Kurdalægon

Kurdalægon (Ossetian: Куырдалӕгон[1]), also spelled and known as Kuịrdalägon, Kurd-Alägon, Aläugon, Kurd-Alä-Uärgon,[2] is the heavenly deity of blacksmiths in Ossetian mythology.[3] His epithet is "the heavenly one"; he shoes the dead man's horse, thus helping him on his journey to the other side. He is a close friend of the Narts.

It is important to note that despite being associated with other blacksmith deities in different Indo-European mythologies (like Vulcan) he does not have the status of a god. Ossetian mythology is considered to be monotheistic, with only Xwytsau being considered God, and all the others (called zædtæ and dæwdžytæ) being considered deities of a lower class.

Etymology

Ossetian Kwyrdalægon is a contraction of Kurd Alæ Wærgon, where Kurd and Alæ are epithets, meaning "blacksmith" and "Alan/Aryan", respectively, and Wærgon is the original name of Kurdalægon. The whole phrase means "Alan/Aryan Blacksmith Wærgon". Kurd originates from *kur-ta- or *kur-tar-, which is agent noun of *kur- "to heat", "to incandesce". Ossetian alæ originates from arya-, and originally meant "Aryan", and later "Alan".

The original name Wærgon is derived from Old Ossetic *wærg "wolf" (see Warg). The linguist Vasily Abaev compares it to the name of the Roman god Vulcan.

See also

References
  1. Digor Ossetian: Курдалæгон
  2. Digor Ossetian: Курд-Алӕ-Уӕргон
  3. Salbiev, Tamerlan (2021). "KUỊRDALÄGON". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica, Online Edition. Encyclopædia Iranica Foundation.

Sources
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