indicate the level to which a name has been verified.
Meaning & History
Alleged Lithuanian goddess of sunbeams and sunlight.
Ausca was first recorded by Polish historian and theologian Jan Łasicki in his treatise on idolatry De diis Samagitarum caeterorumque Sarmatarum et falsorum Christianorum, written ca. 1582 and published in 1615.Her name is clearly a Latinization and gives modern-day academics headaches as to what the original form, if there ever was one, might have been. Several attempts have, however, been made to reconstruct an original form. One suggestion was Aušta, in which case the name would be derived from Lithuanian aušta "it is dawning; dawn is falling; day is breaking". Another theory concludes that Ausca might have been a form of Aušra, deriving the name from Lithuanian aušra "dawn". Should that be the case, she might have been identical with the goddess Aušrinė known from Lithuanian folklore.
Since Łasicki was not intimately familiar with Lithuanian culture or language, the academic opinion on the value of his writings ranges from a valuable resource to a practical joke.
Ausca was first recorded by Polish historian and theologian Jan Łasicki in his treatise on idolatry De diis Samagitarum caeterorumque Sarmatarum et falsorum Christianorum, written ca. 1582 and published in 1615.Her name is clearly a Latinization and gives modern-day academics headaches as to what the original form, if there ever was one, might have been. Several attempts have, however, been made to reconstruct an original form. One suggestion was Aušta, in which case the name would be derived from Lithuanian aušta "it is dawning; dawn is falling; day is breaking". Another theory concludes that Ausca might have been a form of Aušra, deriving the name from Lithuanian aušra "dawn". Should that be the case, she might have been identical with the goddess Aušrinė known from Lithuanian folklore.
Since Łasicki was not intimately familiar with Lithuanian culture or language, the academic opinion on the value of his writings ranges from a valuable resource to a practical joke.