Proto-Uralic religion

Elements of a Proto-Uralic religion can be recovered from reconstructions of the Proto-Uralic language.

Soul dualism

According to linguist Ante Aikio, although "evidence of immaterial culture is very limited" in the Proto-Uralic language, "a couple of lexical items can be seen as pointing to a shamanistic system of beliefs and practices." The concept of soul dualism, which is widely attested among Uralic-speaking peoples, probably dates back to the Proto-Uralic period: the word *wajŋi (‘breath-soul') designated the soul bound to the living body, which only left it at the moment of death, whereas *eśi (or *iśi, *ićći) referred to the 'shadow-soul', believed to be able to leave the body during lifetime, as when dreaming, in a state of unconsciousness or in a shaman's spirit journey. ^[1]

Shamanic practices and psychedelic mushrooms

The Indo-Iranian loanword *pi̮ŋka designated a 'psychedelic mushroom', perhaps the one used by the shaman to enter altered states of consciousness. The verb *kixi- meant both 'to court [of birds]' and 'to sing a shamanistic song', suggesting that it referred to states of both sexual and spiritual excitement. If the etymology remains uncertain, the word 'shaman' itself may be rendered as *nojta, and the shamanic practice as *jada-, although semantic variations in the daughter languages make the reconstruction debatable (cf. Erzya Mordvin jɑdɑ- 'to conjure, do magic, bewitch', East Khanty jɔːl- 'to tell fortunes, shamanize', Ket Selkup tjɑːrә- 'to curse; quarrel'). ^[1]

Creation myths involving waterbirds

A common creation myth shared by many Finno-Ugric peoples is the earth-diver myth in which a diver, often a waterbird, dives into the sea to pick up earth from the bottom to form the lands. In the Mordvin variant, the diver is the Devil (sometimes in the form of a goose), in the Yenisey Khanty variant a red-throated loon, ^[2] and in at least one Finnish version a black-throated loon ^[3]

Theonyms indicating belief in a sky-god

Several Finno-Ugric languages have a theonym that can be derived from the Proto-Uralic word *jilma meaning sky or weather. These include Udmurt Inmar, Komi-Zyrjan Jen, Khanty Num-Ilәm, Meadow Mari Jumo and Finnish Ilmarinen . These theonyms suggest an early belief in a sky-god. ^{[4] [5]}

See also

• Finnic mythologies

References

Citations

1. Aikio 2021, pp. 47–48.
2. Honko 2017.
3. Suomen Kansan Vanhat Runot VII Part 1: 11.
4. Frog 2012.
5. Aikio, Ante (1 January 2025). "The etymology of Mari *jŭmǝ 'sky; god'". Finnisch-Ugrische Forschungen. doi:10.33339/FUF.145688 . Retrieved 5 January 2026.

Bibliography

• Aikio, Ante (2021). "Proto-Uralic". The Oxford Guide to the Uralic Languages. Oxford University Press.
• Frog (2012). Evolution, Revolution and Ethnocultural Substrata: From Finno-Ugric Sky-God to the North Finnic God-Smith Ilmarinen. International Symposium on Finno-Ugric Languages in Groningen.
• Frog; Siikala, Anna-Leena; Stepanova, Eila (2012). Mythic Discourses: Studies in Uralic Traditions. Finnish Literature Society. ISBN   978-952-222-376-0.
• Konakov; Kulemzin; Gemuev; Tuchkova, eds. (2003–2009). "Komi Mythology, Khanty Mythology, Mansi Mythology, Selkup Mythology". Encyclopaedia of Uralic Mythologies. Akadémiai Kiadó.
• Pentikäinen, Juha (1989). Uralic Mythology and Folklore. Ethnographic Inst. of the HAS. ISBN   978-963-7762-64-2.
• Suomen Kansan Vanhat Runot VII Part 1: 11. Finnish Literature Society SKS. 1929–1933.
• Honko, Lauri, ed. (2017). "Finno-Ugric Religion". Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.

