Rosmerta

Figural representation of Rosmerta (left) and Mercurius (right) from Autun , France

Map of various finds with the inscription Rosmerta (red), as well as Cantismerta (green) and Atesmerta (blue).

Rosmerta is a Celtic goddess who is represented as the companion of the Roman god Mercurius with a herald's staff ( caduceus ) as well as with a purse, offering bowl ( patera ) and cornucopia . She was especially venerated in northeastern Gaul .

mythology

The function as a goddess of prosperity is documented by inscriptions on statues from areas in which the Roman and Gallic worlds of gods mixed. Several temples and statues of Rosmerta have survived in southwest Germany and France, including in Koblenz , Mainz-Finthen and Glanum ( Provence ). In Mainz, Rosmerthastraße is named after her.

A dedicatory inscription from the first half of the 1st century AD was found in Lezoux ( Département Puy-de-Dôme ), where it is apparently equated with the goddess Rigani :

e […] ieuririgani rosmertiac (“… I dedicated this to Rigani and Rosmerta”?).

Perhaps Rigani is also used here as an epithet of Rosmerta ("royal Rosmerta"?).

etymology

Rosmerta can be etymologically compared with Smertrios , through the same Indo-European word root * smeru ("fat", "mark"). Rosmerta could thus mean ro-smertā ("the well -greased one "). Greasing a god figure was a traditional cult act. The old Irish word smertha (" smeared ", "greased") is related , see also our word " Schmer " for lard. Other linguists derive the name from Indo-European * smer- ("remember, remember, worry"), whereby Smertrios would then be "the provider".

See also

• List of Celtic gods and legendary figures

literature

• Gerhart Bauchhenß :  Rosmerta . In: Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC). Volume VII, Zurich / Munich 1994, pp. 644-648.
• Bernhard Maier : Lexicon of Celtic Religion and Culture (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 466). Kröner, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-520-46601-5 .
• Helmut Birkhan : Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-7001-2609-3 .
• Marion Euskirchen: Rosmerta. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 10, Metzler, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-476-01480-0 , Sp. 1140.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Bernhard Maier: Lexicon of the Celtic religion and culture . P. 280.
2. ^ Bernhard Maier: Lexicon of the Celtic religion and culture . P. 278; Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 525.
3. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 596.
4. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. Pp. 803-804.