In the
Iliad Aphrodite is described as being the daughter of Zeus and Dion.
Dione's name is a feminine cognate to Dios and Dion, which are simply oblique forms of the name Zeus. Zeus comes from
Proto-Indo-European *deiwos, "celestial" or "shining", from the same root as *Dyēus, the reconstructed chief god of the
Proto-Indo-European pantheon(
SKY-Father).
Zeus and Dione shared a cult at Dodona in northwestern Greece, which is close to South Albania.
In Albanian
Afërditë (“daybreak, dawn”), is a compound of
Afër (“nearby, close”) and
Ditë (“day”).
This fits perfectly with referring to the planet Venus when it appears in the east before sunrise, i.e.
daybreak /
day-is-near.
Afër is not some archaic dead word that is being used here for an agenda, its a word as common as "the" that is used everyday in Albanian.
For example here is a pop mainstream song called "Near and Far":
I don't susbscribe to most of Zeus10's theories, however this Aferdita issue for me not only makes sense etymologically, it also fits
naturally with the mythology, her parents being related to the Sky and the Sun, and she is a Bright Star that is a signal
of beginning of the day. Its too coherent on all fronts.