| Names: | Vento   ?    ?
Runkoteivas Runkateivas Runkateira Rukitohvana Rukitehvana Rukotivo
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Let's look into two vague names related to wheat and rye.
As seen with barley deities, there is one known as Osmo or Onni, the mythic original sower of barley and in some ways, the "owner" of barley. Along with him appears another strange name, Vento, who "owns" wheat. You won't find this figure mentioned in most places because based on the books I've read, a lot of researchers haven't bothered to touch this topic at all. So allow me to make my enlightened observations.
One of the most usual mentions of Vento is in the term Vennon härkä "Vento's ox". This is the ox that Sämpsä Pellervoinen used as his helper when the sowed the trees of the world in the very beginning. Vennon härkä is named Uljamoinen and described as having black cheeks.
The name "Uljamoinen" does not appear elsewhere. One thing I noted was, however, that Ingrians know the name Untamoinen or Unto. And Unto is often paired up with Vento. They could be synonyms for one and the same being, but they are also shown as a trio: Unto, Vento and Kaleva. The narrative gets a bit confused after this line: suddenly the trio is Unto, Osmo and Kaleva. That is the Ingrian version, but the Savonian trio of names is Osmo, Vento and Runkateivas. (Of course, there is also the added confusion of some songs treating Kaleva and Osmo as synonyms).
Onnen ohrat, Vennon vehnät Runkateivaan rukiit |
Barley of Onni, wheat of Vento Rye of Runkateivas |
In addition, we have Vennon lähde "Vento's spring". It is also called the sacred spring, the unnamed well, the river Jordan itself, etc. Things which are unnamed or unknown are often connected to the Underworld, while one can't not notice a connection to Osmo's field which is also called the sacred field.
One runosong from Kymenlaakso mentions Vento going to murder his own father and mother, but this is unknown from anywhere else and might not be related to any wheat figure at all, as vento can also be used in contexts like referring to a stranger. Indeed, in one runosong, an enemy soldier is called a "bloodhound ventolainen". One runosong from Kainuu calls Väinämöinen "Ventolainen" as well.
Final mention of Vento is in the story of Väinämöinen's secret son, who a brother named "Joukari of Vento" or "horde of Vento". However, it is indeed not sure if this is supposed to mean capital V Vento or be another word, like "stranger".
Runkateivas is a deity of rye. In 1551, he was mentioned as Rongoteus, and it took quite a while for his name to be found in the runosongs. No wonder, since it appears in forms such as Runkateivas, Runkoteivas, Runkateira, Rukitohvana and Rukitehvana. The name Rukotivo has also been connected to him, even though it appears removed from its original context. This is really all there is to him: runosong lines simply say Runkateivaan rukiit "rye of Runkateivas", and Rukkiinen Runkateira "Runkateira of rye".
| Rongoteus, Runkateivas, variants | Theorized to come from ruis "rye" and Proto-Germanic *tīwaz "god". Very selfexplanatory... Although a less popular theory states that the -tohvana and -tehvana endings would be references to Christian saints like Saint Stephen. |
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Only in Finnish, sorry. This is the source material.