Sky father

File:Júpiter y Tetis, por Dominique Ingres.jpg

Jupiter, ancient Roman sky deity, and Thetis

In comparative mythology, sky father is a term for a recurring concept in polytheistic religions of a sky god who is addressed as a "father", often the father of a pantheon and is often either a reigning or former King of the Gods. The concept of "sky father" may also be taken to include Sun gods with similar characteristics, such as Ra. The concept is complementary to an "earth mother".

"Sky Father" is a direct translation of the Vedic Dyaus Pita, etymologically descended from the same Proto-Indo-European deity name as the Greek Zeûs Pater and Roman Jupiter, all of which are reflexes of the same Proto-Indo-European deity's name, *Dyēus Ph₂tḗr.<ref>dyaus in Vedic still retained the meaning "sky", while the Greek Zeus had become a proper name exclusively.</ref> While there are numerous parallels adduced from outside of Indo-European mythology, there are exceptions (e.g. In Egyptian mythology, Nut is the sky mother and Geb is the earth father).

In historical religion

Name	Etymology	Mythology	Parent Mythology	Details
Nzambi Ampungu	From the Bantu and Kikongo word Nzambi meaning "Supreme god" and Ampungu meaning "great spirit"	Bakongo	African	In traditional Bakongo religion, Nzambi is the supreme creator god, the Sky Father, and god of the Sun.
Nyambi	From the Bantu word Nzambi meaning "Supreme god"	Bantu	African	In various Bantu cultures, Nyambi is the Supreme Being, the Creator of the universe, the Sky Father, god of the Sun and the source of all life.
Aten		Egyptian	African	Was a Monotheistic Sun God under the pharaoh Akhenaten.
Horus	From Late Latin Template:Lang, from Ancient Greek Template:Lang (Template:Lang), from Egyptian Template:Lang.	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 Template:Lang ('sky, heaven, god'). Compare Turkish Template:Lang ('god').	Turkic, Mongolic	Altaic	Chief god of the early religion of the Turkic and Mongolic peoples.
Wākea		Hawaiian	Austronesian
Ranginui		Māori	Austronesian	The sky father and earth mother Template:Lang, embraced and had divine children.
Dyaus Pita	From Sanskrit Template:Lang (Template:Lang). From Proto-Indo-EuropeanTemplate:Lang; synchronically analyzable as Template:Lang (Template:Lang, nominative singular of Template:Lang, Template:Lang, 'sky') + Template:Lang (Template:Lang, '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 Template:Lang ('father Jove'), from Proto-Italic Template:Lang (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.
Template:Lang	From Ancient Greek Template:Lang (Template:Lang). From Proto-Hellenic Template:Lang, related to Mycenaean Greek Template:Lang (Template:Lang Template:IPA); from Proto-Indo-European Template:Lang.	Hellenic	Indo-European
Dagr	From Proto-Germanic Template:Lang ('day, name of the D-rune'). Cognate with Old English Template:Lang (Modern English day), Old Frisian Template:Lang, Template:Lang, Old Saxon Template:Lang, Old Dutch Template:Lang, Old High German Template:Lang, Template:Lang, Gothic Template:Lang (Template:Lang). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European Template:Lang ('to burn').	Nordic	Indo-European	The personification of the daylit sky.
Svarog?	Interpreted by some authors as the possible contender for the Slavic Sky Father. Through possible syncetisation with the Indo-European Smith deity (see more at Tvashtr and Proto-Indo-European mythology)	Slavic	Indo-European	Mythological smith who is father of the Sun god, Dazhbog.
Diepatura		Illyrian	Indo-European
Zojz	A derivation of Proto-Indo-European Template:Lang	Albanian	Indo-European
Dievas	From Proto-Baltic *Deivas.	Baltic	Indo-European	Primordial supreme god and one of the most important deitiesthe god of light, the sky, prosperity, wealth, the ruler of gods, and the creator of the universe.
Týr	From earlier runic Template:Lang (Template:Lang), from Proto-Germanic Template:Lang; identical to Template:Lang ('god'). From Proto-Indo-European Template:Lang ('god'). Vṛddhi derivative of Template:Lang ('sky, heaven')	Germanic	Indo-European
Bochica		Muisca	Native American	In what is now Colombia, the Muisca worshipped this sky father.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Gitche Manitou		Native American	Native American	Common character in creation myths.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Shangdi	Template:Lang (Hanyu Pinyin: Template:Lang; 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, Template:Lang (Template:Lang), meaning sky, is associated with light, the positive, male, etc., whereas Template:Lang (Template:Lang) meaning earth or land, is associated with dark, the negative, female, etc.
Tian	Template:Lang (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. Template:Lang (Template:Lang, 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	Template:Lang (Hanyu Pinyin: Template:Lang)	Taoism	Sino-Tibetan	Another word used to refer to the Christian God in the Standard Chinese Union Version of the Bible.
An or Anu	(Template:Langx, from Template:Lang Template:Lang, 'sky, heaven') or Template:Lang, originally Template:Lang (Template:Langx)	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 Template:Lang. Probably a Finnic pet form of Template:Lang ('man, male').	Finnish	Uralic
Taevaisa	Template:Lang 'sky', Template:Lang '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 Template:Lang remains in common use in Estonia.
Template:Lang		Basque	Vasconic	The Template:Lang by Aymericus Picaudus tells that the Basques called God Template:Lang, a word found in compounds for the names of some week days and meteorological phenomena.<ref name="Trask">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Barandiaran">Template:Cite book</ref> The current usage is Template:Lang, 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 Template:Lang, now considered a shorter synonym.

See also

• Earth mother
• God in Abrahamic religions
• Sky deity
• Thunder god
• Worship of heavenly bodies