*H₁n̥gʷnis

*H₁n̥gʷnis
Equivalents
Hindu	Agni
Albanian	Enji
Baltic	Ungnis

*H₁n̥gʷnis is the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European name of the fire god in Proto-Indo-European mythology.

Name

An 18th-century depiction of Agni, a descendant deity

The archaic Proto-Indo-European language (ca. 4500–4000 BC) had a two-gender system which originally divided words between animate and inanimate, a system used to distinguish a common term from its deified synonym. Therefore, fire as an animate entity and active force was known as *h₁n̥gʷnis, while the inanimate entity and natural substance was named *péh₂ur (cf. Greek: πυρ, pyr; English: fire).

In some traditions, as the sacral name of the dangerous fire may have become a word taboo, the stem *h₁n̥gʷnis served as an ordinary term for fire, as in the Latin ignis.

Evidence

• PIE: *h₁n̥gʷnis, the fire as an active force,
  • Indo-Iranian: Hagni-,
    • Vedic: Agni (अग्नि), a fire deity,
    • Young Avestan: Dāšt-āɣni,
  • Balto-Slavic: *ungnis,
    • Lithuanian: Ugnis szwenta, 'Holy Fire',
    • Latvian: Uguns māte, 'Mother of Fire',
  • Proto-Albanian: *agni-,
    • Albanian: Enji, fire deity, contained in the Albanian name for Thursday – e enjte.

See also

• Ognyena Maria

Bibliography

• Derksen, Rick (2008). Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon. Brill. ISBN 9789004155046.
• Lubotsky, Alexander (2011), "Indo-Aryan Inherited Lexicon", Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Project, Brill
• Mallory, James P.; Adams, Douglas Q. (2006). The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-929668-2.
• Orel, Vladimir (1998). Albanian etymological dictionary. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-11024-3.
• West, Martin Litchfield (2007). Indo-European Poetry and Myth. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-928075-9.