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Submitted: April 8, 2012
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Mond stampby *wyldraven

deviantART Related / Deviant Stamps

Mond: the male moon

I come across many depictions of moon goddesses, but very few moon gods. After a little research I found some very interesting facts...

from various websites:

wiki: [link]
It may be noted that most of the oldest civilizations had male lunar deities, and it was only later cultures — the classical ones most people are familiar with — that featured strong female moon goddesses.

[link]
That the moon was once used to calculate the calendar is fairly obvious, in that the word "month" literally comes from the old Germanic "moonth", meaning a moon period. The word moon is also of Germanic origin, where it was (and still is) Der Mond, referring to a "male" moon. Infact, in all Indo-European cultures the sun was originally a goddess and the moon a male god, something that was reversed with the advent of the patriarchy.

[link]
We have already in part pointed out that the moon has been considered as of the masculine gender; and have therefore but to travel a little farther afield to show that in the Aryan of India, in Egyptian, Arabian, Slavonian, Latin, Lithuanian, Gothic, Teutonic, Swedish, Anglo-Saxon, and South American, the moon is a male god. "Moon," is a very old word. It was móna in Anglo-Saxon, and was used there, not as a feminine, but as a masculine for the moon was originally a masculine, and the sun a feminine, in all Teutonic languages; and it is only through the influence of classical models that in English moon has been changed into a feminine, and sun into a masculine. "Down to recent times, our people were fond of calling the sun and moon frau sonne and herr mond."

The Romans recognised the god Lunus; and the Germans, like the Arabs, to this day, consider the moon masculine, and not feminine, as were the Selênê and Luna of the Greeks and Latins. The Egyptians represented their moon as a male deity, like the German mond and monat, or the Lunus of the Latins; and it is worthy of remark, that the same custom of calling it male is retained in the East to the present day, while the sun is considered female, as in the language of the Germans. In Slavonic, as in the Teutonic mythology, the moon is male.

~dattebayogirl Apr 21, 2012 Student

This is awesome. You should also make one about the female sun.

*wyldraven Apr 25, 2012

thanks!

~dattebayogirl Apr 26, 2012 Student

You're welcome.

*DragonDew Apr 11, 2012

Wow, that's very interesting. Weird how things get changed around through history isn't it?

*wyldraven Apr 11, 2012

yep... people tend to change things just because it suits them

*lemonade8 Apr 8, 2012

I was surprised to learn of all of the female moon deities because when I was young I had only heard of the 'man on in the moon' and only men have been ON the moon. Plus, I'm a leo and a sun sign, and as much as I like men I don't actually want to BE one or like one, so I do enjoy the women being the sun for once.

I can see why it transposed through history, though. The moon affects women quite profoundly. If the moon is full, you can start your cycle early, and same goes with giving birth. When something has that kind of vivid power over a certain gender, it's bound to take on said gender's aspects.

*wyldraven Apr 9, 2012

i was surprised too, and especially because male moon gods don't seem to feature much in art.

this article claims that both sexes have monthly cycles [link] I have noticed that there seems to be some monthly patterns in myself, so i should take note of the moon phases

*lemonade8 Apr 8, 2012

By the way, I love your stamp.

*wyldraven Apr 9, 2012

thank you

*SylvanSmith Apr 8, 2012 Hobbyist General Artist

I have read things like this before. It is interesting how things change. I guess in modern times we have the vestige of the masculine aspect in the "man in the moon". When the crescent moon is given a face, it is masculine.

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