ƎRƎTI

 

ƎRƎTI, the name of a minor goddess. One of a number of abstract deities who appear in the Avesta only in formulaic invocations of divinities, she is the hypostasis of ərəti-. Although most interpreters follow Bartholomae (AirWb, col. 350) in taking this feminine noun to mean approximately ‘energy’ on the assumption that it is etymologically identical to OInd. ṛtí- f. (“attack”; cf. Mid. Pers. ardig “battle”), there is no assurance that the two words are to be compared (Mayrhofer, Wörterbuch I, p. 256). The name occurs only in the gen. sg. ərəθya (after feminines in ī, beside ašōiš) in two enumerations of deities: 1. Ama (Might), Vərəθraγna (Victory), Ǝrəti, Aši (Reward), Cisti(Insight), Pauruuatāt (Priority), Uparatāṱ(Superiority; Visprad 9.4) and 2. Aši, Cisti, Ǝrəti, Rasątāt (?), Xwarənah (Glory), Sauuah (Profit; Y. 3.16, 4.19, 7. 16, 22.16).

Bibliography: Given in text.

 

(William W. Malandra)

Originally Published: December 15, 1998

Last Updated: January 19, 2012

This article is available in print.
Vol. VIII, Fasc. 5, p. 542