Ahueccaniae

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The Ahueccaniae or Ahveccaniae are possibly matrons , but cannot be unequivocally identified as such due to the tradition. They are evidenced by an inscription on a votive stone from the year 201 AD from Gleuel near Cologne.

Discovery and Inscription

The votive stone made of red sandstone (70.5 × 53 cm) was found in 1893 during the demolition of the previous building of today's St. Dionysus church, built in as the base of the high altar. The base runs all the way around and the structure (niche with the figures of gods or images) is broken off above the inscription panel, only traces of the approach of an aedicule indicate the former design. The inscription is laid out clearly legible in seven lines in the usual capitalis , with the types of the name of the Ahueccaniae protruding in height. The incoming "A" on the first line can be recognized by the right slanted hatch after the material has broken off .

"Ahueccanis / Avehae et Hellivesae / Sexti Val (erius) Peregrin (us) / et Val (erius) Felicio fratres / ex reditu ipsarum / l (ibentes) p (osuerunt) / Muciano et Fabiano co (n) s (ulibus)"

By naming the consuls L. Annius Fabianus and M. Nonius Arrius Mucianus , the exact time of the manufacture and installation of the stone can be estimated.

In addition to the Ahueccaniae , the goddesses Aveha and the Hellivesa are mentioned, with which Rudolf Simek the question of whether these are separate goddesses or are considered to be companions of the Ahueccaniae . Hans Lehner left and interpreted the first line to mean that the two goddesses were combined as a duality by the name Ahueccaniae . Siegfried Gutenbrunner and Theo Vennemann see a composite of a matron's name in the inscribed form Ahueccanis (dative plural). Due to the lack of the generic name, respectively. Matronae, Matronis , the Ahueccaniae cannot be clearly interpreted as matrons. Furthermore, they are inscribed in context with the other two deities, and the formula " ex reditu ipsarum " ("from their income") shows that they were probably worshiped in a common temple. BH Stolte comments on the formula that the singular ex reditus is incorrect Latin in context and actually means “the income of a thing”, the plural ex reditibus , which means the income of a person, would be correct . He sees in this an influence by the consecration formulas of the revelation inscriptions ( ex imperio and others). Avehae , seen as a solitary goddess , has a matron name suffix -ehae .

Epithet and interpretation

According to Gutenbrunner, Neumann and Vennemann (see also Simek), the (case) name Ahueccaniae can be linked in the first member of Ahu- to Germanic and is particularly related to forms of matron's leg names such as Ahinehiae , whose root word, as here, comes from Germanic * aχwō = "Water, river" can be derived and can be set to Old High German Aha = "river". Concerning the second, unclearly interpretable link -eccaniae , Venneman tried in his investigation to tie it to regional place and river names around the place where the votive stone was found. Gutenbrunner constructed a derivative -veccaniae and placed it in Old English wiccan = "magic" and in Middle High German wicken = "fortune telling" and also proposed a Germanic full form * Ahwikkaniōz , meaning "sorceresses living in water" or more concise as "water women who know magic ". Jan de Vries brusquely rejects Gutenbrunner's proposal as an "etymological gimmick". As with most matron's leg names and the forms related to them, there is definitely a topical reference through the first link. Neumann sorted the deities with Germanic names, subject to the unclear evidence, to a separate group of native goddesses of the Lower Rhine region similar to the matrons, who inscribed the plural ending on -ae .

See also

literature

  • Siegfried Gutenbrunner : The Germanic god names of the ancient inscriptions. Max Niemeyer, Halle / S. 1936, pp. 184f.
  • Joseph Klinkenberg : The finds from Gleuel. In: Bonner Jahrbücher 94 (1893), pp. 151–155.
  • Hans Lehner : The ancient stone monuments of the Provincial Museum in Bonn. F. Cohen, Bonn 1918, p. 111, no.233.
  • Günter Neumann : The Germanic matron names. In: Astrid van Nahl, Heiko Hettrich (Hrsg.): Günter Neumann: Name studies on Old Germanic. (= Supplementary volumes to the Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde. Volume 59). de Gruyter, Berlin and others 2008, ISBN 978-3-11-020100-0 , page 265. ( fee Germanic Altertumskunde Online at de Gruyter ).
  • Rudolf Simek : Lexicon of Germanic Mythology (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 368). 3rd, completely revised edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-520-36803-X , pp. 6, 15-16.
  • Rudolf Simek: Religion and Mythology of the Teutons. WBG, Darmstadt 2003, ISBN 3-534-16910-7 , p. 123.
  • Theo Vennemann : Morphology of the Lower Rhine matron names . In: Edith Marold , Christiane Zimmermann (Hrsg.): Nordwestgermanisch (=  supplementary volumes to the Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde. Volume 13 ). de Gruyter, Berlin et al. 1995, ISBN 3-11-014818-8 , p. 272-291; here 285 ( fee-based Germanic antiquity online at de Gruyter).

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ CIL 13, 8161
  2. ↑ This means that the donors (possibly the curatores) have legally withdrawn funds for the stone from the temple treasury.
  3. ^ BH Stolte: The religious conditions in Lower Germany. In: Wolfgang Haase (Hrsg.): Rise and decline of the Roman world . Volume II 18, 1: Religion (Paganism: The Religious Conditions in the Provinces) . Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1986, ISBN 3-11-010050-9 , 650.
  4. ↑ Jan de Vries: Old Germanic history of religion. (= Outline of Germanic Philology. 12). Volume 2. 3rd, unchanged edition. [Reprint 2010], de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1970, p. 318.