Nehalennia

Nehalennia (spelled variously) is a goddess. Of unclear origin, perhaps Germanic or Celtic, Nehalennia is attested on and depicted upon numerous votive altars discovered around what is now the province of Zeeland, the Netherlands, where the Rhine River flowed into the North Sea. Worship of Nehalennia dates back at least to the 2nd century BC, and veneration of the goddess flourished in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD.


Nehalennia is attested on 28 inscriptions discovered in the Dutch town of Domburg on the Zeeland coast, when a storm eroded dunes in 1645, disclosing remains of a temple devoted to the previously unattested goddess Nehalennia.[1] A similar number were discovered in 1971-72 in the town of Colijnsplaat, and two others have been found in the Cologne-Deutz area of what is now Cologne, Germany.[2]


Nehalennia is almost always depicted with marine symbols and a large, benign-looking dog at her feet.[3][4] Hilda Ellis Davidson describes the votive objects:


Nehalennia, a Germanic goddess worshipped at the point where travellers crossed the North Sea from the Netherlands, is shown on many carved stones holding loaves and apples like a Mother Goddess, sometimes with a prow of a ship beside her, but also frequently with an attendant dog which sits looking up at her (Plate 5). This dog is on thirteen of the twenty-one altars recorded by Ada Hondius-Crone (1955:103), who describes him as a kind of greyhound.[5]


Davidson further links the motif of the ship associated with Nehalennia with the Germanic Vanir pair of Freyr and Freyja, as well as the Germanic goddess Nerthus and notes that Nehalennia features some of the same attributes as the Matres.[6]


The loaves that Nehalennia is depicted with on her altars have been identified as duivekatar, "oblong sacrificial loaves in the shape of a shin bone". Davidson says that loaves of this type may take the place of an animal sacrifice or animal victim, such as the boar-shaped loaf baked at Yule in Sweden, and that in Värmland, Sweden "within living memory" grain from the last sheaf was customarily used to bake a loaf into the shape of a little girl that is subsequently shared by the whole household. Davidson provides further examples of elaborate loaves—Harvest Loaves—at times in the shape of sheaves and displayed in churches, bread employed for the fertility of fields in Anglo-Saxon England with parallels in Scandinavia, and examples from Ireland.[7]


The Domburg inscriptions to Nehalennia inspired Marcus Zuerius van Boxhorn to produce a hasty etymology linking the name Nehalennia to an ancient Scythian,[8] with which he attempted, with the linguistic tools then available, to bridge the already-known connections between the European languages and modern Persian.[9]


Religious practices surrounding Nehalennia were at their peak in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD, at which time there were at least two to possibly three temples located in the area of what is now Zeeland. At the time, this region on the sea coast was an important link for the trade between the Rhine area and Britain. It is known that the tribe of the Morini, who lived in what is now the Netherlands, bordering the North Sea coast, worshipped Nehalennia.[3] Visitors came to worship from as far away as Besançon, France and Trier, Germany.[3] Nehalennia had two sanctuaries or shrines, embellished with numerous altars: one at Domburg on the island of Walcheren, and another at Colijnsplaat on the shore of the Oosterschelde.[3]


In August 2005, a replica of the Nehalennia temple near the lost town of Ganuenta was opened in Colijnsplaat.[10]

From: Wiki

Nehalennia: ancient goddess, venerated in the Roman age at the mouth of the river Scheldt.
Nehalennia is known from more than 160 votive altars, which were almost all discovered in the Dutch province of Zeeland. (Two altars were discovered in Cologne, the capital of Germania Inferior.) All of them can be dated to the second and early third centuries CE. Most pieces show a young female figure, sitting on a throne in an apse between two columns, holding a basket of apples on her lap. Nearly always, there is a wolf dog at her side. In some cases, the fruit basket is replaced by something that looks like loaves of bread; in other cases, we can see the woman standing next to a ship or a prow.


Several inscriptions inform us that the votive altar was placed to show gratitude for a safe passage across the North Sea, and we may assume that other altars were dedicated for the same reason. (Of course, this does not mean that all pieces were erected after a safe passage.) An example of a typical inscription:


To the goddess Nehalennia,
on account of goods duly kept safe,
Marcus Secundinius Silvanus,
trader in pottery with Britain,
fulfilled his vow willingly and deservedly.

