Vassocaletis

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Vassocaletis was a Celtic god who, according to the Interpretatio Romana, was equated with the Roman Mercurius .

swell

An inscription from Bitburg (Beda, Roman province Gallia Belgica ) in the Treveri area was dedicated to the MERCVR VASSOCALETI. When the Alemannic king Chrocus invaded Gaul around 260 , he plundered the mountain temple of Mercurius in Clermont-Ferrand in the land of the Arverni ; after Gregory of Tours the god in Gaul was called Vasso Galate .

etymology

The Gallic name Vassocaletis probably means “hard as a henchman / vassal” or “henchman hero”, from the Indo-European * upostos (“who stands below”), Gallic * ṷassos , Old Irish foss , Kymrian gwas (all three “fellow”, “young Dienstmann "; in the sense of the medieval " Knappen "). The second part of the name is derived from the Indo-European * kal- ("hard", "calloused"), ancient Celtic * kaleto- ("hero").

As the patron of the “boys 'associations”, “young warriors' associations” and “followers”, Vassocaletis is sometimes equated with Iovantucarus .

literature

  • Helmut Birkhan : Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. 2nd corrected and enlarged edition. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-7001-2609-3 .
  • Bernhard Maier: Small lexicon of names and words of Celtic origin . 3. Edition. CH Beck, Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-406-60179-8 , pp. 66 ( limited preview in Google Book search).

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ CIL XIII, 4130 In h (onorem) d (omus) [d (ivinae)] / deo Mercur [io] / Vassocaleti / Mandaloniu [s] / Gratus d (onum) [d (edit)]
  2. ^ Gregory of Tours : Decem libri historiarum , Book 1 hist. Franc.  32.
  3. ↑ a b Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. Pp. 597, 665 f, note 5.