Re: Mokosh?

However she is mentioned as a major deity in the Primary Chronicle.

Max

>Seriously, though Mokosh seems to be an authentic deity, we know
>precious little about her functions. Based on the folkloristic material
>referring to <Mokos^a>, associations with sheep-shearing, spinning and
>textile preparation have been proposed -- which would presumably make
>her a popular household spirit rather than one of the chief gods in the
>Slavic "pantheon" (a questionable notion in first place). There is no
>solid basis for connecting Mokosh with fertility of good fortune, let
>alone identifying her with one of the representations on the Zbruch idol
>(as Rybakov did with much imagination and nothing tangible to back it
>up). With so little information, any etymology must be considered
>tentative. A connection with the root *mok- as in *mokrU 'wet',
>*moknoNti 'get wet' and *moky/*mokUve 'wetness, wet ground' (with some
>Baltic cognates) is formally possible but also uncertain.
>
>Piotr