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Incomparative mythology,sky father is a term for a recurring concept inpolytheistic religions of asky god who is addressed as a "father", often the father of apantheon and is often either a reigning or formerKing of the Gods. The concept of "sky father" may also be taken to includeSun gods with similar characteristics, such asRa. The concept is complementary to an "earth mother".
"Sky Father" is a direct translation of the VedicDyaus Pita, etymologically descended from the sameProto-Indo-European deity name as the GreekZeûs Pater and RomanJupiter, all of which are reflexes of the sameProto-Indo-European deity's name,*Dyēus Ph₂tḗr.[1] While there are numerous parallels adduced from outside ofIndo-European mythology, there are exceptions (e.g. In Egyptian mythology,Nut is the sky mother andGeb is the earth father).
| Name | Etymology | Mythology | Parent Mythology | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nzambi Ampungu | From theBantu andKikongo wordNzambi meaning "Supreme god" andAmpungu meaning "great spirit" | Bakongo | African | In traditionalBakongo religion, Nzambi is the supreme creator god, the Sky Father, and god of the Sun. |
| Nyambi | From theBantu wordNzambi 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 pharaohAkhenaten. | |
| Horus | FromLate LatinHōrus, fromAncient GreekὯρος (Hôros), fromEgyptianḥr. | Egyptian | African | InAncient Egypt,Horus was ruler of the sky. He was shown as a male humanoid with the head of afalcon. 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 goddessNut. |
| Tengri | Borrowed from aTurkic language; ultimately fromProto-Turkic*teŋri ('sky, heaven, god'). CompareTurkishtanrı ('god'). | Turkic, Mongolic | Altaic | Chief god of the early religion of theTurkic andMongolic peoples. |
| Wākea | Hawaiian | Austronesian | ||
| Ranginui | Māori | Austronesian | The sky father andearth motherPapatūānuku, embraced and had divine children. | |
| Dyaus Pita | FromSanskritद्यौष्पितृ (dyauṣ-pitṛ). FromProto-Indo-European*Dyḗws ph₂tḗr; synchronically analyzable asद्यौस् (dyaús, nominative singular ofद्यु,dyú, 'sky') +पितृ (pitṛ́, 'father'). | Indo-Aryan (Hinduism | Indo-European) | In the earlyVedic pantheon, appears already in a marginal position, but in comparative mythology is often reconstructed as having stood alongsidePrithvi Mata "Earth Mother" in prehistoric times. |
| Jupiter | FromLatinIūpiter ('father Jove'), fromProto-Italic*djous patēr (literally 'sky father') | Italic | Indo-European | Often depicted by birds, usually theeagle orhawk, andclouds or other sky phenomena. Nicknames includedSky God andCloud Gatherer. |
| Zeus | FromAncient GreekΖεύς (Zeús). FromProto-Hellenic*dzéus, related toMycenaean Greek𐀇𐀺 (di-wo/diwos/); fromProto-Indo-European*dyḗws. | Hellenic | Indo-European | |
| Dagr | FromProto-Germanic*dagaz ('day, name of the D-rune'). Cognate withOld Englishdæġ (ModernEnglishday),Old Frisiandei,di,Old Saxondag,Old Dutchdag,Old High Germantac,tag,Gothic𐌳𐌰𐌲𐍃 (dags). Ultimately fromProto-Indo-European*dʰegʷʰ- ('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 atTvashtr andProto-Indo-European mythology) | Slavic | Indo-European | Mythological smith who is father of the Sun god, Dazhbog. |
| Diepatura | Illyrian | Indo-European | ||
| Zojz | A derivation ofProto-Indo-European*dyḗws | 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 runicᛏᛁᚢᛦ (tiuʀ), fromProto-Germanic*Tīwaz; identical to*týr ('god'). FromProto-Indo-European*deywós ('god').Vṛddhi derivative of*dyew- ('sky, heaven') | Germanic | Indo-European | |
| Bochica | Muisca | Native American | In what is nowColombia, theMuisca worshipped this sky father.[2] | |
| Gitche Manitou | Native American | Native American | Common character increation myths.[3] | |
| Shangdi | 上帝 (Hanyu Pinyin:shàng dì; literally 'king above') | Confucianism | Sino-Tibetan | Supreme God worshipped in ancientChina. It is also used to refer to the Christian God in theStandard Chinese Union Version of theBible. InChina, inDaoism,天 (tian), meaning sky, is associated with light, the positive, male, etc., whereas地 (di) meaningearth 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 theStandard Chinese Union Version of theBible. |
| An orAnu | (Akkadian:𒀭𒀭,romanized: Anu, from𒀭an, 'sky, heaven') orAnum, originallyAn (Sumerian:𒀭,romanized: An) | Sumerian, Assyrian and Babylonian | Sumerian, Assyrian and Babylonian | The fatherdeity of theSumerian andAssyro-Babylonian pantheon and is also the earliest attested Sky Father deity. |
| Ukko | FromProto-Finnic*ukko. Probably aFinnic pet form of*uros ('man, male'). | Finnish | Uralic | |
| Taevaisa | Taevas 'sky',isa 'father' | Uralic | The word by which adherents inEstonia of theMaausk (faith of the land) and theTaara 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 phrasetaevaisa remains in common use in Estonia. | |
| Urcia | Basque | Vasconic | TheLiber Sancti Iacobi byAymericus Picaudus tells that theBasques called GodUrcia, a word found in compounds for the names of some week days and meteorological phenomena.[4][5] The current usage isJaungoikoa, that can be interpreted as 'the lord of above'. The grammatical imperfection of the word leads some to conjecture that it is afolk etymology applied tojainkoa, now considered a shorter synonym. |