Podaga

Podaga (also , ) is a Polabian deity who had his statue in a temple in Plön. Mentioned only in Helmold's ''Chronicle'', which does not give a depiction or function of the deity.

According to Aleksander Brückner, it is impossible to read the name ''Podaga''. Grigoriy Il'inskiy concluded that ''Podaga'' is another form of Dazhbog (from ''*Podabog''), while Roman Jakobson concluded that ''Podaga'' is a corrupted notation of Dazhbog.

Mikołaj Rudnicki connected the ''Podaga'' notation with the name ''Dagome'' in ''Dagome iudex'' referring to Mieszko I. According to him, both words are related to each other. The word was supposed to have come to the Piast state through Mieszko's unknown wife, who brought with her the cult of the goddess ''Podaga''. He connected both names with the Proto-Slavic ''*dag-'' "to burn", and also with Długosz's '' Pogoda'', whose name was supposed to have been distorted.

Leszek Moszyński was the first to link ''Podaga'' with the Polish word ''potęga'' "power, might". According to him, the stem ''-dag-'' corresponds to the Proto-Slavic ''*tǫgъ'' "strong, stout", and the whole Latin notation ''Podaga'' corresponds to the Proto-Slavic ''*Potǫga'', and the deity would be a divinized power, might (identical to adjective ''*potǫga'' "power, might"). Krzysztof Tomasz Witczak commented positively on this reading in his article on the reading of the Latin name ''Dagome'' from ''Dagome iudex''. He reads ''Dag-'' in ''Dagome'' also as Polish ''Tęg-'' (PS ''*Tǫg-''), and the whole name as ''Tęgomir'', or the abbreviation from this name, ''Tęgom'' (PS ''*Tǫgomirъ'', ''*Tǫgomъ''). He refers to the examples of transcription of the nasal o (Polish ''ą'') by the letter ''a'' in German records, e.g. ''Dabe'' ← Polish ''Dąbie'', as well as fluctuations between ''d'' and ''t'' when typing Slavic ⟨d⟩, e.g. the name ''Oda'' in ''Dagome iudex'' is noted as ''Ote''.

This etymology was supported by Michał Łuczyński. He reminds us of Brückner's remark that the theonym given by Helmold must refer to a male deity, not a female one, since otherwise he would have called the deity ''dea'' (Latin "goddess"), and not just ''idolum'', and this means that the final ''-a'' in ''Podaga'' requires explanation. The final vowel ''-a'' sometimes appeared after the preceding consonant ⟨k⟩, e.g., Latin ''Misaca'', ''Misica'', ''Misuka'' ← Polish ''Mieszek'', Latin ''*Licica'' ← Polish ''*Leszek'', from which it can be concluded that ''-a'' may also have appeared after the consonant ⟨g⟩. With this in mind, and taking into account and supporting the reading of the Latin ''-dag-'' as ''-tęg-''/''*-tǫg-'', Łuczyński reads the Proto-Slavic form of theonym as ''*Potǫgъ''. This is supported by the Old Polish personal name ''*Potąg'', reconstructed on the basis of the village of '' Potęgowo'', as well as the personal name ''*Nietąg'' (name with negation) from the 13th century.

According to Henryk Łowmiański the cult of ''Podaga'' was a cult arranged by prince Kruto and not a tribal cult, because the creation of an independent deity, erecting a temple and a statue of him would have exceeded the capabilities of a small territorial unit. According to Łuczyński, the new temple (probably dedicated to a new god) was supposed to raise the authority of the prince's power. According to him, Potag should therefore be considered an epithet of Perun, which would have a Rus' analogy in the form of the creation of an official state cult established in Kyiv by Vladimir the Great. Potag would thus originally have been a given name, and as an adjective of the deity it was eventually recognized as a separate theonym, at first as an alternate name for Perun.

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{{Slavic mythology

Slavic gods