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Demeter's character as mother-goddess is identified in the second element of her name meter (μήτηρ) derived from Proto-Indo-European (PIE) *méh₂tēr (mother). [13] In antiquity, different explanations were already proffered for the first element of her name.
The commonest epithet applied to the earth in Indo-European poetic traditions is *pl̥th₂éwih₂ (the 'Broad One'), which is the feminine form of *pléth₂-us, meaning 'flat, vast, broad'. A group of cognates appear in various divine names, including the Vedic earth-goddess Pṛth(i)vī, the Greek nymph Plataia, and the Gaulish goddess Litavī.
The Mycenaean Greek: Ma-ka (transliterated as ma-ga), "Mother Gaia", written in Linear B syllabic script (13th or 12th century BC), is the earliest known instance of the concept of earth as a mother. [1] Demeter would take the place of her grandmother, Gaia, and her mother, Rhea, as goddess of the earth in a time when humans and gods thought ...
Asase Yaa, the goddess of the harsh earth, Truth and Mother of the Dead. An ancient religious figure worshipped by the indigenous Akan people of the Guinea Coast, Asase/Yaa is also known as Aberewa which is Akan for "Old Woman". Not only is she an Earth Goddess she also represents procreation, truth, love, fertility, peace, and the earth of the ...
Hesiod's Theogony, (c. 700 BC) which could be considered the "standard" creation myth of Greek mythology, [1] tells the story of the genesis of the gods. After invoking the Muses (II.1–116), Hesiod says the world began with the spontaneous generation of four beings: first arose Chaos (Chasm); then came Gaia (the Earth), "the ever-sure foundation of all"; "dim" Tartarus (the Underworld), in ...
The Great goddess is interpreted as "Mother of the gods" who is a form of Gaia. It seems that a mystery-cult was related to the Great-goddess. [ 66 ] An inscription on the Acropolis of Athens refers to the practice of service in honour of "Ge-Karpophoros" (bringer of fruits) in accordance with the oracle.
The word was inherited in classical Greek with the same meaning. A related Greek word is despoina ("Des-potnia" from PIE *dems-potnia meaning "mistress of the house"). [5] An alternative etymology of the goddess Demeter comes through Potnia and Despoina ("Dems-meter", from PIE *dems-méh₂tēr, meaning "mother of the house"). [6]
[n 1] An alternative etymology of the goddess Demeter is derived from the hypothetical PIE *dems-méh₂tēr, meaning "mother of the house". [9] In Modern Greek the title "despoinis" (δεσποινίς) means "Miss", literally "little mistress", and can be used to address young ladies and waitresses, amongst others.