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,
.[1] 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).
| God the Father | Christian | Semitic | In Christian culture, God the Father is often depicted in art as a silver-bearded wise man situated above the clouds, as can be seen in the works of artists like Michelangelo and Raphael. | ||
| Horus | From Late Latin Latin: Hōrus, from Ancient Greek Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Ὧρος (Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Hôros), from Egyptian Egyptian (Ancient);: ḥr. | 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 *teŋri ('sky, heaven, god'). Compare Turkish Turkish: tanrı ('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 Maori: Papatūānuku, embraced and had divine children. | ||
| Dyaus Pita | From Sanskrit Sanskrit: द्यौष्पितृ (Sanskrit: dyauṣ-pitṛ). From Proto-Indo-European *; synchronically analyzable as Sanskrit: द्यौस् (Sanskrit: dyaús, nominative singular of Sanskrit: द्यु, Sanskrit: dyú, 'sky') + Sanskrit: पितृ (Sanskrit: pitṛ́, 'father'). | Indian | Hinduism | 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 Latin: Iūpiter ('father Jove'), from Proto-Italic *djous patēr (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. | |
| Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: [[Zeus]] | From Ancient Greek Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Ζεύς (Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Zeús). From Proto-Hellenic *dzéus, related to Mycenaean Greek (di-wo /diwos/); from Proto-Indo-European . | Hellenic | Indo-European | ||
| Dagr | From Proto-Germanic Germanic languages: *dagaz ('day, name of the D-rune'). Cognate with Old English English, Old (ca.450-1100);: dæġ (Modern English day), Old Frisian dei, di, Old Saxon dag, Old Dutch dag, Old High German German, Old High (ca.750-1050);: tac, German, Old High (ca.750-1050);: tag, Gothic Gothic: (Gothic: dags). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European ('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 | Albanian | Indo-European | ||
| Perkūnas | From Proto-Balto-Slavic *Perkūnas, from Proto-Indo-European , from (“oak”). | Baltic | Indo-European | ||
| Týr | From earlier runic Norse, Old: ᛏᛁᚢᛦ (Norse, Old: tiuʀ), from Proto-Germanic Germanic languages: *Tīwaz; identical to Germanic languages: týr ('god'). From Proto-Indo-European ('god'). Vṛddhi derivative of ('sky, heaven') | Germanic | Indo-European | ||
| Bochica | Muisca | Native American | In what is now Colombia, the Muisca worshipped this sky father.[2] | ||
| Gitche Manitou | Native American | Native American | Common character in creation myths.[3] | ||
| Shangdi | Chinese: 上帝 (Hanyu Pinyin: Chinese: shàng dì; 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, Chinese: 天 (Chinese: tian), meaning sky, is associated with light, the positive, male, etc., whereas Chinese: 地 (Chinese: di) meaning earth or land, is associated with dark, the negative, female, etc. | |
| Tian | Chinese: 天 (lit. 'sky' or 'heaven') | Confucianism | Sino-Tibetan | Used to refer to the sky as well as a personification of it. Whether it possesses sentience in the embodiment of an omnipotent, omniscient being is a difficult question for linguists and philosophers. Chinese: Zhu, Tian Zhu (Chinese: 主, 天主, 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 | Chinese: 天父 (Hanyu Pinyin: Chinese: tiān fù) | Taoism | Sino-Tibetan | Another word used to refer to the Christian God in the Standard Chinese Union Version of the Bible. | |
| An or Anu | (Akkadian: |Anu, from Akkadian: Akkadian: an, 'sky, heaven') or Akkadian: Anum, originally Akkadian: An (Sumerian: |An) | 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 *ukko. Probably a Finnic pet form of *uros ('man, male'). | Finnish | Uralic | ||
| Taevaisa | Undetermined: Taevas|scipt=Latn 'sky', Undetermined: isa|script=Latn '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 Undetermined: taevaisa|script=Latn remains in common use in Estonia. | ||
| Basque: [[Urtzi|Urcia]] | Basque | Vasconic | The Latin: [[Liber Sancti Iacobi]] by Aymericus Picaudus tells that the Basques called God Basque: [[Urtzi|Urcia]], a word found in compounds for the names of some week days and meteorological phenomena.[4] [5] The current usage is Basque: Jaungoikoa, that can be interpreted as 'the lord of above'. The imperfect grammatically of the word leads some to conjecture that it is a folk etymology applied to Basque: jainkoa, now considered a shorter synonym. |