Tharapita
Estonian · deity · iron age · Recorded classification
Earliest securely attested Estonian high god (13th-c. chronicle), unlike most later Estonian 'gods' that are 19th-c. literary constructs. English keeps the chronicle form 'Tharapita' as primary (no plainer English exists); native Tharapita/Taara in term (Latin script per Estonian rule). The romantic-era figure 'Taara' as a serene sky-father is a partial back-formation.
Domains
- sky and war
- thunder
Powers
- fly from Vironia to Saaremaa
Epithets
- Taara the high god (romantic-era form)Sutrop, 'Taarapita - the Great God of the Oeselians' (2002) (secondary)
- Tarapita 'Taara, help!' (chronicle interpretation)Henry of Livonia, Chronicon Livoniae XXX.5 (primary)
Sources
- Tharapita is named by Henry of Livonia as the supreme god of the Oeselians (Saaremaa) and known to the Vironians of northern Estonia; the Oeselians cried 'Taarapita!' in battle.: Henry of Livonia, Heinrici Chronicon Livoniae, c. 1224–1227 (primary); Oeselians, Wikipedia (tertiary)
- The name has been interpreted as Estonian 'Taara, a(v)ita!' ('Taara, help!') and the god associated with Norse Thor and Baltic Perkūnas.: Tharapita, Wikipedia (tertiary)