Taarapita - saarlaste suur jumal
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12637478 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Urmas Sutrop (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2001 |
| Volume | 16 |
| Pages | 7-38 |
| Publication date | 2001-01-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Mäetagused (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1406-992X • E-ISSN: 1406-9938 |
| Publisher | Estonian Literary Museum Scholarly Press (PUBLISHER • EE) |
| DOI | 10.7592/mt2001.16.sutrop |
| OpenAlex | W2325285195 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 6 |
Taarapita is a god known to us already from the 13th century Estonian chronicles. In different versions of the chronicle, the name is written differently: Tharapita, Tarapitha, Tharaphitam, etc. - leading to the conclusion that the name Taarapita is the most suitable for use in Estonian. The name has been interpreted as a shout "Taara, help!", or "Taara's flash". Today, Taarapita is often either misinterpreted (e.g. `owl god') or considered a minor god in the Slavic pantheon. Linguistically, it can be proved that Taarapita is not a Slavic loan. For a fact, in the 12th century on Rügen Island there was a monument erected for the great god of the inhabitants of Saaremaa. The ancient Scandinavian god name þórr has a clear consonant at the end, making it rather identical with the German thunder god Donar and thus also clearly not a loan from Baltic-Finnic languages. However, the Turupið in Knytlingasaga is definitely the Estonian Taarapita. Analysing the two parts of the name - taara and pita - while also considering kindred languages results in the interpretation of the name Taarapita as "Taara (is) great " or Taara-great. Taara itself, however, could be a loan from the name of the Scandinavian thunder god þórr
| Citations per year | 0.14 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2004 - 2019 (16) |
| Highly cited | No |