(...)

From: Here

Greetings Goddess Nehalennia,
Greetings protective Mother,
Goddess Nehalennia, who gives us fruitfulness,
Goddess Nehalennia, who give the land bountifulness,
Goddess Nehalennia, who protects the land from water,
Goddess Nehalennia, who protects people against water,
Goddess Nehalennia, who protects sailors and merchants from water,
Goddess Nehalennia, who protects trade from water,
Goddess Nehalennia, who brings prosperity through water,
Goddess Nehalennia, protecting Mother hear our prayers.
Protect us today against all dangers and grant us prosperity!

From: Here

Nehalennia was the Romano-Celtic goddess worshipped around the region of the Netherlands. Nehalennia was the goddess of seafarers, and was the tribal goddess of the Morini.


Nehalennia was depicted standing on prow of a boat, holding either an oar or rope in her hands. Nehalennia was also seen carrying a cornucopia or a basket of fruits, which symbolised fertility, and suggesting she was the goddess of fertility.

From: Here

Also see:
Website for her temple relica (in Dutch, use Google Translate)
Info and pics
Celtnet article
Another article

Nantosuelta

In Gaulish religion, Nantosuelta was a goddess of nature, the earth, fire, and fertility. The Mediomatrici (Alsace, Lorraine) depicted her in art as holding a model house or dovecote, on a pole (a bee hive). Nantosuelta is attested by statues, and by inscriptions. She was sometimes paired with Sucellus. Nantosuelta was also the Goddess of Nature in Lusitanian mythology. In addition, her symbol the raven symbolized her connection as a goddess of the dead.

In this relief from Sarrebourg, near Metz, Nantosuelta, wearing a long gown is standing to the left. In her left hand she holds a small house-shaped object with two circular holes and a peaked roof. Her right hand holds a patera which she is tipping onto a cylindrical altar.

To the right Sucellus stands, bearded, in a tunic with a cloak on his right shoulder. He holds his mallet in his right hand and an olla in his left. Above the figures is a dedicatory inscription and below them in very low relief is bird, of a raven. This sculpture was dated by Reinach (1922, pp. 217–232), from the form of the letters, to the end of the first century or start of the second century.

An altar from Metz has a carving of a woman with similar dress to the Sarrebourg example, also holding a small house on a pole, thus presumed to be Nantosuelta. Sucellus is not shown on this example.

She was associated with the cornucopia.


The inscription (Jufer & Luginbühl p. 129) on the Sarrebourg altar (CIL XIII, 4542) reads:
Deo Svcello /Nantosvelte /Bellavsvs Mas /se Filivs V(otum).S(olvit).L(ibens).M(erito) To the God Sucellus and to Nantosuelta, Bellausus, son of Massa, willingly and deservedly fulfilled his vow.


The inscription on the Metz altar (AE 1896, 0049) says:

In h(onorem) {r} d(omus) d(ivinae) /M(arcus) Tignuarius /v(otum) s(olvit) l(ibens) m(erito) Here the dedication is to the Imperial house, and Nantosuelta is not explicitly mentioned. The visual depiction makes the identification secure.

From: Wiki

Nantosuelta was the Gallic goddess of nature, valley and streams. She was the consort of Sucellus, the god of fertility or prosperity.

The Gaul craftsmen depicted Nantosuelta holding a pole surmounted by dove-cote. Nantosuelta was a mother goddess or fertility goddess because she was seen carrying a cornucopia.

Her symbol was also the raven, which linked her with the dead and the Underworld.

From: Here

Nantosuelta was the consort of Sucellos, the God of Agriculture. Her name means ' Winding River' though her attributes do not show her as a water-deity. Chief amongst these is her little house, usually depicted on a long pole like a sceptre of some kind. Other associated objects include a bird, a bee-hive and honeycombs. The latter certainly have homely connotations and she therefore appears to have been a goddess of hearth and house, well-being and prosperity. Like her husband, she also had nourishment and fertility aspects and sometimes carried a cornucopia. In Britain, she is probably to be found depicted on a small stone from East Stoke in Nottinghamshire. Her partner is clearly Sucellus. The goddess shown has bushy hair and carries a bowlful of apples.

