or (), romanized as Hausos, is the reconstructed name of the dawn goddess in Proto-Indo-European mythology.

Her attributes were subsequently expanded and adopted into female deities found in subsequent cultures and mythologies, including solar goddesses. is believed to have been one of the most important deities worshipped by Proto-Indo-European speakers due to the consistency of her characterization in subsequent traditions.

Name

Etymology

The reconstructed Proto-Indo-European name of the dawn, , derives from the verbal root ('to shine', 'glow red', 'a flame') extended by the suffix . The same root also underlies the word for 'gold', , inherited in Latin , Old Prussian , and Lithuanian .

The word for the dawn as a meteorological event has also been preserved in the Balto-Slavic *auṣ(t)ro ( Lithuanian 'dawn', 'morning light', Proto-Slavic *ȕtro 'morning', 'dawn', Old Church Slavonic 'in the morning'); the Sanskrit ('dawn'); and in the Ancient Greek ('tomorrow').

A derivative adverb, , meaning "east" (), is reflected in the Latvian ('east'); Avestan ('east'); Italic (compare Latin 'south wind, south'); Old Church Slavonic ('summer'); and the Germanic ( Old Norse , English east, Middle High German ). The same root seems to be preserved in the Baltic names for the northeast wind: Lith. auštrinis and Latvian , , . Also related are the Old Norse Austri, described in the as one of four dwarves that guard the four cardinal points (with him representing the east), and ('The eastern way'), attested in medieval Germanic literature.

Epithets

A common epithet associated with is , meaning "Daughter of *Dyēus," the Proto-Indo-European sky god. Cognates stemming from the formulaic expression appear in multiple mythological traditions. Ushas was named as the "Daughter of Heaven" in the Rigveda; Eos was associated with the title "Daughter of Zeus" in Pre-Homeric Greece; "Daughter of Dievas" was ascribed to a Lithuanian sun goddess; and the Albanian goddess Prende was regarded as the daughter of the sky god Zojz.

Evidence

right|thumb|Aurora (1621) by Italian painter [[Guercino|272x272px]]

Cognates stemming from the root and associated with a dawn goddess are attested in the following cultures and mythologies:

  • PIE: , meaning "to shine, light up, glow red; a flame",
  • PIE: , the Dawn-goddess
  • Indo-Iranian: ,
  • Vedic: Uṣás (), dawn goddess, and the most addressed goddess in the Rigveda, with twenty-one hymns.
  • Avestan: Ušå, honoured in one passage of the Avesta <small>(Gāh 5. 5)</small>, and Ušahina, the angel separating midnight from the moment when the stars can become visible.
  • Hellenic: *Auhṓs
  • Greek: Ēṓs (), goddess of the dawn, and Aotis, an epithet used by the Spartan poet Alcman and interpreted as a dawn goddess.
  • Ancient Greek literature: fragments of works of poet Panyassis of Halicarnassus mention epithets Eoies ("He of the Dawn") and Aoos ('man of the dawn') in reference to Adonis, as a possible indicator of his Eastern origin; the name Aoos also appears as a son of Eos.
  • Mycenaean: the word a-wo-i-jo (Āw(ʰ)oʰios; ) is attested in a tablet from Pylos; interpreted as a shepherd's personal name related to "dawn", or dative Āwōiōi;
  • Italic: > (with an a-stem extension likely explained by the feminine gender)
  • Roman: Aurora, whose attributes are the same as the Greek Eos; the original motif of may have been preserved in Mater Matuta. Eous or Eoös, an obscure poetic term meaning 'east' or 'oriental', is attested to in Lucan's Pharsalia, Hyginus's Fabulae, the Titanomachy, and as the name given to one of the Sun's horses in Ovid's Metamorphoses,
  • Thracian: Auza-, attested in personal name (Auzakenthos 'dawn-child'), believed by linguists Vladimir I. Georgiev and to attest the name of a Thracian dawn goddess.
  • PIE: , locative singular of ,
  • Armenian (Proto): *aw(h)i-, evolving as *awi̯ -o-, then *ayɣ<sup>w</sup>o-,
  • Armenian: Ayg (այգ), goddess of the dawn.
  • Germanic: , a personal name generally interpreted as meaning 'light-beam' or 'ray of light',
  • Old Norse: Aurvandil, whose frozen toe was made into a star by Thor,
  • Old English: , meaning "dawn, ray of light",
  • Old High German: Aurendil, Orentil; Lombardic: Auriwandalo,
  • Gothic: (), Morning Star, Lucifer ("light-bringer"),
  • PIE: (or ), "matutinal, pertaining to the dawn",
  • Balto-Slavic: *Auṣ(t)ro,
  • Baltic: *Auš(t)ra, "dawn",
  • Lithuanian: Aušrinė, personification of the morning star, said to begin each day by lighting a fire for the sun; Aušra (sometimes Auska), goddess of sunrise, and Auštra (interpreted as "dawn" or "northeast wind"), a character in a fable that guards the entry to paradise. words ausma and ausmiņa denoting "Morgendämmerung" ('dawn, daybreak');
  • Slavic: *(j)ȕtro, "morning, dawn",
  • Polish: Jutrzenka or Justrzenka; Czech: Jitřenka, name and personification of the morning and evening star.
  • Polabians: Jutrobog (Latin: Jutry Bog or Jutrny Boh), literally "Morning God", a deity mentioned by German historians in the 18th century, and possibly (although disputed) Jüterbog: a town in east Germany named after the Slavic god.
  • Kashubians: Described as worshipping the god Jastrzebog and the goddess Jastra at Jastarnia, from which the Kashubian term for Easter, Jastrë, was derived. Their names may be related to the Polabian god Jutrobog, influenced by the Proto-Germanic deity *Austrōn, or derive from the word jasny ('bright').
  • Germanic: , goddess of the springtime celebrated during a yearly festival, at the origin of the word 'Easter' in some West Germanic languages,
  • Romano-Germanic: matronae Austriahenae, a name present in votive inscriptions found in 1958 in Germany.
  • Old English: , personification of Easter.
  • Old High German: *Ōstara (pl. Ôstarûn), personification of Easter (Modern German: Ostern).
  • Old Saxon: *Āsteron, possibly attested in the name asteronhus ('Easter-house').

