| Name |
Etymology |
Mythology |
Parent Mythology |
Details |
|---|
| Horus |
From Late Latin Hōrus, from Ancient Greek Ὧρος (Hôros), from Egyptian ḥr. |
Egyptian |
African |
In Ancient Egypt, Horus was ruler of the sky. He was shown as a male humanoid with the head of a falcon. It is not uncommon for birds to represent the sky in ancient religions, due to their ability to fly. However, in Egyptian mythology the sky was perceived as the goddess Nut. |
| Tengri |
Borrowed from a Turkic language; ultimately from Proto-Turkic *teŋri ('sky, heaven, god'). Compare Turkish tanrı ('god'). |
Turkic, Mongolic |
Altaic |
Chief god of the early religion of the Turkic and Mongolic peoples. |
| Aten |
|
Egyptian |
African |
Was a Monotheistic Sun God under the pharaoh Akhenaten. |
| Wākea |
|
Hawaiian |
Austronesian |
|
| Ranginui |
|
Māori |
Austronesian |
The sky father and earth mother Papatūānuku, embraced and had divine children. |
| Dyaus Pita |
From Sanskrit द्यौष्पितृ (dyauṣ-pitṛ). From Proto-Indo-European *Dyḗws ph₂tḗr; synchronically analyzable as द्यौस् (dyaús, nominative singular of द्यु, dyú, 'sky') + पितृ (pitṛ́, 'father'). |
Indo-Aryan (Hinduism |
Indo-European) |
In the early Vedic pantheon, appears already in a marginal position, but in comparative mythology is often reconstructed as having stood alongside Prithvi Mata "Earth Mother" in prehistoric times. |
| Jupiter |
From Latin Iūpiter ('father Jove'), from Proto-Italic *djous patēr (literally 'sky father') |
Italic |
Indo-European |
Often depicted by birds, usually the eagle or hawk, and clouds or other sky phenomena. Nicknames included Sky God and Cloud Gatherer. |
| Zeus |
From Ancient Greek Ζεύς (Zeús). From Proto-Hellenic *dzéus, related to Mycenaean Greek 𐀇𐀺 (di-wo /diwos/); from Proto-Indo-European *dyḗws. |
Hellenic |
Indo-European |
| Dagr |
From Proto-Germanic *dagaz ('day, name of the D-rune'). Cognate with Old English dæġ (Modern English day), Old Frisian dei, di, Old Saxon dag, Old Dutch dag, Old High German tac, tag, Gothic 𐌳𐌰𐌲𐍃 (dags). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰegʷʰ- ('to burn'). |
Nordic |
Indo-European |
The personification of the daylit sky. |
| Perun |
|
Slavic |
Indo-European |
|
| Diepatura |
|
Illyrian |
Indo-European |
|
| Zojz |
A derivation of Proto-Indo-European *dyḗws |
Albanian |
Indo-European |
|
| Perkūnas |
From Proto-Balto-Slavic *Perkūnas, from Proto-Indo-European *perkʷunos, from *pérkʷus ("oak"). |
Baltic |
Indo-European |
|
| Týr |
From earlier runic ᛏᛁᚢᛦ (tiuʀ), from Proto-Germanic *Tīwaz; identical to *týr ('god'). From Proto-Indo-European *deywós ('god'). Vṛddhi derivative of *dyew- ('sky, heaven') |
Germanic |
Indo-European |
|
| Bochica |
|
Muisca |
Native American |
In what is now Colombia, the Muisca worshipped this sky father.[2] |
| Gitche Manitou |
|
Native American |
Native American |
Common character in creation myths.[3] |
| Shangdi |
上帝 (Hanyu Pinyin: shàng dì; literally 'king above') |
Confucianism |
Sino-Tibetan |
Supreme God worshipped in ancient China. It is also used to refer to the Christian God in the Standard Chinese Union Version of the Bible. In China, in Daoism, 天 (tian), meaning sky, is associated with light, the positive, male, etc., whereas 地 (di) meaning earth or land, is associated with dark, the negative, female, etc. |
| Tian |
天 (lit. 'sky' or 'heaven') |
Confucianism |
Sino-Tibetan |
Used to refer to the sky as well as a personification of it. Whether it possesses sentience in the embodiment of an omnipotent, omniscient being is a difficult question for linguists and philosophers. Zhu, Tian Zhu (主, 天主, lit. 'Lord' or 'Lord in Heaven') is translated from the English word, Lord, which is a formal title of the Christian God in Mainland China's Christian churches. |
| Tianfu |
天父 (Hanyu Pinyin: tiān fù) |
Taoism |
Sino-Tibetan |
Another word used to refer to the Christian God in the Standard Chinese Union Version of the Bible. |
| An or Anu |
(Akkadian: 𒀭𒀭, romanized: Anu, from 𒀭 an, 'sky, heaven') or Anum, originally An (Sumerian: 𒀭, romanized: An) |
Sumerian, Assyrian and Babylonian |
Sumerian, Assyrian and Babylonian |
The father deity of the Sumerian and Assyro-Babylonian pantheon and is also the earliest attested Sky Father deity. |
| Ukko |
From Proto-Finnic *ukko. Probably a Finnic pet form of *uros ('man, male'). |
Finnish |
Uralic |
|
| Taevaisa |
Taevas 'sky', isa 'father' |
|
Uralic |
The word by which adherents in Estonia of the Maausk (faith of the land) and the Taara native beliefs refer to God. Although both branches of the original Estonian religion — which are largely just different ways of approaching what is in essence the same thing, to the extent that it remains extant — are pantheistic, heaven has a definite and important place in the ancient pre-Christian Estonian belief system. All things are sacred for those of the faith of the land, but the idea of a sky father — among other "sacrednesses" — is something all Estonians are well aware of. In newer history, after the arrival of Christianity, the ideas of a sky father and "a father who art in heaven" have become somewhat conflated. One way or another, the phrase taevaisa remains in common use in Estonia. |
| Urcia |
|
Basque |
Vasconic |
The Liber Sancti Iacobi by Aymericus Picaudus tells that the Basques called God Urcia, a word found in compounds for the names of some week days and meteorological phenomena.[4][5] The current usage is Jaungoikoa, that can be interpreted as 'the lord of above'. The grammatical imperfection of the word leads some to conjecture that it is a folk etymology applied to jainkoa, now considered a shorter synonym. |
