Celtic onomastics
Encyclopedia
Onomastics is an important source of information on the early Celts, as Greco-Roman historiography recorded Celtic names before substantial written information becomes available in any Celtic language.
Like Germanic names, early Celtic names are often dithematic.
Some information on prehistoric Celtic polytheism
can be drawn from names in Irish
and Welsh mythology
, where character often bear names that continue older theonyms:
Like Germanic names, early Celtic names are often dithematic.
- suffix -rix "ruler"
- VercingetorixVercingetorixVercingetorix was the chieftain of the Arverni tribe, who united the Gauls in an ultimately unsuccessful revolt against Roman forces during the last phase of Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars....
- OrgetorixOrgetorixOrgetorix was a wealthy aristocrat among the Helvetii, a Celtic-speaking people residing in what is now Switzerland during the consulship of Julius Caesar of the Roman Republic. In 61 BC he convinced the Helvetians to attempt to migrate from Helvetian territory to south-western Gaul...
- DumnorixDumnorixDumnorix was a chieftain of the Aedui, a Celtic tribe in Gaul in the 1st century B.C. He was strongly against alliance with the Romans, particularly Julius Caesar, who sparred with him on several occasions...
(c.f. Gaelic DonaldDonaldDonald is a male given name. It is an anglicized form of the Scottish Gaelic or Irish Gaelic personal name Domhnall, Dòmhnall, Dumhnuil and/or Dónall. This contains the elements dumno meaning "world" and val meaning "rule" . Compare Dumnorix...
) - CingetorixCingetorixCingetorix, meaning "marching king" or "king of warriors", is a Celtic name borne by two chieftains of the 1st century BC, as related by Julius Caesar in his De Bello Gallico:...
- Vercingetorix
- suffix -maris / -marus "great"
- BritomarisBritomarisBy Roman tradition, Britomaris was a warchief leader of the Gallic tribe known as the Senones in 284 BC when he defeated a Roman army under the command of the Consul Lucius Caecilius Metellus Denter. He was presumably defeated the next year by Publius Cornelius Dolabella and taken prisoner...
- IndutiomarusIndutiomarusIndutiomarus was a leading aristocrat of the Treveri at the time of Caesar's conquest of Gaul...
- ViridomarusViridomarusViridomarus was a Gaulish military leader who led an army against an army of the Roman Republic at the Battle of Clastidium. The Romans won the battle, and in the process, Marcus Claudius Marcellus, the Roman leader, earned the spolia opima by killing Viridomarus in single combat....
- Britomaris
Some information on prehistoric Celtic polytheism
Celtic polytheism
Celtic polytheism, commonly known as Celtic paganism, refers to the religious beliefs and practices adhered to by the Iron Age peoples of Western Europe now known as the Celts, roughly between 500 BCE and 500 CE, spanning the La Tène period and the Roman era, and in the case of the Insular Celts...
can be drawn from names in Irish
Irish mythology
The mythology of pre-Christian Ireland did not entirely survive the conversion to Christianity, but much of it was preserved, shorn of its religious meanings, in medieval Irish literature, which represents the most extensive and best preserved of all the branch and the Historical Cycle. There are...
and Welsh mythology
Welsh mythology
Welsh mythology, the remnants of the mythology of the pre-Christian Britons, has come down to us in much altered form in medieval Welsh manuscripts such as the Red Book of Hergest, the White Book of Rhydderch, the Book of Aneirin and the Book of Taliesin....
, where character often bear names that continue older theonyms:
- RhiannonRhiannonRhiannon is a prominent figure in Welsh mythology, mother to the Demetian hero Pryderi and wife to Pwyll . She is probably a reflex of the Celtic Great Queen goddess Rigantona and may also be associated with the horse goddess Epona.She appears in both the first and third branches of the Mabinogi...
, from *Rigantona "Great Queen" - Gwenhwyfar, from *Uindā Seibrā "White Phantom"
- BrigidBrigidIn Irish mythology, Brigit or Brighid was the daughter of the Dagda and one of the Tuatha Dé Danann. She was the wife of Bres of the Fomorians, with whom she had a son, Ruadán....
, from *Brigantia "the High one" - LughLughLug or Lugh is an Irish deity represented in mythological texts as a hero and High King of the distant past. He is known by the epithets Lámhfhada , for his skill with a spear or sling, Ildánach , Samhildánach , Lonnbeimnech and Macnia , and by the...
and LleuLleu Llaw GyffesLleu Llaw Gyffes is a hero of Welsh mythology. He appears most prominently in the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi, the tale of Math fab Mathonwy, which tells the tale of his birth, his marriage, his death, his resurrection and his accession to the throne of Gwynedd...
, cognate with Gaulish LugusLugusLugus was a deity of the Celtic pantheon. His name is rarely directly attested in inscriptions, but his importance can be inferred from placenames and ethnonyms, and his nature and attributes are deduced from the distinctive iconography of Gallo-Roman inscriptions to Mercury, who is widely believed...
External links
- Ancient Celtic names (behindthename.com)
- Name Constructions in Gaulish