*H₂éwsōs

H2éwsōs or *Haéusōs (PIE: lit. 'the dawn') is the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European name of the dawn goddess in the Proto-Indo-European mythology. H2éwsōs is believed to have been one of the most important deities worshipped by Proto-Indo-European speakers due to the consistency of her characterization in subsequent traditions as well as the importance of the goddess Uṣas in the Rigveda. Her attributes have not only been mixed with those of solar goddesses in some later traditions, most notably the Baltic sun-deity Saulė, but have subsequently expanded and influenced female deities in other mythologies. The reconstructed Proto-Indo-European name of the dawn, *h2éwsōs, derives the verbal root *h2(e)wes- ('to shine, glow red; a flame') extended by the suffix -ós-. The same root also underlies the word for 'gold', *h2ews-om (lit. 'glow'), inherited in Latin aurum, Old Prussian ausis, and Lithuanian áuksas. The word for the dawn as a meteorological event has also been preserved in Balto-Slavic *auṣ(t)ro (cf. Lith. aušrà 'dawn, morning light', PSlav. *ȕtro 'morning, dawn', OCS za ustra 'in the morning'), in Sanskrit uṣar ('dawn'), or in Ancient Greek αὔριον ('tomorrow'). A derivative adverb, *h2ews-teros, meaning 'east' (lit. 'toward the dawn'), is reflected in Latvian àustrums ('east'), Avestan ušatara ('east'), Italic *aus-tero- (cf. Latin auster 'south wind, south'), Old Church Slavonic ustrŭ ('summer'), and Germanic *austeraz (cf. Old Norse austr, English east, MHG oster). The same root seems to be preserved in the Baltic names for the northeast wind: Lith. aūštrinis and Latv. austrenis, austrinis, austrinš. Also related are the Old Norse Austri, described in the Gylfaginning as one of four dwarves that guard the four cardinal points (with him representing the east), and Austrvegr ('The Eastern Way'), attested in medieval Germanic literature. A common epithet associated with the Dawn is *Diwós Dhuǵh2tḗr, the 'Daughter of Dyēus', the sky god.