Celtic god name

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In name research, a Celtic god name belongs to the genus of sacral names in Celtic and names a god with a noun proprium ( proper name ) or with a cognomen (surname). Mainly in place names and personal names of the Celtic languages, but also in other languages, for example in Latin, a Celtic god name occurs as a component. Such names are interpreted as theophore names in name science.

The anthroponymy looks at the names of mythical creatures as personal names, including names of demons, deities or personalized animals in Celtic culture.

To the tradition of Celtic god names

From the Celtic cultural area, names of gods are passed down mainly in dedicatory inscriptions from the Roman period and sometimes in messages from ancient authors. The dedicatory inscription is characterized by the principle of Interpretatio Romana , which combines numerous different Celtic names or epithets with a few Roman god names - for example an Apollo Amarcolitanus ("whose view is far"), Apollo Anextlomarus ("great protector"), Mars Iovantucarus (" Who loves the youth") and Mercurius Arvernorix ("King of the Arverni").

Often male and female deities appear in the inscriptions as a pair of gods and both partners - or at least the goddess - still bear the original Celtic name, such as Ucuetis and Bergusia , Borvo and Damona , Apollo Grannus and Sirona , and Mars Leucetius and Nemetona . It has not been researched whether the god and the goddess act as spouses in all of these couples. It would also be conceivable, however, that two deities were equated solely because of their similar functions or areas of responsibility.

In particular in the Rhineland the matrons can be found in groups of three , sometimes they can also be found in Britain and southern France. The columns of Jupiter have also been found in the Rhineland since the early Roman Empire . There are also healing gods who were worshiped at spring sanctuaries .

The names and representations of Gaulish gods are often associated with certain animals, such as the bear , the boar , the deer and the bull , or their attributes.

It is noticeable that the Celtic deities mentioned in ancient literature, according to the testimony of the dedicatory inscriptions, are not to be regarded as an indication of their prominent importance. Lucan , for example, mentions the three gods Teutates , Esus and Taranis in a much commented passage in De bello civili , but Teutates only occurs in four dedicatory inscriptions, Esus only on the aforementioned pillars and Taranis does not appear in these inscriptions as a god's name at all.

Names like Teutates (derived from * teutā , "tribe") or Anextlomarus ("great protector") were possibly only decorative surnames and can probably be related to very different gods. This is also supported by the fact that a number of Celtic appellatives , including Albiorix , Atepomarus , Camulorix , Caturix and Moritasgus, are documented both as gods and as personal names.

According to Bernhard Maier, a hierarchically structured pantheon of gods can hardly be assumed for the culture of the Gauls , since many gods only represent local or regional figures according to the testimony of the dedicatory inscriptions.

Remarks

  1. ↑ Thorsten Andersson :  Theophore names. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 30, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2005, ISBN 3-11-018385-4 , pp. 442-452.
  2. ^ Bernhard Maier :  names of gods. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 12, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1998, ISBN 3-11-016227-X , pp. 295-296.
  3. ↑ Andrea Brendler, Silvio Brendler: European personal name systems. A handbook from Abasic to Centraladin. Baar, Hamburg 2007, ISBN 978-3-935536-65-3 .
  4. ↑ Bernhard Maier:  Interpretatio. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 15, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2000, ISBN 3-11-016649-6 , pp. 460-465.
  5. ↑ CIL 13, 2600 .
  6. ↑ On the inscription on a bronze bowl from South Shields in New England: Apollini Anextlomaro M. A (ntonius) Sab (inus). [...] - Wilhelm Hirschfelder u. a. (Ed.): Weekly for classical philology. Volume 4. R. Gaertner, 1887, p. 48.
  7. ↑ CIL 25, 15-19 .
  8. ↑ CIL 13, 6603 .
  9. ↑ a b c d e f Cf. Bernhard Maier :  Keltische Religion. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 16, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2000, ISBN 3-11-016782-4 , pp. 413-420.
  10. ↑ CIL 13, 11247 .
  11. ↑ CIL 13, 2805 , CIL 13, 2806 , CIL 13, 2807 , CIL 13, 2808 and more often.
  12. ↑ CIL 13, 4129 and more often.
  13. ↑ CIL 13, 6131 and more often.
  14. ↑ Gerhard Bauchhenß :  Jupiter giant columns. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 16, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2000, ISBN 3-11-016782-4 , pp. 132-135. ( books.google.de ).
  15. ↑ Britt-Marie Näsström, Wolf-Rüdiger Teegen:  Spring shrines and spring cult. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 24, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2003, ISBN 3-11-017575-4 , pp. 15-29.
  16. ↑ To Dea Artio in CIL 13, 4113 and CIL 13, 5160 to kymrisch arth ("bear") see Kurt Ranke , Hans Reichstein:  Bär. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 2, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1976, ISBN 3-11-006740-4 , pp. 45-48.
  17. ↑ About Mercurius Moccus in CIL 13, 5676 on Irish mucc ("pig") cf. Heinrich Beck (philologist) , Karl Horst Schmidt :  Eber. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 6, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1986, ISBN 3-11-010468-7 , pp. 328–336.
  18. ↑ On Cernunnos , depicted with deer antlers on the so-called pillar of the Nautae Parisiaci see Wilhelm Heizmann , Hans Reichstein, Heiko Steuer :  Hirsch. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 14, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1999, ISBN 3-11-016423-X , pp. 588-612.
  19. ↑ About Tarvos Trigaranus , a bull god , represented as a bull with three cranes, also on the Nautenpfeiler of Paris see Anders Hultgård:  Stierkult. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 29, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2005, ISBN 3-11-018360-9 , pp. 630-635.
  20. ^ Marcus Annaeus Lucanus: De bello civili 444-446.
  21. ↑ CIL 13, 219 and CIL 13, 1017 as well as CIL 3, 5320 and CIL 6, 31182 .
  22. ↑ David Ellis Evans: Gaulish personal names: a study of some Continental Celtic formations . In: Clarendon Press . No. 3 . Oxford 1967. See after Albiorix: pp. 245-249; Atepomarus: pp. 52-53; Camulorix: pp. 160-161; Caturix: pp. 171-174; Moritasgus: p. 103.
  23. ↑ See Bernhard Maier: On the Celtic names of Carlisle and Colchester. In: Contributions to name research 32, 1997, pp. 281–285.

literature

  • Bernhard Maier :  names of gods. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 12, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1998, ISBN 3-11-016227-X , pp. 295-296.
  • Bernhard Maier :  Celtic religion. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 16, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2000, ISBN 3-11-016782-4 , pp. 413-420.
  • Bernhard Maier: Small lexicon of names and words of Celtic origin. Beck, Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-406-60179-8 .
  • Joaquín Gorrochategui, Patrizia De Bernardo stamp: The Celts and their religion as reflected in the epigraphic sources: files of the 3rd FERCAN workshop. (= Anejos de Veleia. Volume 11.) Servicio editorial de la Universidad del País Vasco, Vitoria-Gasteiz 2000, OCLC 496417817 .
  • David Ellis Evans: Gaulish personal names: a study of some Continental Celtic formations . In: Clarendon Press . No. 3 . Oxford 1967.
  • Bernhard Maier: On the Celtic names of Carlisle and Colchester. In: Contributions to name research. 32, 1997, pp. 281-285.