÂ¥thâÂÂéwihâÂÂ, deity Spenta Armaiti, of Zoroastrism religion, is associated with the earth, with fertility and farmers as well as the dead.
A counterpart exists in pre-Christian Armenian mythology, named Spandaramet or Sandaramet, whose role is connected to earth and the underworld. Namely, she was the "Armenian earth-goddess" of vineyards, but also ruled over those that are asleep', i.e. the dead". She is considered to have been developed from her Zoroastrian counterpart, Spenta Armaiti, a female being in that tradition. Spandaremet was transformed into a male god of the Underworld in later Armenian tradition, and, under Christian influence, lent her name to an underworld realm where evil spirits are said to dwell.
Both deities are seen, in their respective religions, as the wife or companion of a sky-god, Ahura Mazda or Aramazd. He, in turn, is said to be the deity of rains in some accounts.