Further reading

• Deviatkina, Tatiana (2011). "Images of Birds in Mordvinian Mythology". Electronic Journal of Folklore. 48: 143–152. doi: 10.7592/FEJF2011.48.deviatkina .
• Hoppál, Mihály (2000). Studies on mythology and Uralic shamanism. Akadémiai Kiadó. ISBN   963-05-7741-0.
• Hajdú, Péter (ed.). Uráli népek: Nyelvrokonaink kultúrája és hagyományai [Uralic peoples: Culture and traditions of our linguistic relatives]. Budapest: Corvina Kiadó. 1975. ISBN   963-13-0900-2. (in Hungarian)
• Jauhiainen, Marjatta. The Type and Motif Index of Finnish Belief Legends and Memorates: Revised and enlarged edition of Lauri Simonsuuri’s Typen- und Motivverzeichnis der finnischen mythischen Sagen (FFC No. 182). FF Communications 267. Helsinki: Academia Scientiarum Fennica, 1998.
• Jones, Prudence; Pennick, Nigel (1995). A History of Pagan Europe. Routledge. pp. 178–183. ISBN   978-1-136-14172-0.
• Konakov, N. D.; Black, Lydia T. (1994). "Calendar Symbolism of Uralic Peoples of the Pre-Christian Era". Arctic Anthropology. 31 (1): 47–61. ISSN   0066-6939. JSTOR   40316348.
• Krupp E.C. (2000). "Sky Tales and Why We Tell Them". In: Selin H., Xiaochun S. (eds). Astronomy Across Cultures. Science Across Cultures: The History of Non-Western Science. Vol. 1. Springer, Dordrecht. pp. 20–21. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4179-6_1
• Kulmar, Tarmo (1997). "Conceptions of soul in old-Estonian religion". Electronic Journal of Folklore. 4: 27–33. doi: 10.7592/FEJF1997.04.hing .
• Kulmar, Tarmo (2005). "On Supreme Sky God from the Aspect of Religious History and in Prehistoric Estonian Material". Electronic Journal of Folklore. 31: 15–30. doi: 10.7592/FEJF2005.31.kulmar .
• Kuperjanov, Andres (2002). "Names in Estonian Folk Astronomy - from 'Bird's Way' to 'Milky Way'". Electronic Journal of Folklore. 22: 49–61. doi: 10.7592/FEJF2002.22.milkyway .
• Leeming, David. From Olympus to Camelot: The World of European Mythology. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. 2003. pp. 134-138.
• Limerov, Pavel (2019). "Some Motifs in Komi Legends about the Creation of the World". Electronic Journal of Folklore. 76: 29–38. doi: 10.7592/FEJF2019.76.limerov .
• Lintrop, Aado (2001). "The Great Oak and Brother-Sister". Electronic Journal of Folklore. 16: 34–58. doi: 10.7592/FEJF2001.16.oak2 .
• Petrukhin, Vladimir. "Мифы финно-угров" [Myths of the Finno-Ugric]. Moskva: Астрель; АСТ: Транзиткнига, 2005. Series: Мифы народов мира. ISBN   5-17-019005-0
• Siikala, Anna-Leena. "What Myths Tell about Past Finno-Ugric Modes of Thinking". In: Siikala, Anna-Leena (Ed.). Myths and Mentality: Studies in Folklore and Popular Thought. Studia Fennica Folkloristica 8. Helsinki: SKS, 2002. pp. 15–32.
• Uliashev, Oleg (2019). "Perm and Ob-Ugric Relations in Terms of Folklore Data". Electronic Journal of Folklore. 76: 15–28. doi: 10.7592/FEJF2019.76.uliashev .
• Valk, Ülo (2000). "Ex Ovo Omnia: Where Does the Balto-Finnic Cosmogony Originate? The Etiology of an Etiology". In: Oral Tradition 15: 145–158.
• Vértes, Edit (1990). Szibériai nyelvrokonaink hitvilága [The belief systems of our linguistic relatives in Siberia]. Budapest: Tankönyvkiadó. ISBN   963-18-2603-1. (In Hungarian)
• Yurchenkova, Nina (2011). "About Female Deities in the Mythology of Finno-Ugric Peoples". Electronic Journal of Folklore. 47: 173–180. doi: 10.7592/FEJF2011.47.yurchenkova .