From: Here

Nantosuelta
A Gaulish Goddess: She of the Winding River, She of the Sun-warmed Valley

Nantosuelta is a Gaulish goddess known from an inscribed relief found at Sarrebourg, France where her consort is given as Sucellus. In inconography she is associated with the raven and her function may have been that of a psychopomp (one who transfers the spirits of the departed to the otherworld).

Nantosuelta is known directly from an inscription on a relief (shown above) from Sarrebourg in the Moselle region of France (CIL XIII 04542) where her consort is both named and shown as Sucellus. This inscription reads: Deo Svcello Nantosvelte Bellavsvs Mas se Filivs VSLM (To the God Sucellus and to Nantosuelta, Bellausus, son of Massa, willingly and deservedly fulfilled his vow.) The image shown is interesting in terms of its iconography: In her left hand the goddess holds a small house-shaped object with two circular holes and a peaked roof — a dovecote perhaps? — suspended on a long pole. Her right hand holds a patera (a broad ritual dish used for drinking, primarily in the ritual context of libation) which she is tipping onto a cylindrical altar.

Icongoraphically a similarly-represented goddess is known from an altar at Metz, France and though the goddess is not named she is assumed to be Nantosuelta. n Britain, she is probably to be found depicted on a small stone from East Stoke in Nottinghamshire. In this depiction the goddess has bushy hair and carries a bowlful of apples, reminiscent of continental Nantosuelta's patera. However, it is clear that her consort is Sucellus. The various depictions of this goddess show her holding a pot (which may be an echo of the Celtic cauldron of life and food), or a beehive. She is also often associate with the raven as a familiar (an example of which is shown above). Thus the interpretation of Nantosuelta's iconography is uncertain, for the patera, the house/dovecot and the beehive/cauldron would indicate an association with the home and hearth, with cooking and food. However, the raven is most often associated with war-fertility goddesses. Given the sense of domesticity in Nantosuelta's other iconography it is tempting to think that the raven is used in its fertility rather than its martial context.

FOR THE REST, go HERE: Celtnet

Ogma

In Irish-Celtic myth, Ogma is the god of eloquence and learning. He is the son of the goddess Danu and the god Dagda, and one of the foremost members of the Tuatha Dé Danann. He is the reputed inventor of the ancient Ogham alphabet which is used in the earliest Irish writings.

In the final battle at Mag Tuireadh he managed to take away the sword of the king of the Fomorians, but had to pay with his life for this feat. His Celtic equivalent is Ogmios.
From: Pantheon.org

Ogma or Oghma is a character from Irish mythology. A member of the Tuatha Dé Danann, he is often considered a deity and may be related to the Gaulish god Ogmios.

He fights in the first battle of Mag Tuired, when the Tuatha Dé take Ireland from the Fir Bolg. Under the reign of Bres, when the Tuatha Dé are reduced to servitude, Ogma is forced to carry firewood, but nonetheless is the only one of the Tuatha Dé who proves his athletic and martial prowess in contests before the king. When Bres is overthrown and Nuadu restored, Ogma is his champion. His position is threatened by the arrival of Lugh at the court, so Ogma challenges him by lifting and hurling a great flagstone, which normally required eighty oxen to move it, out of Tara, but Lugh answers the challenge by hurling it back. When Nuadu hands command of the Battle of Mag Tuired to Lugh, Ogma becomes Lugh's champion, and promises to repel the Fomorian king, Indech, and his bodyguard, and to defeat a third of the enemy. During the battle he finds Orna, the sword of the Fomorian king Tethra, which recounts the deeds done with it when unsheathed. During the battle Ogma and Indech fall in single combat, although there is some confusion in the texts as in Cath Maige Tuired Ogma, Lugh and the Dagda pursue the Fomorians after the battle to recover the harp of Uaitne, the Dagda's harper.

He often appears as a triad with Lugh and the Dagda, who are sometimes collectively known as the trí dée dána or three gods of skill, although that designation is elsewhere applied to other groups of characters. His father is Elatha and his mother is usually given as Ethliu, sometimes as Étaín. His sons include Delbaeth and Tuireann. He is said to have invented the Ogham alphabet, which is named after him.

