Sky-Father of the Magyars

Hungarian ⟨Isten⟩ (etymology debated; possibly *ős 'ancestor' + atya 'father'). The word became the standard Christian term for God. The totemic Turul bird, perched atop the world-tree, is associated with Isten as the impregnating father-spirit in the Emese dream.

Domains

• sky supremacy
• fate and justice

Powers

• watches the middle world from the sky and warns by lightning

Epithets

• Öregisten

Sources

• Diószegi, Vilmos. A pogány magyarok hitvilága. Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, 1967.
• Róheim, Géza. Hungarian and Vogul Mythology. New York, 1954.