Nav (Slavic folklore)
(Isaak Levitan. Vladimirka. 1892 г.)
Nav (Croatian, Czech, Slovak: Nav, Polish: Nawia, Russian: Навь, Serbian: Нав, Slovene: Navje, Ukrainian: Мавка, Mavka or Нявка, Nyavka)[a] is a phrase used to denote the souls of the dead in Slavic mythology.[3] The singular form (Nav or Nawia)[what language is this?] is also used as a name for an underworld, over which Veles exercises custody—it is often interpreted as another name for the underground variant of the Vyraj (heaven or paradise).[3]
Etymology[]
The words nawia, nav and its other variants are most likely derived from the Proto-Slavic *navь-, meaning "corpse", "deceased".[4] Cognates in other Indo-European languages include Latvian nāve ("death"), Lithuanian nõvis (“death”), Old Prussian nowis (“body, flesh”), Old Russian навь (navʹ) (“corpse, dead body”) and Gothic