Scholars of Celtic mythology have proposed that Ogma represents the vestiges of an ancient Celtic god. By virtue of his battle prowess and invention of Ogham, he is compared with Ogmios, a Gaulish deity associated with eloquence and equated with Herakles. J. A. MacCulloch compares Ogma's epithet grianainech (sun-face) with Lucian's description of the "smiling face" of Ogmios, and suggests Ogma's position as champion of the Tuatha Dé Danann may derive "from the primitive custom of rousing the warriors' emotions by eloquent speeches before a battle", although this is hardly supported by the texts. Scholars such Rudolf Thurneysen and Anton van Hamel dispute any link between Ogma and Ogmios.

*
A Proto-Indo-European root *og-mo- ‘furrow, track, incised line’ may be the origin of the stem of the name. In addition, Proto-Celtic had a causative verbal suffix *-ej- ~ *-īj-. A hypothetical Proto-Celtic *Ogm-īj-o-sogm-. This agent noun would therefore mean ‘furrow-maker, incisor’ and may have had a metaphorical sense of ‘impresser.’ therefore looks very much like an agent noun derived from a verb formed by the addition of this causative suffix to the stem *
From: Wiki

The Irish god of writing, eloquence and poetry. Ogma was credited of being inventor of the Celtic writing systems that the Druids used for their magic. These scripts were known as Ogham.

Ogma was the son of Dagda and the goddess Danu. Some other writers say that Ogma and Dagda were brothers; in this version they were the sons of Eithne. Ogma had also being called the son of Elatha, the king of the Fomorians.

Ogma was one the seven champions in the First Battle of Moytura (Mag Tuired), but when Bres became the king of Tuatha dé Danann, Ogma was degraded into working on humiliating manual job of gathering firewood.
When Lugh went to Nuada, asking for a place to serve the king, Ogma seemed to be Nuada's foremost fighter. During the second battle of Moytura, Ogma had killed one of the Fomorian leaders, named Indech, the son of Domnu.

Ogma had married Etain, the daughter of Dian Cécht. Ogma had a son named Caipre. Some say that he was the father of MacCuill, MacCecht and MacGrené (MacGrene), the three Danann kings who ruled Ireland, during the Milesian invasion, though other say that Neit was their father.
To the Celtic Gauls he was called Ogmios. According to both Gallic and Irish myths Ogma was a warrior god, depicted as a wrinkled old man, wearing lion's skin cloak, carrying a bow and club. The Romans considered Ogmios as the Celtic equivalent of Hercules (Greek Heracles). They also depicting Ogimos as holding people chained to his tongue by their ears, to indicate he was the god of eloquence and poetry.

Ogma, Oghma, Ogmae (Irish).
Ogmios, Ogmius (Gallic).
From: TimelessMyths
Also see: Ogimos

Other sites:

• Ogmios: a Gaulish and Irish God, also known as Ogma, Ogmia
• Ogma
• Ogmios
• Ogma

Threads on MW:

• Ogma
• Ogma?

Taranis

In Celtic mythology Taranis was the god of thunder worshipped essentially in Gaul, the British Isles, but also in the Rhineland and Danube regions amongst others, and mentioned, along with Esus and Toutatis as part of a sacred triad, by the Roman poet Lucan in his epic poem Pharsalia as a Celtic deity to whom human sacrificial offerings were made .[1] He was associated, as was the cyclops Brontes ("thunder") in Greek mythology, with the wheel.

Many representations of a bearded god with a thunderbolt in one hand and a wheel in the other have been recovered from Gaul, where this deity apparently came to be syncretised with Jupiter.[2]

The name as recorded by Lucan is unattested epigraphically, but variants of the name occur in inscriptions, including the forms Tanarus, Taranucno-, Taranuo-, and Taraino-.[3] [4] The name is continued in Irish as Tuireann. His name is likely connected with that of the Germanic god of thunder, Norse Thor (Anglo-Saxon Þunor, German Donar), Tiermes of the Nordic Sami people,[5]

Taranis is likely associated with the Gallic Ambisagrus (likely from Proto-Celtic *ambi-sagros = "about-strength"), and in the interpretatio romana with Mars.

