[2][3][4] 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-.

Lithuanian aušrà 'dawn', 'morning light', Proto-Slavic *ȕtro 'morning', 'dawn', Old Church Slavonic za ustra 'in the morning'),[a] in Sanskrit uṣar ('dawn'), or in Ancient Greek αὔριον ('tomorrow').

'toward the dawn'), is reflected in Latvian àustrums ('east'), Avestan ušatara ('east'), Italic *aus-tero- (compare Latin auster 'south wind, south'), Old Church Slavonic ustrŭ ('summer'), and Germanic *austeraz (cf.

[12][13] 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),[14] and Austrvegr ('The eastern way'), attested in medieval Germanic literature.

[66] A more precise location is given in the Odyssey, by poet Homer: in his narration, Odysseus tells his audience that the Aeaean isle is "where is the dwelling of early Dawn and her dancing-lawns, and the risings of the sun".

[67] In Slavic folklore, the home of the Zoryas was sometimes said to be on Bouyan (or Buyan), an oceanic island paradise where the Sun dwelt along with his attendants, the North, West and East winds.

[74][i][j] The Dawn is often described as driving some sort of vehicle, probably originally a wagon or a similar carrier, certainly not a chariot as the technology appeared later within the Sintashta culture (2100–1800 BC), generally associated with the Indo-Iranian peoples.

[79] The vehicle is portrayed as a biga or a rosy-red quadriga in Virgil's Aeneid and in classical references from Greek epic poetry and vase painting, or as a shining chariot drawn by golden-red horses.

Homer's Odyssey describes the horses of Eos as a pair of swift steeds named Lampos and Phaethon, and Bacchylides calls her 'white-horsed Dawn' (λεύκιππος Ἀώς).

[88] The sun's steeds are also portrayed as having hooves and bridles of gold in the dainas, and as golden beings themselves or of a bay colour, "reflect[ing] the hues of the bright or the twilight sky".

[69] Another parallel could be made with the 'shining doors' (θύρας ... φαεινάς) of the home of Eos, behind which she locks up her lover Tithonus as he grows old and withers in Homer's Hymn to Aphrodite.

[95] In Ovid's Metamorphoses, Aurora opens the red doors (purpureas fores) to fill her rosy halls,[96] and in Nonnus' Dionysiaca the Dawn-goddess shakes off her sleep and leaves Kephalos' repose in order to 'open the gates of sunrise' (ἀντολίης ὤιξε θύρας πολεμητόκος Ἠώς).

[98][99] In a passage of the Eddas about Dellingr, a Norse deity of light, a dwarf utters a charm or incantation in front of 'Delling's doors' (fyr Dellings durum), which apparently means "at dawn".

[105][106] This theme is widespread in the attested traditions: Eos and Aurora are sometimes unwilling to leave her bed, Uṣas is punished by Indra for attempting to forestall the day, and Auseklis did not always rise in the morning, as she was said to be locked up in a golden chamber or in Germany sewing velvet skirts.

[167][168] In Persian historical and sacred literature, namely, the Bundahishn, in the chapter about the genealogy of the Kayanid dynasty, princess Frānag, in exile with "Frēdōn's Glory" after escaping her father's murderous intentions, promises to give her firstborn son, Kay Apiweh, to "Ōšebām".

[169] In the Yasht about Zam, the Angel of the Munificent Earth, a passage reads upaoṣ̌ā̊ŋhə ('situated in the rosy dawn'), "a hypostatic derivation from unattested *upa uṣ̌āhu 'up in the morning light(s)'".

[171] Stefan Zimmer suggests that Welsh literary expression ym bronn y dyd ("at the breast/bosom of the day") is an archaic formula possibly referring to the Dawn goddess, who bared her breast.

A medieval French obituary from the 12th century, from Moissac, in Occitania, registers compound names of Germanic origin that contain root Aur- (e.g., Auraldus) and Austr- (e.g., Austremonius, Austrinus, Austris).

[178] Germanic personal names in Galicia and Iberian toponyms with prefix aus-, astr- and aust- (> ost-) also attest the survival of the root well into medieval times.

[185] In Albanian folk beliefs, Prende, who had been worshiped in northern Albania until recent times, is the dawn goddess, whose name traces back to PIE *pers-é-bʰ(h₂)n̥t-ih₂ 'she who brings the light through', from which also the Ancient Greek Περσεφάττα, a variant of Περσεφόνη (Persephone), is considered to have regularly descended.

[191] The Albanian imperative form afro dita 'come forth the dawn' traces back to Proto-Albanian *apro dītā 'come forth brightness of the day/dawn', from PIE *h₂epero déh₂itis.

[192] According to linguist Václav Blažek, the Albanian word (h)yll ('star') finds a probable ultimate etymology in the root *h₂ews- ('dawn'), specifically through *h₂ws-li ('morning-star'), which implies the quite natural semantic evolution 'dawn' > 'morning star' > 'star'.