Pizamar

Pizamar (Old Icelandic Pizamarr) is a Slavic deity worshipped on Rügen. His statue was overthrown by the Danes in 1168 together with statues of other gods on Rügen. He is mentioned only in Knýtlinga saga, which, however, does not give the functions of the god or his image. Nowadays his name may be transcribed into English as Pachomir, Pachemir. The Gesta Danorum and Knýtlinga saga describe the conquest of Rügen by the Danes. Both sources describe the destruction of the temple of Svetovit on Arkona, then the temples of Ruyevit, Porevit and Porenut in Charenza. The Knýtlinga saga, however, mentions further conquests, which are no longer described by the Gesta Danorum, and mentions the god Pizamar, who was worshipped in the nearby gord of Asund, nowadays identified with Zagard nearby the Black Lake: The fifth god was called Pizamar. He was in Asund, such was the name of the place. This god was also burned. There was also a god called Tjarnaglofi, he was their god of victory, and he went with them into battle. He had a silver moustache. It was he who resisted longest, but on the third winter they captured him. And on that journey they Christianized five thousand. There is general agreement that the Icelandic -marr corresponds to the Slavic suffix -mir (Proto-Slavic *-mirъ) found in many Slavic given names, which was adapted to the Old Icelandic phonetic system, but controversy arose over the reading of the first part of the theonym. The first letter was generally read as b or v (w): Aleksander Brückner read the name as Wszemir or Wyszemir, while others read it as Bezmir or Bezmiar, Běsomar, Bisomir, Bisomar, Bjessamar, Pečimir, and also as a continuation of the Proto-Slavic *bez(ъ)měrъ "unlimited strength". Such etymologies, however, have drawbacks. Slavic words beginning with ⟨v⟩...