Litavis

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Litavis (also Litauis or Litauī)[1] is a Gallic deity whose cult is primarily attested in east-central Gaul during the Roman period.[1] She was probably an earth-goddess.[2][1][3]

Epigraphic evidence[]

Latin inscription reading "DEO MARTI CICOLLUI ET LITAVI" ("To Mars Cicolluos and Litavis").[1]

Her name is found in inscriptions found at Aignay-le-Duc and Mâlain of the Côte-d'Or, France, where she is invoked along with the Gallo-Roman god Mars Cicolluis in a context which suggests that she might have been his consort.[citation needed] Also, a Latin dedicatory inscription from Narbonne (which was in the far south of Gaul), France, bears the words "MARTI CICOLLUI ET LITAVI" ("To Mars Cicolluos and Litavis").[4][5]

Name[]

The Gaulish divine name Litavi- (/litaui/; 'Earth', 'the Vast One') likely stems from Proto-Celtic *flitawī- ('broad'; compare with Old Breton litan, Middle Welsh llydan, 'broad'),[6] ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *Pletha-wih1 ("the Broad One"; compare with Greek Plátaia, Old Norse fǫld, Sanskrit Pṛthvī 'earth').[1][2][7][3]

The 'neo-Celtic' names for the Brittany Peninsula (Old Breton Letau, Old Welsh Litau, Old Irish Letha, Latinized as Letavia) all stem from *Litauia ('earth, country').[2] In the Irish Lebor Bretnach (11th c.), Bretain Letha means 'Britons of the Continent or Armorica, i.e. Bretons.'[1] Thurneysen proposed a semantic development from Celtic 'broad land, continent' to the Insular Celtic name for the part of the Continent nearest the British Islands.[1] The Gaulish personal name Litavicos ('sovereign of the land') is cognate with the Welsh Llydewig, meaning 'pertaining to Brittany'.[1]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h Koch 2006, p. 1159.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c Delamarre 2003, pp. 204–205.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b West 2007, pp. 177–178.
  4. ^ Koch, John T. "Ériu, Alba, and Letha: When Was a Language Ancestral to Gaelic First Spoken in Ireland?" Emania: Bulletin of the Navan Research Group 9 (1991): 17–27.
  5. ^ Barbet, Gérald; Billerey, Robert. "Une plaque de bronze avec dédicace découverte en Franche-Comté". In: Gallia, tome 61, 2004. p. 286. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3406/galia.2004.3065; www.persee.fr/doc/galia_0016-4119_2004_num_61_1_3065
  6. ^ Bader, Françoise. "Les grands de l'Iliade et les Achéménides". In: Revue des Études Grecques, tome 112, Juillet-décembre 1999. p. 375. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3406/reg.1999.4376; www.persee.fr/doc/reg_0035-2039_1999_num_112_2_4376
  7. ^ Matasović 2009, p. 135.

Bibliography[]

  • Delamarre, Xavier (2003). Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise: Une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental (in French). Errance. ISBN 9782877723695.

Further reading[]

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