Matronae Almaviahenae

The Almaviahenae are matrons that are unique in a dedicatory inscription from the 2nd / 3rd centuries. Century from Thorr near Cologne are handed down.

Discovery and Inscription

During the demolition of the old church of Thorr in 1905, besides the votive stone for the Almaviahenae, other matron stones were found than machined spoils built into the foundations. These were first described scientifically in the Année épigraphique in 1906 and later republished by Hans Lehner after being transferred to the depot of the Rheinisches Landesmuseum in Bonn .

"Matr [onis] / Almav [iahe] / nis L (ucius) C ["

For this find the evidence of an inscription from the Gallia Narbonensis of the Matronae Almahae from Plan-d'Aups-Sainte-Baume is drawn as a related form, which despite the place of discovery is mostly assessed as Germanic due to the intervocal H.

Epithet and interpretation

Günter Neumann sees in Almavia-henae the two-part basic word Almavia- from Alm (a) -avia-. The first link alm- means the tree name of the elm , which appears in the Germanic languages in the forms elm- or ilm- . The sound alm is found today in the Nordic languages, in Dutch and in the Low German dialects (place names such as Almelo , the river name Alme ). He determines the second link -avia- as a pre-form of the New High German Aue from Germanic * agwijō = "area by the water". The compound Alm (a) -avia corresponds in content and form to the Bavarian Elm-au . Neumann also notes from the traditional form that the regional, dialectal peculiarities of Germanic can be determined. The older Germanic gw has disappeared to w and is represented with the graph V and the shape of the tree name testify to the process.

Theo Vennemann passes the nickname of an unoccupied Gallo Roman place names * Almaviacum from, the stem forming a water body name (hydronym) * Ahnava is based. The Germanic form of the traditional nickname was formed from the place name by the Ubier.

Anders is Patrizia de Bernardo Stempel ago, they suggested the name as an originally Celtic theonym and version of the document the Almahae , which is characterized by a Germanized and Germanic enriched ingredients playback. In the analysis it divides the name into the elements Alm-a-via (e) + Germanized -henae suffix; - viae can be explained in Celtic ( Suleviae ), Alm- it is also the Germanic tree name of the elm.

Rudolf Simek classifies the Almaviahenae functionally into a group of local or regional deities, which is associated with a name-giving body of water; Alm- = Elmbach.

literature

Patrizia de Bernardo stamp : names of gods in Germania Inferior. In: Wolfgang Spickermann , Rainer Wiegels (Ed.): Celtic gods in the Roman Empire. 2005, pp. 139-148; here 142.

Hans Krahe : On some names of West Germanic goddesses. In: Contributions to name research 13 (1962), pp. 268–276.

Günter Neumann : Germanic goddesses in Latin texts. In: Astrid van Nahl u. a. (Ed.): Name studies on Old Germanic (= Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde - supplementary volumes . Volume 59). Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2008, p. 232 f. ( Fee Germanic archeology online by de Gruyter)

Hermann Reichert : Lexicon of the old Germanic names . With the collaboration of Wilibald Kraml and Robert Nedoma , 2 volumes (volume 1 text volume, volume 2 register volume, etymological glossary). (= Thesaurus Palaeogermanicus . I, 1,2). Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1987–1990, ISBN 3-7001-0931-8 , ISBN 3-7001-1718-3 .

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. 15-16.

Theo Vennemann : Morphology of the Lower Rhine matron names . In: Edith Marold , Christiane Zimmermann (Hrsg.): Nordwestgermanisch (= supplementary volumes to the Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde ). tape 13 . de Gruyter, Berlin a. a. 1995, ISBN 978-3-11-014818-3 , pp. 272-291 ( fee Germanic archeology online by de Gruyter).

Web links

HD 023468 Epigraphic Database Heidelberg

Remarks

↑ Amnesahenae CIL 13, 12066 , Gavasiae CIL 13, 12067 , Naitienae CIL 13, 12068 , Udravarinehae and Vanamianehae CIL 13, 12069 . In addition to the votive stones for matrons, there was one for Mercurius and four other stones that could not be clearly identified and assigned with inscriptions.
↑ CIL 13, 12065
↑ CIL 12, 330
^ Noemie Beck: Goddesses in Celtic Religion. Online thesis, 2009.
↑ Rudolf Simek: Religion and Mythology of the Teutons. WBG, Darmstadt 2003, p. 123.

[1] Amnesahenae CIL 13, 12066 , Gavasiae CIL 13, 12067 , Naitienae CIL 13, 12068 , Udravarinehae and Vanamianehae CIL 13, 12069 . In addition to the votive stones for matrons, there was one for Mercurius and four other stones that could not be clearly identified and assigned with inscriptions.

[2] CIL 13, 12065

[3] CIL 12, 330

[4] Noemie Beck: Goddesses in Celtic Religion. Online thesis, 2009.

[5] Rudolf Simek: Religion and Mythology of the Teutons. WBG, Darmstadt 2003, p. 123.