Pereplut

Pereplut - a mysterious figure from the beliefs of the East Slavs, a deity or a demon with an unclear function. It appears in the list of gods and demons of the 12th-century Ruthenian interpolation of the Word of St. Grigory (the manuscript itself dates from the 15th century), as well as in the Word of St. John.^[1] According to the source account, pagan Slavs worshiped :

Vila, Mokosh, Dziwa, Perun, Hors, family and Rozhanitsy, ghosts and banks, and Pereplut, and turning to drink to him in the corners

— The word of St. John

Pereplut's name may have been distorted when copying the manuscript.^[2] The mentioned spinning and drinking are probably traces of magical rituals with elements of dance and libation.^[3] Alexei Sobolewski corrected the words in the horns (v rožech) on porohach (porožech), considering Pereplut to be a demon ensuring prosperity when crossing river thresholds, hence his possible identification as a water deity, with the etymology of the words pere- "through" and pluti-"to flow".^[4][5] This etymology was adopted by Stanisław Urbańczyk, who reconstructed the theonym in the form of Pereput.

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