Matronae Alagabiae
The Alagabiae are matrons that are handed down in a dedicatory inscription from the 4th century from Haus Bürgel near Düsseldorf.
Discovery and Inscription
The stone was found in the inner area of the north gate of the complex in the ring wall next to the right, eastern gate pillar as a construction. Votive stones for the matrons Aufaniae and Aviaitihenae were also found in Bürgel .
"Matroni [s] / Alagabiabus / Iul (ia) Pusua / pro se et Iuli (i) sf (iliis) / Peregrino / Sperato / Severo / v (otum) s (olvit) l (ibens) m (erito)"
Epithet and interpretation
The eye-catching and transparent name is shaped by the root word of the second term Germanic * gabiō = "giver", that as an educational element in the matron name catalog in the documents of the Gabiae = "the giver" and as a compositional element in the Garmangabis = "the plentiful or that desired giver ”and in the name of the goddess Friagabis . For Günter Neumann , the Alagabiae form a group specifically for the matrons whose name is coined by a feminine noun actoris , which is formally a compound word for giving gifts to people (for comparison: Greek Πανδώρα (Pandora) = "all-giver"). In addition to the Alagabiae and Gabiae, he counts to this group the Arvagastiae = "the generously entertaining". This type of education differs from the usual matron names with a topical derivation of a place, a body of water or a place name.
According to Neumann, the first member of the name is an adjective stem to ala = "all" which can either function as an accusative object dependent on geban , or can be defined adverbially as Neumann compares it with old high German alawaltenti = "all dominating" and its relationship to alabezziro = "in better in every way ”. From this he deduces that if the name were to be interpreted either as “those who give everything” or “those who give in a comprehensive way”, there would only be a slight semantic difference. Furthermore, Neumann points out that ala is often documented in the Germanic personal names, such as Alwin, Alawid or Alarich .
The analogous Celtic form of the Ollogabiae belongs to the Alagabiae , although according to Helmut Birkhan it is unclear whether Alagabiae is a Germanized formation based on the Celtic model or the Ollogabiae is a Celtic form of the Germanic model. Neumann resolves the situation by seeing the quantitative weight for the Germanic, since -gabi is attested more frequently in the Germanic onomastic than in the Celtic.
See also
literature
- Géza Alföldy : Epigraphisches aus dem Rheinland II. In: Epigraphische Studien 4, (1967), p. 22 (No. 23); P. 20 map.
- Helmut Birkhan : Teutons and Celts up to the end of Roman times. (= Philological historical class session reports, 272). Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1970, ISBN 3-205-03653-0 , p. 542 f.
- Siegfried Gutenbrunner : The Germanic god names of the ancient inscriptions. Max Niemeyer, Halle / S. 1936, p. 90 f.
- Günter Neumann : The Germanic matron names . In: Matronen und related deities (= supplements to the Bonner Jahrbücher 44). Rheinland-Verlag, Cologne / Habelt, Bonn 1987, ISBN 3-7927-0934-1 , pp. 103-132 = Astrid van Nahl, Heiko Hettrich (eds.): Günter Neumann: Name studies on Old Germanic (= supplementary volumes to the Reallexikon der Germanic Antiquity, Vol. 59). de Gruyter, Berlin a. a. 2008, ISBN 978-3-11-020100-0 , pp. 253-289; here 263, and S. 47, 407 ( charge 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. 7, 328.