Editing Moirai (section)

===European goddesses===
[[File:Nornorna spinner ödets trådar vid Yggdrasil.jpg|thumb|The [[Norns]] spin the threads of [[Destiny|fate]] at the foot of [[Yggdrasil]], the tree of the world.]]

The three Moirai are known in English as the [[Fates]]. This derives from [[Roman mythology]], in which they are the [[Parcae|Parcae or Fata]], plural of {{langx|la|fatum|Fata, -orum (n)=}},<ref>''Online Etymology Dictionary'', s.v. [http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=fate "fate"], [http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=fairy "fairy"].</ref> meaning prophetic declaration, oracle, or destiny; euphemistically, the "sparing ones". There are other equivalents that descend from the [[Proto-Indo-European mythology#Societal deities|Proto-Indo-European culture]].

In Norse mythology the [[Norns]] are a trio of female beings who rule the destiny of gods and men, twining the thread of life. They set up the laws and decided on the lives of the children of men.<ref>''[[Völuspá]]'' 20; cf. [[Henry Adams Bellows (businessman)|Henry Adams Bellows]]' translation for [[The American-Scandinavian Foundation]] with clickable names ([http://cybersamurai.net/Mythology/nordic_gods/LegendsSagas/Edda/PoeticEdda/Voluspo.htm online text]). {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070718115311/http://cybersamurai.net/Mythology/nordic_gods/LegendsSagas/Edda/PoeticEdda/Voluspo.htm |date=18 July 2007 }}</ref>

Their names were [[Urðr]], related with Old English ''[[wyrd]]'', modern ''weird'' ("fate, destiny, luck"), [[Verðandi]], and [[Skuld]], and it has often been concluded that they ruled over the past, present and future respectively, based on the sequence and partly the etymology of the names, of which the first two (literally 'Fate' and 'Becoming') are derived from the past and present stems of the verb ''verða'', "to be", respectively,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hellquist |first=Elof |date=1922 |title=Svensk etymologisk ordbok |url=https://runeberg.org/svetym/ |access-date=2024-09-26 |website=runeberg.org |language=sv}}</ref> and the name of the third one means "debt" or "guilt", originally "that which must happen".<ref>'' Online Etymology Dictionary'', s. v. [http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=shall "shall"].</ref> In younger legendary sagas, the Norns appear to have been synonymous with witches (''[[völva]]s''), and they arrive at the birth of the hero to shape his destiny.<ref>''Nordisk familjebook'' (1913). Uggleupplagan. 19. Mykenai-Newpada. ([https://runeberg.org/nfbs/0792.html online text]).</ref>

Many other cultures included trios of goddesses associated with fate or destiny. The [[Celtic polytheism|Celtic]] [[Matres]] and [[Matrones]], female deities almost always depicted in groups of three, have been proposed as connected to the Norns.<ref>{{cite book|first=John|last=Landow|title=Norse Mythology, a guide to the ghosts, heroes, rituals and beliefs|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|location=Oxford, England|date=2001|isbn=0-19-515382-0}}</ref>

In [[Lithuanian mythology|Lithuanian]] and other [[Baltic mythology|Baltic mythologies]], the goddess [[Laima]] is the personification of destiny, and her most important duty was to prophesy how the life of a newborn will take place.<ref>Greimas Algirdas Julien (1992). ''Of gods and men. Studies in Lithuanian Mythology''. Indiana University Press, p. 111. {{ISBN|0-253-32652-4}}.</ref><ref>Related to "Iaksmlka", "mark, sign or token" ([[Rigveda]] X, 71,2): Monier Williams. ''Sanskrit-English Dictionary''.</ref> With her sisters Kārta and Dēkla, she is part of a trinity of fate deities similar to the Moirai.<ref>Bojtar Endre (1999). ''Foreword to the past. A cultural history of Baltic people''. CEU Press, p. 301. {{ISBN|963-9116-42-4}}.</ref> In [[Hurrian mythology|Hurran mythology]] the three goddesses of fate, the ''[[Hutena]]'', were believed to dispense good and evil, life and death to humans.