Etymology

The reconstructed Proto-Celtic form of the name is *Toranos "thunder".[6] In present day Welsh taranu and taran means 'to thunder' and 'thunder' (taraniñ and taran in Breton), and in present day Irish Tarann means 'thunder'.

Taranis, as a personification of thunder, is often identified with similar deities found in other Indo-European pantheons. Of these, Thor/Thunor and the Hittite god Tarhun (see also Teshub) contain a comparable *torun- element. The Thracian deity names Zbel-thurdos, Zbel-Thiurdos also contain this element (Thracian thurd(a), "push, crash down").

Association with the wheel

The wheel, more specifically the chariot wheel with eight spokes, was an important symbol in historical Celtic polytheism, apparently associated with a specific god, known as the wheel-god, identified as the sky- sun- or thunder-god, whose name is attested as Taranis by Lucan.[7] Numerous Celtic coins also depict such a wheel. It is thought to correspond to a sun-cult practiced in Bronze Age Europe, the wheel representing the sun.[who?]
The half-wheel shown in the Gundestrup ""broken wheel" panel also has eight visible spokes.

The wheel of the year has eight spokes which connects it to the eight major divisions of the Celtic year. The longest and shortest day and the equinoxes are the four Albans. The other four are Samhain, Brigantia, Beltane and Lugnassadh. These are called the Fire Festivals. The Albans are the oldest, this is why some older wheels only have four spokes.[dubious – discuss]

Symbolic votive wheels were offered at shrines (such as in Alesia), cast in rivers (such as the Seine), buried in tombs or worn as amulets since the Middle Bronze Age.[8] Such "wheel pendants" from the Bronze Age usually had four spokes, and are commonly identified as solar symbols or "sun cross". Artefacts parallel to the Celtic votive wheels or wheel-pendants are the so-called Zierscheiben in a Germanic context. The identification of the Sun with a wheel, or a chariot, has parallels in Germanic, Greek and Vedic mythology (see sun chariot).

From: Wiki

Taranis is in all likelihood the Gaulish god whom Caesar equated with the Roman Jupiter in his writings on the Gallic Wars. The sole mention of Taranis by name in this context is by Lucan, who mentions him as one of three gods to whom human sacrifices were given. Lucan claims that victims were given to each god, killed in a manner appropriate for that god. Victims sacrificed to Taranis were reportedly burned, as would befit a god of lightning and fire. It is often speculated that the Wicker Man sacrifices described by Caesar might have been carried out under the auspices of Taranis.

Taranis is unmistakably a sky god. While he is often pictured riding across the heavens in a great chariot, he is less a god of the sun than a god of thunder. The main emblems of Taranis are his wheel, which he often holds aloft, and a thunderbolt. The name Taranis comes from a root meaning “thunder,” and he is closely related to the Norse god Thor. It was to Taranis that the collected heads of the slain were dedicated.

From: here

Taran
A Brythonic and Gaulish God, also known as Taranis, Taranos, Taranuos, Taranucnus, Taranucus, Taranoou, Etirun: Thunderer

Taran (Taranis, Taranos, Taranuos, Taranucnus, Taranucus, Taranoou, Etirun) is a Gaulish and Brythonic god known from the writings of Julius Caesar, Strabo and Lucan. He is also knowf from eight inscriptions found in Germany, Hungary, Croatia, France and Belgium. He also figures as the character of Taran in the Cymric (Welsh) Mabinogi of Branwen ferch Llŷr. He is the Celtic thunder god, often syncretized with Roman Jupiter.

Synonyms: Taranis, Taranos, Taranuos, Taranucnus, Taranucus, Taranoou, Etirun
Gaul: Thunderer

Taranis standing with thunderbold in his right hand Taranis standing with sky wheel in left hand and thunderbold in right

Taranis is probably one of the most well-known of the Celtic deities, mostly due to the writings of Julius Caesar, Strabo and Lucan; though the actual evidence for this deity indicates that he was far less important than suggested by the Roman commentators. Indeed, outside the work of the classical writers the evidence for this deity is scant at best.

