Tellervo
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Karelia: Killervö, Tellervö, Tillervo
Ostrobothnia: Hillervo?
| Tellervo | |
|---|---|
Maiden of Tapio | |
 | |
| Other names | Kainuu: Tillervo Karelia: Killervö, Tellervö, Tillervo Ostrobothnia: Hillervo? |
| Gender | Female |
| Ethnic group | Finns, Karelians |
| Genealogy | |
| Parents | |
Tellervo (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈtelːerʋo]) is the Finnish goddess of forests. She is the daughter of Tapio,[2] the King of the Forest.
Mentions of Tellervo in runic songs are limited to Kainuu, North Karelia, the Karelian Isthmus and White Karelia. In Kainuu and White Karelia, Tellervo is asked to help with hunting a bear;[3] in North Karelia, to find help against an illness that came from the forest; on the Karelian Isthmus, to protect cattle.
It has been suggested that the Tellervo name is a variant of Hillervo, Mother of Otters, mentioned in one runic song. This view has been supported by e.g. M.A. Castrén and Martti Haavio.
The name Tellervo has been theorized to originate from Pellervo, associated with an agricultural god. The name would have morphed into Tellervo in order to share alliteration with Tapio, the epithet developing from poika ('son') to paimen ('shepherd') to tytär ('daughter'), as explained by Kaarle Krohn.[4] Jacob Grimm suggested the name to come from telta, tellan 'tegmen'. M.A. Castrén believed the name Tellervo to have developed from earlier Hillervo. One White Karelian poem also mentions "Killervö, Maiden of Tapio", which Martti Haavio connected to Hillervo and Tellervo as well, suggesting that the original name could have been Killervo after killeri 'trap'. However, Haavio believed it more likely that Hillervo came from hilleri 'polecat'. He considered Castrén's Tellervo–Hillervo connection the best explanation, as Tellervo's name also appears in the forms Tillervo and Tellervö.[5]