Description

The attributes of the dawn goddess are reconstructed using the common traits found in later Indo-European dawn goddesses, including those from Greek, Hindu, Slavic, and Baltic mythologies. One of the most common characteristics of the goddess was her radiance and brilliance, as she is almost always described as a "bringer of light". Various cognates associated with the goddess derive from the Proto-Indo-European root , meaning "to glow", or "shine." More specifically, was ascribed with the attribute "wide-shining" or "far-shining"— a trait possibly attested in the Greek theonym Euryphaessa ("wide-shining") and the Sanskrit poetic expression ("[<nowiki/>Ushas] shines out widely"). She was also closely associated with the colors of the dawn: gold, saffron, red, and crimson, and is frequently described as dancing.

Other traits attributed to include her residence and vehicle. She is usually depicted dwelling on an island in the ocean or generally living in the east. The goddess is often described as driving some sort of vehicle pulled by horses, which later cultures typically adapted as a chariot. However, likely drove a wagon or similar carrier, as chariot technology first appeared in the Sintashta culture (2100–1800&nbsp;BC), and is generally associated with the Indo-Iranian peoples. In myth, the goddess uses her vehicle to bring the dawn or new day; she was also frequently depicted as refusing to bring the dawn, an act for which she is punished. Similarly, is depicted as the opener of the doors or gates of heaven for her father, the sky god *Dyēus.

The spread hand as the image of the sun's rays in the morning may also be of Proto-Indo-European origin. The Homeric expressions 'rose-armed' () and 'rosy-fingered Dawn' (), as well as Bacchylides' formula 'gold-armed' (), can be semantically compared with the Vedic formulas 'golden-handed' () and 'broad-handed' (). According to Martin L. West, "the 'rose' part is probably a Greek refinement."

Later Traditions

Greek and Roman tradition

Eos

In Greek mythology, Eos was the goddess and personification of the dawn. She is described as living "beyond the streams of Oceanus at the ends of the earth". A more precise location of her home is given in Homer's Odyssey, where Odysseus claims Eos lives at the mythical island of Aeaea, stating that it houses "the dwelling of early Dawn and her dancing-lawns (), and the risings of the sun". In the Hymn to Aphrodite, the home was described as having 'shining doors' (), behind which Eos locked her lover Tithonus. Homer also depicts Eos herself, wearing saffron-colored robes () and riding in a chariot pulled by a pair of horses named Lampos and Phaethon. Similarly, the Greek lyric poet Bacchylides calls her "white-horsed Dawn" (). The colour and number of the horses varies between authors, with common colours being white and red.

thumb|305x305px|A [[terracotta lekanis dish (c. 4th century BCE) depicting Eos driving a chariot pulled by four white horses.]]

In the Iliad, "early-born", also translated as "born in the morning", () is given as an epithet of Eos. In the Orphic Hymns, she is called ("light-bringing"), ("shining on mortals"), and ("bright-shining"). In Homeric formulas, she was also referred to as "gold-throned" ().

Aphrodite

A possible mythological descendant of may be Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty. Scholars posit similarities based on her connection with a sky deity as her father— Zeus or Uranus— and her association with the colours red and gold. In the Iliad, Aphrodite is hurt by a mortal and her wounds are tended to by her mother Dione. Dione is seen as a female counterpart to Zeus, and is thought to etymologically derive from the Proto-Indo-European root .

Aurora

Aurora was the goddess of the dawn in Roman mythology, and the equivalent of the Greek Eos. Similar imagery is utilized when describing both goddesses, likely due to the Hellenization of Roman culture. In Ovid's Metamorphoses, Aurora opens the red doors () to fill her rosy halls, and in Nonnus' Dionysiaca the goddess shakes off her sleep and leaves Cephalus in order to "open the gates of sunrise" ( ). Ovid associates her with the colours yellow, red, and purple, and describes her as ("the golden-yellow one") in his Amores.