Proto-Indo-European Religion - Ritual

Ritual

Émile Benveniste states that "there is no common term to designate religion itself, or cult, or the priest, not even one of the personal gods". There are, however, terms denoting ritual practice reconstructed in Indo-Iranian religion which have root cognates in other branches, hinting at common PIE concepts. Thus, the stem *hrta-, usually translated as "(cosmic) order" (Vedic ŗta and Iranian arta). Benveniste states, "We have here one of the cardinal notions of the legal world of the Indo-Europeans to say nothing of their religious and moral ideas" (pp. 379–381). He also adds that an abstract suffix -tu formed the Vedic stem ŗtu-, Avestan ratu- which designated order, particularly in the seasons and periods of time and which appears in Latin ritus "rite" and Sanskrit ritu.

The following list of reconstructed PIE religious terms is based on EIEC and Lyle Campbell

  • *isH1ro ‘holy’
  • *sakro- ‘sacred’ (derived from *sak- ‘to sanctify’)
  • *kywen(to)- ‘holy’
  • *noibho- ‘holy’
  • *preky- ‘pray’
  • *meldh- ‘pray’
  • *gwhedh- ‘pray’
  • *H1wegwh- ‘speak solemnly’;
  • *ĝheuHx- ‘call, invoke’ (perhaps English god < *ĝhu-to- from ‘that which is invoked’, but derivation from *ĝhu-to- ‘libated’ from *ĝheu- ‘libate, pour’ is also possible).
  • *kowHxei- ‘priest, seer/poet’
  • *Hxiaĝ- ‘worship’
  • *weik- ‘consecrate’ (earlier meaning perhaps ‘to separate’), ]
  • *sep- ‘handle reverently’
  • *spend- ‘libate’
  • *ĝheu- ‘libate’ and *ĝheu-mņ ‘libation’
  • *dapnom ‘sacrificial meal’ from *dap-,
  • *tolko/eH2- ‘meal’ (at least late PIE)
  • *nemos ‘sacred grove’ (used in west and centre of the IE world)
  • *werbh- ‘sacred enclosure’

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Famous quotes containing the word ritual:

    “A few years later, I would have answered, “I never repeat anything.” That is the ritual phrase of society people, by which the gossip is reassured every time.”
    —Marcel Proust (1871–1922)

    “We have long forgotten the ritual by which the house of our life was erected. But when it is under assault and enemy bombs are already taking their toll, what enervated, perverse antiquities do they not lay bare in the foundations.”
    —Walter Benjamin (1892–1940)

    “We must get back into relation, vivid and nourishing relation to the cosmos and the universe. The way is through daily ritual, and is an affair of the individual and the household, a ritual of dawn and noon and sunset, the ritual of the kindling fire and pouring water, the ritual of the first breath, and the last.”
    —D.H. (David Herbert)