Talk:Svetovit

Chronicles

I've added the titles of the chronicles mentioned in the article. They are Gesta Danorum (Deeds of the Danes) (by Saxo Grammaticus) and Chronica Slavorum (Slavic Chronicle) by Helmold. Anybody who knows the links with working version of each chronicle please add the references, thanks. I have the copies of these chronicles, however they're in Polish translation. The fragment related to Svantevit worship is also posted in the Polish version of the article. Critto (talk) 21:21, 21 March 2012 (UTC)

= It should be renamed to SVANTEVIT

What is svetovid? The Polabian deity's name was SVANTEVIT(from proto-Slavic: Svętovitъ) and is typical Slavic name like Svętoplkъ, Sĕmovitъ etc) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.88.89.86 (talk) 13:40, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

Agreed. Or, more correctly, Svetovit or Sventovit. That D in the end was made out only because in Serbia the St. Vitus Day (Vidovdan, as Vitus is pronounced Vid in Serbian) was being connected with the cult of Svantevit, and so we got Sveti + Vid (St. Vid) = Svetovid. 93.86.28.154 (talk) 15:31, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

Previous discussion (before December 15, 2007)

Tri god'ne s kleti Turci - actually calls Turks as damned Turks.

A cet'ri s crni Ugri - calls Hungarians black, which means bad.

--Grigoryev 06:20, 12 May 2005 (UTC)

How come the Światowid is incorrect name? Halibutt 14:32, 6 November 2005 (UTC)

It's not an original name of the god, but a wrong 19-th century reconstruction of the name. Boraczek 18:02, 6 November 2005 (UTC)

Any details?? Halibutt 00:20, 8 November 2005 (UTC)

The article explains the wrong etymology. You can also find an explanation in "Mitologia Słowian" by Aleksander Gieysztor. Boraczek 20:11, 8 November 2005 (UTC)

Not really. The article and the book explain the ethymology of the word, but they do not explain why one of the names (in modern times the most widely used, BTW) is wrong. It might've been wrong for the pre-historic Slavs who still used personal names as if they were meaningful, but nowadays... You wouldn't call the word niedźwiedź (bear in Polish) wrong just because, according to historical ethymology, it should be miedźwiedź (literally the one to know where the honey is), would you. Halibutt 20:24, 8 November 2005 (UTC)

Well, in my opinion the article deals with the pagan Slavic religion/mythology, so its aim is to describe what gods were in the Slavic pantheon and how they were called. From this point of view, the name which appeared in the 19th century as a wrong reconstruction seems to be irrelevant. If you don't think the word "incorrect" is inappropriate, please change the wording. However, I think it would be misleading to simply list the name Światowit / Światowid along with other names, as it is not an original name. Boraczek 20:50, 8 November 2005 (UTC)

Svetovid is INCORRECT form too. The only correct are: Svantevith (oryginal written Polabian form) or Svętovit (etymological Slavonic form). Svetovid is incorrect like Światowid... And the ethymology from Svitanije is some kind of folk-ethymology... Svęto-vit has "svęt-" adjective like in many other Slavic names (e.g. Svęto-plk = Russian Svyatopolk, Czech Svatoplk, Polish Świętopełk) that means "sanctus, glorious, magical"... And -VIT is used in many other Slavic names too (for example OldPolish name Siemowit, Witosław etc) and it is definetely NOT -viD (from VIDE:TI "to see") - it is from other word (there are many hipothesis about this, one of them are vit- from vitati "to be, to come, to wel-come [welcome] somewhere, later to welcome somebody" [modern Polish witać "to welcome" somewhere and somebody]. The second hypothesis is that it meant "the lord")

Agreed. Svetovid is definitely incorrect, and the article should be renamed Sventovit or Svętovit, as you suggested. -VIT is definitely not -VID, and as I explained above, the only naming Svętovit as Svetovid can be seen in Serbia and Croatia because of a widespread confusion: St. Vitus, transcribed to Serbo-Croatian as St. Vid was associated with sight and the ability to see (vid = sight). In contemporary Serbia, one of the main national holidays is St. Vitus Day or Vidovdan, which was left here during centuries of Roman-Catholic influence in the area. When Roman-Catholicism was replaced with Eastern-Orthodoxy from Byzantium, the holiday was removed from the Church calendar, but remained in folk tradition. In modern times and Serbian-Croatian disputes (read: Orthodox-Catholic disputes), any connection with Roman-Catholicism was denied, and instead pagan roots of the holiday were introduced, and Sventovit was started being translated as "Svetovid" or the "Holy Seer", which is etymologically totally incorrect. Furthermore, there is no evidence that the ancestors of modern South Slavic nations even knew about this deity, while there is strong evidence about the influence and spreading of St. Vitus cult. That "Beli Vid" from a local folk poem, incorrectly presented as "Serbian folk poem" as if it were known to majority of Serbs, is actually St. Vitus, and not Sventovit. Similarly, there are also poems about other Christian saints, such as St. John, St. Paul, St. Elijah, St. Nicholas, St. Jeremiah, and many other saints, and all were given certain attributes and/or nicknames. For instance, St. Nicholas was believed to be the saint-patron of sailors, rivers and the seas, while St. Elijah was believed to bring thunders and rain, and hence nicknamed "Thunderer", inheriting some of Perun's attributes. But calling Sventovit "Svetovid", and presenting poems about St. Vitus as "ancient" poems about him is the same if someone started calling Perun Elijah and presenting Biblical stories about St. Elijah as folk beliefs about Perun. 93.86.28.154 (talk) 15:31, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

Spellings of "Svetovid"

I'm having a bit of difficulty with the spellings of this god. The spelling used in this article varies from paragraph to paragraph, making it imply that the text is speaking about a particular spelling of its name, rather than the god in general. --Adamrush (talk) 14:05, 15 December 2007 (UTC)

Proper spelling is controversial. Linguistics studies show that god's name was "Svętovitъ" - written in international Slavic-Etymological ortography (from Svęt- "saint, magical, powerful" and vit- "connected to vitędz 'a hero, victorious one' or from vitati 'to welcome, to be').

In original sources the name is written as "Svanthevit" or similar. Polish "Światowid" is just (wrong) XIXc reconstruction made by Slavic antiquities lovers and is based on Polish words "świat" (world) and "wid-zieć" (to see) because Polabian idol had 4 faces or heads and similar sculpture was found in (modern) Ukraine (so called "Światowid from Zbrucz"). I think the only proper version should be original "Svathevit" (like in sources) or at last etymologists-academic version Svętovit.

Rugian?

Re: "Many of modern researchers see Svetovid as a Rugian counterpart of the all-Slavic Perun common in Slavic mythology." Can someone replace 'Rugian' with a more commonly understood term, or a link to a wiki article that explains what is meant? --Egregius (talk) 16:00, 20 December 2010 (UTC)