A READER IN COMPARATIVE INDO-EUROPEAN MYTHOLOGY

was full of divinity, or, as Virgil says (Georg. IV, 221f.) „God passes throught all lands, all
tracts of sea and the depths of the sky“.
The chief god of the Roman pantheon, and the head of the Capitoline Triad is Jūpiter (or
Juppiter); his name is actually from the PIE phrase *dyēws ph2tēr „father Sky“ (see above);
his consort, Jūno, bears the name of Etruscan Uni, but perhaps it is originally from the PIE
root *dyew-/*diw- „sky“ (Lat. deus 'god', Gr. Zeús, see above); if her original name was
*Diwō (Gen. *Diwōn-es), it can be compared to Gr. Diṓ nē, who was also the original wife of
Zeus. In that case, the name of Iuno must have been borrowed in Latin through some
intermediary language, since it is never written as *Diuno, even in the archaic monuments.
Another etymology relates her name to Lat. iuvenis 'young' and interprets it as 'the young
wife'; she would have been the woman's counterpart to the genius, the personal spirit of every
man. In her epiphany as Iuno Lucina she was especially worshipped as the goddess of birth
(parallel to Gr. Eileithya). The somewhat obscure god Quirīnus was an agricultural deity
whose name is easily derived from *co-virīnus (from vir < PIE *wiHro- 'man', Skr. vīrás,
Lith. výras). He was originally the protector of the community, cf. also cūria < *co-viria.
Besides Juppiter and Quirinus, the third member of the Capitoline Triad was Mārs, who was
rather clumsily identified with Gr. Ares. He was also originally an agricultural deity rather
than the god of war. His name is known in its older forms Mavors, Māmers, and Marmar,
and, unsurprisingly, it is of unknown origin. The name of Venus is originally an abstract
numen, from the neuter *wenos „desire, lust“, Skr. vánas. She was identified with Gr.
Aphrodite, and the name of Apollo was directly borrowed from Greek). The god of trade and
the protector of roads, Mercurius, was likewise originally an abstract numen, and his name
was derived from merx „commerce“, of unknown, perhaps Etruscan origin). The two-faced
god Jānus, who protected the entrances of Roman houses and the beginnings of all endeavors,
bears the name identical to the noun iānus, „arched passage, doorway“ < PIE *yeh2-no-, cf.
Skr. yā́ ti „goes“, Lith. jóti „ride“). The name of Minerva, the goddess of wisdom (identified
with Athena) was probably borrowed from Etruscan; in that language, it could also be a
borrowing from some IE dialect. It might ultimately be from *Mēneswā, a derivative of PIE
*meh1nos- „moon“, Lith. mė́nuo, or from PIE *menos „mind“ (Ved. mánas). The name of
Saturnus is of unknown origin, though it is sometimes compared to Ved. Savitár- (see above),
and the name of the wild forest divinity Faunus is also unclear; it is sometimes derived from
*b h h2u-no-, from the root „to be, become“. The goddess of the hearth, Vesta, is of course
identical to Gr. Hestía (see above), and Līber is from PIE *h1lewd h ro- „free (man)“ (OCS
ljudьje, Germ. Leute, etc.). The god of the blacksmiths Volcanus bears the name of unknown
origin. It may have been derived from the Etruscan gens Volca, if he was originally their
protector deity. Tellus, of which little is known from classical sources, may have been the
original Roman Terra Māter, 'Mother Earth' (Virgil calls her prima deorum in Aen. 7.136).
Her name is, of course, the normal Latin word for 'earth, ground' < PIE *telh2- 'ground' (Skr.
tala- 'surface, bottom', ORuss. tьlo, OIr. talam 'ground'). She is often identified with Cerēs,
the goddes of grain and fruits (from *k'erH- 'nourishment', Lith. šérti 'feed', OHG hirso
'millet'). The name of the protectors of the household (in particular of the hearth) was Lāres <
Lāses in Carmen saliare. It is of unknown origin, but perhaps from PIE *deh2-s- „divide,
apportion“). The other household deities, the Penātēs, have the name derived from penus,