In his De Bello Gallica (On the Gallic Wars) Julius Caesar describes a Gaulish deity whom he likens to Jupiter and of whom he says 'held the empire of the skies'. We are left to Lucan (M. Annaeus Lucanus), however, to name this deity as Taranis. In the first book of his Pharsalia (Civil War) Lucan has this to say about the major Gaulish gods:

Teutates horrensque feris altaribus Esus
et Taranis Scythicae non mitior ara Dianae.

uos quoque, qui fortes animas belloque peremptas

Savage Teutates, Esus’ bloody shrines
and Taranis’ altar, cruel as those
loved by Diana, whom the Scythians serve;
All these destroyed in war…

Based on writings in the ninth century comment on Lucan, the Berne Scholia and descriptions in Caesar's De Bello Gallica Taranis has been identified as the deity to whom both Julius Caesar and Strabo describe human sacrifices being offered by being burnt alive in 'wicker men'. The Berne Scholia also describes Taranis as a 'master of war' and links him with the Roman deity Jupiter. However, these classical sources are all problematic. Caesar (and later Lucan) were both attempting to cast the Gauls in poor light, as a means of justifying the Gallic wars. Which is not to say that the ancient Celts did not perform human sacrifices. The so called 'bog bodies' of Britain and Denmank all attest to the veracity of this claim. However, there is absolutely no archaeological evidence to link the known sites of Taranis worship with cults of human sacrifice. Indeed, Lucan may have been exagerating the importance of Taranis for having never left Rome he had few sources of information about Gaulish deities to draw upon. He therefore had to rely on other Roman writers to gain what information he could.

(...)

Taranis' name is derived from the reconstructed proto-Celtic root *toranos- (Thunder). Thus Taranos' name means 'Thunder' whilst forms such as Taranucnus mean 'Thunderer'. It would seem therefore that Taranis was originally a weather deity, associated with storms and more specifically the thunder and lightning associated with such phenomena. This association with thunder and lightning probably explains his syncretization with Jupiter; though the cult of Jupiter is much broader than what we can discern of the attributes of Taranis. Indeed, Taranis may well represent one of the earliest form of Celtic deities. An elemental force of nature associated with the rumble of thunder. Only after the Roman conquest did he gain a human form and became incorporated into the cult of Jupiter.

Iconographically we have no representation which can be unambiguously attributed to Taranis. Though the so-called 'wheel god' (above right) is often linked to Taranis this identification is by no means certain. Indeed, this linkage is often done on the basis of the lightning bolt in the god's right hand and the description of the wheel in his left hand as the 'thunder wheel'. In all likelihood this wheel could just as easily be a 'solar wheel'. In contrast, the image on the right (which is loosely based on a bronze statue from Strasbourg) shows a man wearing a Gaulish sagum (a heavy woolen coat or cloak) and who simply bears a large thunderbolt in his hand. He has no other attributes and this image would be far more fitting as that of an elemental weather deity with the coat affording protection from the rain (a fertility aspect) that generally accompanies thunderstorms.

From: Celtnet.org (to to link for full article)

Also see:
Article about him

Rosmerta

In Gallo-Roman religion, Rosmerta was a goddess of fertility and abundance, her attributes being those of plenty such as the cornucopia. Rosmerta is attested by statues, and by inscriptions. In Gaul she was often depicted with the Roman god Mercury as her consort, but is sometimes found independently.

Iconography

A relief from Autun (ancient Augustodunum, the civitas capital of the Celtic Aedui), shows Rosmerta and Mercury seated together as a divine couple (see above). She holds a cornucopia, with Mercury holding a patera at her left side.

A bas-relief from Eisenberg (see left)[1] shows the couple in the same relative positions, with Rosmerta securely identified by the inscription.[2] Rosmerta holds a purse in her right hand and a patera in her left.

In a pair of statues from Paris depicting the couple, Rosmerta holds a cornucopia and a basket of fruits.

Rosmerta is shown by herself on a bronze statue from Fins d'Annency, where she sits on a rock holding a purse and, unusually, also bears the wings of Mercury on her head. A stone bas-relief from Escolives-Sainte-Camille[3] shows her bolding both a patera and a cornucopia.

