Mercurius Valdivahanus

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Votive inscription for Mercurius Valdivahanus

Mercurius Valdivahanus is the name of a presumably Germanic- Celtic god, which so far has only been documented by the discovery of a votive inscription from the first half of the 2nd century from Cologne .

Finding and describing

During archaeological investigations of the site of the former Cologne police headquarters between Tel-Aviv-Strasse, Blaubach and Severinstrasse am Waidmarkt, extensive finds of settlement and path structures were made in the area of ​​the former southern suburbium outside the south gate of the CCAA's city ​​wall . In the course of the third century, the suburb was given up as a settlement area due to the increasing Germanic invasions, so that older layers are covered with rubble from the ruins. When probing through trial cuts, a cremation grave from the second half of the third century was found in the northeastern part of the area along Tel-Aviv-Straße to Blaubach. The ash box made of tufa in a rubble filling was covered with a limestone slab (65 cm x 60 cm x 10 cm), was on its lower side the inscription to light. This plate is obviously older than the box and bears witness to the custom that in times of crisis in the Colonia the reuse of stones on a larger scale was systematically pursued. This inscription stone was originally set into another monument.

inscription

The almost square inscription field contains the dedication in a very clear form without disturbances in seven lines in the usual capitalis . According to Alfred Schäfer , it is immediately noticeable that the letters in the first line, at 5 cm high, are slightly larger than the other letters in the other lines at 4 cm high.

"Mercurio / Valdivahano / Milia Rhenas / ex testamento / L (ucii) Carin ∧ i Sollemnis / dec (urionis) c (oloniae) C (laudiae) A (rae) A (grippinensium) ex / (sestertium) n (ummum) quattuor mil (ibus). "

"The Mercurius Valdivahanus (has) Milia Rhenas based on the will of Lucius Carinius Sollemnis, councilor of the Claudian colony at the altar of the Agrippinese, with four thousand sesterces (donated)."

In terms of content, the inscription shows that Milia Rhenus, as the administrator of the estate or executor of the will for the city councilor Lucius Carinius and whose vow had been fulfilled to Mercurius Valdivahanus, erected a votive stone for the payment of which he had provided. Based on their names, it can be assumed that both of them come from the local non-Roman population, were stamps of Celtic origin according to de Bernardo and that Milia Rhenas is, contrary to Hartmut Galsterer's and Schäfer's view, the name of a man. The family name Carinius is documented in the catalog of the inscriptions, in particular from a Celtic environment, among others with a dedicator of the goddess Nehalennia .

Etymology, interpretation

The Germanic epithet of Mercurius is a two-part hybrid compound of Germanic and Celto-Romanic elements. The first link Valdi represents Jürgen Untermann to Germanic * walþu for forest with the reference to the investigations of Piergiuseppe Scardigli on the language around the matron's inscriptions and in this regard to the Cologne evidence of Vallabnaehiae . Patrizia de Bernardo Stempel represents the link to * walðan for power, authority , she defines the i-stem valdi as the noun agentis with the meaning of leader or guide . It also refers to the importance of the limb as an element in numerous personal names of Germanic leaders and rulers such as the Bataver Chariovald . The term - v (w) ald (as exemplified in the document Chariovald ) is found early in the Germanic name treasure , but in the compositions as a rear link . Robert Nedoma documents the name Husiwald from the end of the 5th century for the South Germanic personal name treasure in the runic catalog of inscriptions . For Vald - or Wald - as the above, first link, Hermann Reichert provides the proof by name of Valdar i. e. Walthari from the first half or middle of the 5th century.

See also

literature

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Patrizia de Bernado stamp: 'Mercurius Valdivahanus' from the Cologne Waidmarkt and 'Deus Requalivahanus' from Blatzheim an der Neffel , p. 95; Hartmut Galsterer: Mercurius Valdivahanus. The epigraphic-historical perspective , p. 545.
  2. ^ Alfred Schäfer: Mercurius Valdivahanus. The archaeological perspective , pp. 527, 529.
  3. ^ Alfred Schäfer: Mercurius Valdivahanus. The archaeological perspective , p. 530.
  4. ↑ AE 2012, 00976
  5. ↑ Patrizia de Bernado stamp: 'Mercurius Valdivahanus' from the Cologne Waidmarkt and 'Deus Requalivahanus' from Blatzheim an der Neffel , pp. 101-102.
  6. ^ AE 1973, 365
  7. ↑ Hartmut Galsterer: Mercurius Valdivahanus. The epigraphic-historical perspective . In: Kölner Jahrbuch 45 (2012), pp. 546f.
  8. ↑ Piergiuseppe Scardigli: Language in the vicinity of matron inscriptions . In: Heirich Beck (Hrsg.): Germanische Rest- und Trümmersprachen , DeGruyter, Berlin / New York 1989 [Reprint 2012], ISBN 978-3-11-086471-7 , pp. 143–156, here, pp. 153– 154 .
  9. ^ Alfred Schäfer: Mercurius Valdivahanus. The archaeological perspective , p. 536, note 47 .; Piergiuseppe Scardigli: Language around the Matron's Inscriptions , p. 553.
  10. ↑ CIL 13, 8226 , CIL 13, 8227 , CIL 13, 8228
  11. ↑ Vladimir Orel: Handbook of Germanic Etymology . Brill, Leiden / Boston 2003, ISBN 90-04-12875-1 . P. 443; Guus Kroonen: Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic . Brill, Leiden / Boston 2013, ISBN 978-90-04-18340-7 , p. 569.
  12. ↑ Tacitus , annales 2, 11, 1.
  13. ^ Robert Nedoma: Personal names in South Germanic runic inscriptions. Studies in old Germanic onomatology I, 1, 1 . Universitätsverlag Winter, Heidelberg 2004, ISBN 978-3-8253-1646-4 , pp. 339-340.
  14. ↑ Hermann Reichert: Lexicon of Old Germanic Names , Volume I, Part 1: Text Volume. With the collaboration of Wilibald Kraml, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1987, ISBN 978-3-7001-0931-0 , p. 641.