DONBETTỊR (DONBETTÄR), a mythological overlord of the Water Kingdom in Ossetian religious and epic tradition.

Donbettịr’s name is often used in plural to denote the whole tribe of water creatures, taken together. Most of the epic heroes are linked to him by different ties, some of them even deriving their genealogy from him. His name is a composite, consisting of don ‘water’ and Bettịr (Bettär), which is a medieval adoption from the Christian apostle Peter’s name, with a shift of the initial consonant from p- to b-. This change is a result of regular dissimilation, well-known in Ossetian (cf. p’it’na > bit’na ‘spearmint’). Influenced by the New Testament stories of the apostle Peter fishing, the Christian folk tradition itself linked him to water habitats, leading to the treatment of Donbettịr as a patron of sailors and others associated with the waters (Abaev, pp. 367-68). The cult of Donbettịr is, of course, much older and goes back to Scythian-Sarmatian and Alanic tribes of southern Russia. Every autumn in many Ossetian villages, even those that had no connection to the rivers or other water basins, a ritual prayer ceremony, kuịvd, was arranged. Large fish were brought for this ceremony, and sturgeon was the most preferred type. While conducting this ceremony, in which only men were allowed to participate—the men represented all the households of the settlement—prayers were offered asking Donbettịr to leave the people in need of water, to protect them against flooding, and to provide the local fishermen with an abundant catch. It was also considered dangerous for the local men to swim too late, because they might risk their lives. This was because Donbettịr possessed a special chain in his hand, which he used to drag them into the depths. Women also conducted special ceremonies, praying to the numerous daughters he was believed to have. These daughters were in charge of the purity of the water that otherwise would often become muddy after the rains or melting of the snows in the mountains. One his daughters, Dzeraššä, played an outstanding role in the Nart epics (see NARTỊ KADDŽỊTÄ). She was the mother of two twin-brothers, Urịzmäg (see ŠATANÄ AND UỊRỊZMÄG) and Xämịc (q.v.). Already dead, she managed to give birth to Šatanä, the famous matron of the Narts. According to these traditions, the people of the region regard Donbettịr and his daughter Dzeraššä as their ancestors. There is also a special ritual, connected with this cult, which is conducted several days after the marriage of a new bride. Dressed in her wedding gown and accompanied by young girls and men, who play instruments and sing joyful songs along the route, she goes to the nearest water source. Upon reaching the bank of the river, the people pray to Donbettịr and his daughters to endow the new bride and her family with all possible happiness and prosperity. Only after that ceremony does the bride obtain the right to go and draw water from the water source by herself. In the Caucasus, as the result of mutual cultural interactions, the neighbors of the Ossetians are also known to have a similar cult of a water patron, in many ways corresponding to the Ossetian one, though in their traditions none of them has the name of Donbettịr (Kaloev, pp. 360-61).