Twenty-seven inscriptions to Rosmerta are listed by Jufer and Luginbühl,[4] distributed in France, Germany and Luxembourg, corresponding mainly to the Roman provinces of Gallia Belgica and Germania Superior. An additional two inscriptions are known, one from Roman Dacia.[5]

An inscription from Metz[6] is a dedication (votum) to Mercury and Rosmerta jointly. Another from Eisenberg was made by a decurion in fulfillment of a vow to the couple jointly.[7]

In two inscriptions[8] both from Gallia Belgica, Rosmerta is given the epithet sacra, sacred. A lengthier inscription from Wasserbillig in Gallia Belgica[9] associates the divine couple with the dedication of a shrine (aedes), with "hospitable" rites to be celebrated.[10]

Etymology

The name Rosmerta is Gaulish, and is analysed as ro-smert-a. Smert means 'provider' or 'carer' and is also found in other Gaulish names such as Ad-smerio, Smertu-litani, Smerius, Σμερο, Smertae, Smertus, etc.[11] Ro- is a modifier meaning 'very' 'great' or 'most' as found in Ro-bili ('most-good'), Ro-cabalus ('great horse'), Ρο-βιος ('great life').[12] The -a ending is the typical Gaulish feminine singular nominative. The meaning is thus 'the Great Provider.'

From: Wiki

In Gaulish Celtic mythology, Rosmerta was the goddess of fire, warmth, and abundance. A flower queen and hater of marriage, Rosmerta was also the queen of death. A Celtic goddess of fertility and wealth, whose cult was widely spread in Northeast Gaul. Rosmerta was the wife of Esus, the Gaulish Hermes. Her attributes are a cornucopia and a stick with two snakes.

From: here

Rosmerta is a goddess known from a large number of inscriptions and images spread across the breadth of northern Gaul. There are at least 27 attested inscriptions to this goddess and a further two probable inscriptions. In Germany inscriptions have been found at: Neuenstadt as well as Niedaldorf, Niederemmel, Reinsport, Spechbach, Trier, Alzey, Cologne and Worms where she is invoked along with Roman Mars. An inscription found at Eisenberg reads DEO MERCU(rio) ET ROSMER(tae) M(arcus) ADITORIUS MEM(m)OR D(ecurio) C(ivitatis) ST() [PO]S(uit) l(ibens) M(erito) (To the God Mercury and Rosmerta, Marcus Aditorius to commemorate the Decurio of the town willingly and deservedly stipulated [this]) which is associated with a bas-relief that has the figure of Mercury on the right and a Rosmarta on the left. Here the goddess holds a purse in her right hand and a patera in her left. An inscription from Wasserbilig in Germany again associates Rosmerta with Mercury but also links her with the founding of a hospital: DEO MERCURIO [ET DEAE ROS]MERTIAE AEDEM C[UM SIGNIS ORNA]MENTISQUE OMN[IBUS FECIT] ACCEPTUS TABUL[ARIUS VIVIR] AUGUSTAL[IS DONAVIT?] ITEM HOSPITALIA [SACOR(um) CELE]BRANDORUM GR[ATIA PRO SE LIBE]RISQUE SUIS DED[ICAVIT 3] IULIAS LUPO [ET MAXIMO CO(n)S(ulibus)] (To the God Mars and the Goddess Roamerta, ). A single inscription has been found at Andernach in Luxembourg, where Rosmerta is, once agiain named with Mars. Likewise, a single inscription is known from Sarmizegtusa in Romania where Rosmerta is associated with Mercury, Mars, Mithras and Camulus. The remaining inscriptions all derive from France, namely: Alise-Sainte-Reine in the Côte d'Or, Champoulet in the Loiret, Vézelise in the Meurthe-et-Moselle, and Escolives-Sainte-Camille in the Yonne where she is invoked alone. At Lezoux in the Puy-de-Dôme she is invoked with Rigani. The remaining inscriptions, from Grand, Morelmaison and Soulosse in the Vosges as well as Sion in the Meurthe-et_moselle, Langres in the Haute-Marne, Magny-Lambert in the Côte d'Or and Metz in the Moselle all assoicate Rosmerta with Mars. The Metz inscription reads as follows: DEO MERCURIO ET ROSMERTAE MUSICUS LILLUTI FIL(ius) ET SUI(s) EX VOTO (To Mercury and Rosmerta, Musicus son of Lillutius offers this in his own name in fulfilment of a vow).



