Lugus

Lugus ( a u - stem, nor Plural form Lugoves ) was a deity who was worshiped during ancient times in many parts of the Celtic-speaking world. His name has been recognized in inscriptions only poor, but can be closed due to its frequent appearance in place names and ethnonyms that he held an important position within the Celtic pantheon. Further evidence for its importance are Gallo-Roman dedications and recorded during the Middle Ages tales about his insular Celtic descendants, the Irish Lug mac Ethnenn and the Welsh Llew Llaw Gyffes.

Inscriptions

The name Lugus appears in Gallo-Roman dedications as a plural Lugoves (as in Aventicum and Osma ) or as Lucubo, Locobu and Lucubo ( s ) in inscriptions from the Iberian Peninsula. A lead plaque from the French Chamalières contains the words luge dessummiíis, which may translate as " I prepare for Lugus ago."

Appearing in place and personal names

His name is based on numerous place names, especially in composites on dūnon, Gallo Lugdūnon or Lugudūnon, " fortified settlement of Lugus ". More recent theories that these place names were not direct derivations of the names of gods, overlooked among other things, given from Irish mythology connection to Lugus in the cult ceremony Lugnasad, which on the same day (August 1 ) was committed as the feast of Mercurius Augustus and the Maia Augusta Lugdunum (Lyon ), an adapted from Emperor Augustus as a Roman state cult main festival of the Gallic tribes.

Among the places mentioned Lugdunum stood in the Roman administration often an ethnonym, in order to distinguish the different places of the same name from each other. However, there were also numerous minor places with this name, even in Germanic territory:

• L. Segusiavorum (Lyon, Lugdunum most significant in antiquity )
• L. Batavorum ( Katwijk at Leiden)
• L. Consoranorum ( Saint- Lizier, department Ariège)
• L. Convenarum ( Saint -Bertrand de Comminges, Haute- Garonne)
• L. Remorum ( Laon, Aisne )
• L. Vocontiorum ( Montlahue, Drôme )

Other derivations are from a later period ( occupied from the 3rd century ), probably a derivative of the personal name * Luguvalos, or LLeuddiniawn ( mittelkymrisch ), today Lothian about Luguvalium at the site of the present Carlisle.

In Lugus educated people names are also quite common. Appear in Ogham inscriptions, among other Lugudec ( Old Irish: Lugaid ) or Luguaedon ( Old Irish: Lugáed ); the man's name Lugurix found in older Gaulish inscriptions ( " Lugus King"? ) and the woman's name Luguselva ( " the Lugus to own" ).

Etymology

The etymology of the name Lugus is highly controversial. A derivative of the Indo-European root deny ʰ - / lug ʰ - ( " oath, swear " ) is possible as well as an interpretation as " bright, radiant " based on welsh Lleu ( " light ", compare ancient Greek λευκός " bright, clear, white " ).

A note pseudo - Plutarch suggests that already the ancient Gauls declared the name of Lugus as " Raven". In today's insular Celtic languages ​​but absent reflexes of such a word in the meaning " raven " or " bird" perfect, although the name itself in the form of Lugh (Irish) and Llew (Welsh ) persists. That the city of Lugdunum (Lyon ) has been associated in antiquity with Ravens, results from the aforementioned pseudo- Plutarch founding legend, in which Raven played a central role, as well as from the iconography on coins of the city. A possible etymology to a "Raven God " Lugus would be the Indo-European root pleug ʰ - (compare German flying), but usually as pleuk - reconstructed is.

Functions and attributes

An accurate determination of its functions in the Gallic Pantheon is complicated by the paucity of ancient messages and by the common practice of interpretatio romana. The related potential overlap with other names of gods as well as the Celtic tendency to think of the gods in triads, make a clear description of Lugus to a largely hypothetical exercise. In particular, the multiple connections plural mention of his name ( Lugoves ) suggests that the shape of Lugus should be assigned several other names. They definitely can, however, say only that Lugus had an association with birds, especially ravens. Based on the Irish and Welsh parallels one may probably also expect the spear, and a kind of magically effective monocular vision to its attributes.

Functional Lugus should have been a kind artisan God what is. One hand on his supposed identification with Mercury, on the other hand is based on an inscription from the Spanish Osma, in which the shoemaker guild the Lugoves makes a votive offering This is among other things supported by the occupied from the insular Celtic tradition epithet sam - Ildanach (about " the same time gifted in many arts " ) and Llaw Gyffes ( "with the deft hand ").