From: Sergejus Tarasovas
Message: 2233
Date: 2000-04-28
John wrote: > I don't know
whether > "river worship" was found amongst Balto-Slavonic people.
Perhaps > Piotr and Sergei would be better placed to comment.
It
was, and 'water worship' has fossilized in Slavic term for 'aft oar,
scull':
*kormidlo<*kormiti 'feed'<'feed the
water'. In Lithuania, one of the most prominent rivers is called
Šventoji 'sacred', cf. šventė 'pagan
festival'. There are a number of Russian rivers named Святая
'the same'. But. Gods' or goddesses' names are not found in Balto-Slavic
hydronymy. On the other hand, Baltic and Slavic pantheons are not reconstruced to such an extent
as , eg, Celtic. Maybe the problem lies here.
Sergei