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Feronia (Etruscan mythology)

Feronia’s name is derived from a Sabine adjective corresponding to Latin fĕrus. Feronia comes from Etruscan, but with a long vowel, i.e. Fērōnǐa. The root fer has cognate words in every Indo-European language (e.g. Greek θήρ, θήριον) and is also the root of the Vedic god Rudrá’s name. Latin fĕrus means “not cultivated, untamed” (Thesaurus Linguae Latinae), “of the field, wood”, “untamed”, “not mitigated by any cultivation” (Forcellini Totius Latinatis Lexicon) which fits the environment of the sanctuaries of Feronia and is very close to rudis (rude).[…]

 

Source: Feronia (mythology) – Wikipedia

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1 Comment

  1. Tim B.

    “Georges Dumézil[16] considers Feronia to be a goddess of wilderness, of untamed nature, and nature’s vital forces – but honoured because she offers man the opportunity to put those forces to good use in acquiring nurture, health and fertility. She fecundates and heals, therefore despite her being worshipped only in the wild she receive the first-fruits of the harvest, because she permits men to domesticate the wild forces of vegetation, favouring the transformation of that which is uncouth into that which is cultivated.

    Dumézil compares her to Vedic god Rudra: He is similar to Feronia in that he represents that which has not yet been transformed by civilization – he is the god of the rude, of the jungle, at one time dangerous and uniquely useful, healer thanks to the herbs within his domain, protector of the freed slaves and of the outcast. Feronia, though, has only the positive or useful function of putting the forces of wild nature at the service of man. “

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