DIEVA DELI


Meaning of DIEVA DELI in English

[Latvian] The sons of the supreme god Dievs and the suitors of Saules meitas. They are described as working in the household of their father. Their number is not clear - there are mostly two of them, sometimes three, sometimes no number is indicated, thus leaving just the concept. There is also a tendency to refer to some deities as Dieva deli (such as Janis and Jumis), because this is not a stable phenomenon although there are texts attributing this name especially to Janis. Also the relations with Christianity are not clear enough, because it is indiscernible whether there were such concepts before Christianity came to Latvia. Besides, despite the motif of the heavenly wedding, the mother of Dieva deli is not known. The pattern of masculine deities having sons seems to be general in Latvian material as Perkons, Meness and even Auseklis have sons; whether it has started with son(s) of god cannot be established with clarity. Biezais puts forward a theory of this being Genitivus apellativus me...

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Encyclopedia Mythica English dictionary.      Английский энциклопедический словарь греческой мифологии.