Two further fragmentary inscirptions, probably invoking Rosmerta have been found at Genainville, Val-d'Oise, France and at Aix-en-Prevence, Bouches-du-Rhône, France. The Aix inscription also invokes Mercury and associates Rosmerta, by assimilation, with another deity who is probably Ussia as Rosmerta Ussa.



Because of the number of images of Rosmerta available and her association with Mars, it is possible to attribute a nuber of images of goddesses across the Celtic world as being representations of Rosmerta. The image shown above, left, comes from Gloucester and is believed to represent Rosmerta and Mercury. A pair of statues from Paris depict Mercury and Rosmerta (who is depicted, partially reconstructed, above right), where she holds a cornucopia and a basket of fruit. Interestingly, Rosmerta is shown by herself on a bronze statue from Fins d'Annency, where she sits on a rock holding a purse. In this case her association with Mercury is made clear by the winged helm she bears upon her head. A similar statue (above centre) comes from Clermont-Ferrand in France and again shows Rosmerta bearing Mercury's winged helm upon her head. A statue from Champoulet-Loiret in France shows Rosmerta depicted with the same stance and attitude as the Clermont-Ferrand statue but this time she does not wear Mercury's winged helm. A further relef from Autun in the Loire, shows a seated Rosmerta bearing a cornucopia next to a partial figure of Mercury who holds a patera in his right hand.



Many commentators have held the name of Rosmerta to be of Latin origin, meaning 'Good Purveyor' or 'Great Provider'; however, recent publications of an extended reconstructed proto-Celtic lexicon allows us to reconstruct her name from the proto-Celtic lexical elements *ro- (most) and *smert- (provider/carer) with the feminie ending -a giving us 'great provider/great carer' as an interpretation. Both interpretations fit-in with Rosmerta's iconography (bearing a purse and cornucopia) as well as her association with sacred water held by her patera (healing) and her association with hospitals.



From: here

Rosmerta was a fertility goddess. Rosmerta was depicted as woman carry basket of fruit, possibly Cornucopia, suggests that she was goddess of abundance. She was sometimes seen as carrying a two-headed axe.

Rosmerta was the wife of Mercury. Rosmerta was associated with Maia, who was the mother of Mercury. Rosmerta was popular in Gaul (France).

From: here

Rosmerta

Gallic goddess of prosperity, whose name means "great provider." According to the Romans, she was the consort of "Mercury," who here may be Lugus (the Gallic Lugh). All that is known of her cult are the remains of altars dedicated to her, with her image and that of "Mercury" carved into said altars. She is also depicted with a cornucopia and a cadeucus, appropriately. Her cult was centered in southern Gaul, and along the Rhone and Rhine, as well as South-west Britain.

Her connection to "Mercury," if we equate Mercury with Lugh, would possibly make her equivalent to the Irish goddess Tailtiu. I do not know of a Welsh equivalent.

From: here

Rosmerta (Red-Glimmering One, Exceedingly Smeared One, Great Provider)
Smeared with sacrificial blood. Gaulish goddess of fire, warmth, fertility, wealth, and abundance. worshipped from France to Luxembourg. She is a flower queen and queen of death. She is depicted with a cornucopia and a sceptre with two snakes. In Mannheim, Germany she has a purse where a snake has laid its head. Her consort is the god Esus. On an altar found at Housesteads on the Roman Wall, she is using a plunger to turn milk into butter. The object beside her is very similar to the wooden churn with iron hoops still used on farms in northern England at the beginning of the 20th century. Her spring is at Gissey-la-veil, France. In Autun, Burgundy near the Saône River, Rosmerta is seated and holds a cornucopia while to the right, Mercury sits and holds a patera (a broad, shallow, saucerlike dish, used especially in making libations in ancient Rome). Rosmerta is shown by herself on a bronze statue from Fins d’Annency, where she sits on a rock holding a purse and bears the wings of Mercury on her head; A stone bas-relief from Escolives-Sainte-Camile she holds a patera and cornucopia. She also has a statue at Glanum, Provença. (64, 67, 140)

From: here

Also see:
Statue
A forum thread discussing her
GoogleBook previews that mention her

On MW:
The Goddess Rosmerta
Goddess Rosemerta or Rosmerta