Chernobog

Chernobog (Proto-Slavic *čĭrnŭ 'black' and *bogŭ "god"), also spelled as Czernobog, Crnobog and Tchernobog is a Slavic deity, whose name means black god, about whom much has been speculated but little can be said definitively.[1] The only historical sources, which are Christian ones, interpret him as a dark, accursed god, but it is questionable how important or malicious he was really considered to be by ancient Slavs. The name is attested only among West Slavic tribes of the 12th century, hence it is speculated that he was not a very important or very old deity. He is the counterpart of Belobog.

Sources

One historic source on Slavic mythology mentioning this god is the 12th-century Chronica Slavorum, a work written by German priest Helmold which describes customs and beliefs of several Wendish and Polabian tribes who were still pagans. Helmold wrote that:

The Slavs, too, have a strange delusion. At their feasts and carousals they pass about a bowl over which they utter words, I should not say of consecration but of execration, in the name of the gods — of the good one, as well as of the bad one — professing that all propitious fortune is arranged by the good god, adverse, by the bad god. Hence, also, in their language they call the bad god Diabol, or Zcerneboch, that is, the black god.[2]

On the basis of this inscription, many modern mythographers assumed that, if the evil god was Chernobog, the Black God, then the good god should be Belobog or the White God. However, the name of Belobog is not mentioned by Helmold anywhere in his Chronica, nor is it ever mentioned in any of the historic sources that describe the gods of any Slavic tribe or nation. Svetovid may serve as the opposite god.

Folklore

A veneration of this deity perhaps survived in folklore of several Slavic nations. In some South Slavic vernaculars, there exists the phrase do zla boga (meaning "to [the] evil god," or perhaps "to [the] evil [of] God"), used as an attribute to express something which is exceedingly negative.

Virtually no one is really aware of the literal meaning of these words anymore; exclamations such as Ovo je do zla boga dosadno! and To je do zla boga glupo! can be safely translated as "This is devilishly boring!" and "That is immensely stupid!" without any real loss in meaning. Even these translations are becoming somewhat outdated, though, as Slavic languages have some common curses that are used in the middle of a sentence, whereas a similar curse in English would be an introductory interjection. To continue one of the above examples, To je do zla boga glupo! can also be translated as "Damn! This is stupid!". Combining the two concepts would render it as "This is damn stupid!", which is also acceptable.

It must be noted that curses, expletives, and foul language in general are often highly idiomatic in any language and may (note the emphasis) be better translated with culturally-analogous words or phrases rather than literal translations. Translations should, in any event, try to maintain the same relative level of intensity of expletives.

It is very similar to the modern Polish expression "do jasnej cholery" literal meaning would be "for shining cholera", but it means the same as ancient "do zła boga".

The word Bog ("God"), however, in all Slavic languages today is used as it is in English for the Christian God.

In popular culture

Chernabog from Fantasia (on the right) with Maleficent and the Evil Queen at Walt Disney World in 2006

References

  1. ↑ In some modern Slavic languages it can be reflected as: Bulgarian and Russian: Чернобог Chernobog, Macedonian and Serbo-Croatian: Crnobog, Црнобог, Polish: Czarnobóg, Czech: Černobůh.
  2. ↑ Tschan, Francis Joseph, ed., trans. (1935). The Chronicle of the Slavs by Helmold, Priest of Bosau. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 159.
  3. ↑ Helmoldus (1581). "Caput LIII". In Reiner Reineccius. Chronica Slavorum. Frankfurt. p. 44.
  4. ↑ The Walt Disney Company (2009). "Disney Archives, Chernabog Villains History".
  5. ↑ http://www.harpoonbrewery.com/beer/368826/czernobog