Sosruko

Sosruko tower in Nalchik

Sosruko or Sosriqwe (Template:Balkar) is a central character in many cycles of the Nart sagas of the Caucasus.

Sosruko is a powerful but devious man who is the smallest of the Narts; as a character, he is sometimes cast in the light of the trickster god, comparable to the Scandinavian Loki (who finds a closer parallel in the Nart Syrdon however), Georgian Amirani, or the Ancient Greek Prometheus. It is possible that at least in the latter case, Sosruku served as a direct inspiration.

In Circassian mythology, it was Nart Sosriqwe, minion of the gods and his doting mother, Lady Satanaya, who stole fire from the giant.

Etymology

The name etymologically came from Turkic languages: Nogai suslan- "to look menacing", suslä "menacing, gloomy" (hence Ossetian: Soslan). The variants Abkhaz: Sasərqwa, Adyghe: Саусырыкъо /saːwsərəqʷa/, Kabardian: Сосрыкъуэ /sawsərəqʷa/, Ubykh: Sawsərəqʷa, Digor Ossetian: Sosruqo, Sozyryqo, Sozuruqo. The name Sosruko /saːwsərəqʷa/ is from Circassian sa "sword" + wa "hit" + sər "heat" + qʷa "son"; hence literally “The son of the fiery sword hit”.

References

External links

Nart Tales of the Circassians - Reocities personal page
The Circassian Nart Epos - International Centre for Circassian Studies

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, June 30, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.