Page:Origin and Growth of Religion (Rhys).djvu/132

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116
II. THE ZEUS OF

the hollows of the earth. The English word sky conveyed a similar meaning, since it is traced back to the Scandinavian origin from which is derived the Old Norse ský, 'a cloud.'

The second part of the Cronus myth relates how Cronus, afraid of his own offspring, used to destroy them by swallowing them at their birth, and how the youngest of them, Zeus, escaped and grew up, how he banished his father Cronus and became the chief of the gods. Now his Greek name Ζεύς has its exact etymological counterpart, as already mentioned, in that of the Roman Jove, of the Teutonic Tiu and of the Hindu Dyaus. But this group of words contains a good many forms; and, as it is expedient not to confound them, they may be arranged as follows under their respective stems:[1]

1. Diu, diau, diâu:—Sanskrit dyaus, mas. and fem. 'heaven, sky, day, the god Dyaus' (as in Dyaush-pitar), nom. dyáus (i.e. diáus), voc. dyãus (i.e. diãus), instr. divā, dat. dyave and dive, gen. dyos and divas, dual dyāvā and dyavī, pi. nom. dyāvas, acc. dyūn, instr. dyubhis; Greek nom. Ζεύς, voc. Ζεῦ, gen. Διός (for Διϝός); Latin Jou- or Jû(-piter), gen. Diŏvis, Jŏvis; A.-Saxon Tiu, gen. Tiwes in Tiwesdæg, 'Tuesday;' O. H. Ger. Ziu, gen. Ziwes; O. Norse Týr, gen. Týs, as in Týsdagr, 'Tuesday,' acc. and dat. ; Welsh duw,[2] 'a god, God,' dieu (as in tri-dieu, 'three days') and dieuoeᵭ, 'days.'

  1. These numbered articles are chiefly meant for reference, so the general reader may pass them by and resume his perusal at p. 118.
  2. The Old Welsh diu, in Cormac's Glossary and in the Juvencus Codex (see Stokes in Kuhn's Beitræge, iv. 407), only differs probably in spelling from duw, which is written duu and duv in the Black Book, while the word for day, cited in No. 2, occurs as dyv in Dyv Merchir, 'on