Kurdalægon


Kurdalægon is the heavenly deity of blacksmiths in Ossetian mythology. His epithet is "the heavenly one"; he shoes the dead man's horse, thus helping him on his journey to the other side. He is a close friend of the Narts.
It is important to note that despite being associated with other blacksmith deities in different Indo-European mythologies he does not have the status of a god. Ossetian mythology is considered to be monotheistic, with only Xwytsau being considered God, and all the others being considered deities of a lower class.

Etymology

Kwyrdalægon is a contraction of Kurd Alæ Wærgon, where Kurd and Alæ are epithets, meaning "blacksmith" and "Alan/Aryan", respectively, and Wærgon is the original name of Kurdalægon. The whole phrase means "Alan/Aryan Blacksmith Wærgon". Kurd originates from *kur-ta- or *kur-tar-, which is agent noun of *kur- "to heat", "to incandesce". Ossetian alæ originates from arya-, and originally meant "Aryan", and later "Alan".
The original name Wærgon is derived from Old Ossetic *wærg "wolf". The linguist Vasily Abaev compares it to the name of the Roman god Vulcan.