Mitra en · PROPN · etymology 1
Etymology
Transliteration of Sanskrit मित्र (mitra). Doublet of Mithra and Mithras.
Meanings
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A divinity of Vedic culture, hypostasis of friendship and one-half of the dvandva (compound divinity) Varuna-Mitra.
[In post-Vedic India], Vedic Mitra practically disappears and Varuna is relegated to a subsidiary position
1989, Elizabeth-Chalier Visuvalingam, “Bhairava's Royal Brahmanicide,”, in Criminal Gods and Demon Devotees, page 200:
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(uncommon) A deity invoked in the Hurrian Mitanni of ca. 1400 BC.
when about 1350 B.C. a treaty was concluded between the king of Mittanni [...] and the Hittite ruler [...], the former calls upon the gods Mitra, Indra, Varuna, and the Nâsatya as guarantors of his sworn obligations.
1963, Jørgen Læssøe, People of Ancient Assyria: Their Inscriptions and Correspondence, Routledge,, page 86:
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(alt-of, alternative, rare) Alternative form of Mithra (“Iranian deity”).
alt of Mithra
As the Avestan Mitra had a luminous character, so had the Vedic Mitra.
1923, John Nicol Farquhar, The Religious Quest of India, OUP, page 120:We cannot account for Roman Mithras in terms borrowed from Persian Mitra.
2001, Manfred Clauss, The Roman Cult of Mithras: The God and His Mysteries, page 7: