On 2009-06-09 17:36, Ken Pfrenger wrote:
> Helmold of Bosau wrote in his Chronica Slavorum about a Goddess of the
> Polabians named "Siwe". I have seen this linked to the Ru Zhiva or
> even the glagolotic Zhivete...does anyone have any thoughts on this or
> a possible convincing etymology?
<Siwe> resembles <Zywye> (*<Z.ywie>), mentioned by the 15th-c. Polish
chronicler Jan Dl/ugosz as an ancient pagan deity (male, to be sure). No
other source confirms that, but on the other hand Dl/ugosz also mentions
a goddess named <Pogoda> (cf. Pol. <pogoda> 'fair weather'), possibly a
folk-etymological reshaping of Helmold's <Podaga> (or was it Helmold who
did the mangling?). As for <Z.ywie>, the funny thing is that doesn't
look masculine -- or feminine, for that matter -- but (at least
formally) neuter, as if from coll. *z^ivIje 'living things'.
Piotr