Lugus
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Lugus (sometimes Lugos<ref name=MacKillopLugus>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> or Lug<ref name=Deyts/>Template:Rp) is a Celtic god whose worship is attested in the epigraphic record. No depictions of the god are known. Lugus perhaps also appears in Roman sources and medieval Insular mythology.
Various dedications, concentrated in Iberia and dated to between the 1st century BCE and the 3rd century CE, attest to the worship of the god Lugus. However, these predominately describe the god in the plural, as the Lugoves. The nature of these deities, and their relationship to Lugus, has been much debated. Only one, early inscription from Peñalba de Villastar, Spain is widely agreed to attest to Lugus as a singular entity. The god Lugus has also been cited in the etymologies of several Celtic personal and place-names incorporating the element "Lug(u)-" (for example, the Roman settlement Lugdunum).
Julius Caesar's description in his Commentaries on the Gallic War of an important pre-Roman Gaulish god (whom Caesar identified with the Roman god Mercury) has been interpreted as a reference to the god Lugus. Caesar's description of Gaulish Mercury has been examined against Insular sources, as well as the prominence of "Lug(u)-" elements in Gaulish place-names. A prominent cult to Mercury in Roman Gaul may provide more evidence for this identification.
Lugus has also been connected with two figures from medieval Insular mythology. In Irish mythology, Lugh is an important and supernatural figure. His description as a skilled artisan and founder of a harvest festival has been compared with Gaulish Mercury. In Welsh mythology, Lleu Llaw Gyffes, a protagonist of the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi, is a more minor figure, but is linked etymologically with Irish Lugh. He perhaps shares with the Lugoves an association with shoemaking.
The reconstruction of a pan-Celtic god Lugus from these details, first proposed in the 19th century by Henri d'Arbois de Jubainville, has proven controversial. Criticism of this theory by scholars such as Bernhard Maier has caused aspects (such as a pan-Celtic festival of Lugus on 1 August) to be abandoned, however scholars still defend the reconstruction.
EtymologyEdit
The etymology of Lugus's name has been the subject of repeated conjecture, but no single etymology has gained wide acceptance.<ref name=Delamarre/>Template:Rp
The most commonly repeated etymology derives the name from proto-Indo-European *Template:Wikt-lang ("to shine"). This etymology is closely tied to proposals to identify Lugus as a solar god. However, Garrett Olmsted has pointed out that this derivation poses phonological difficulties. Proto-Celtic {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} cannot develop from proto-Indo-European {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, according to the known sound changes between the two languages.<ref name=Ovist/>Template:Rp Template:Ill has noted that this root would result in Irish {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, rather than the attested Irish {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}.<ref name=JordanColera>Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Rp
Template:Ill and Erich Hamp have proposed that the name derives from a proto-Celtic word meaning "oath" (either {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} or {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}). John T. Koch has taken this hypothesis up, and proposed that the early Irish oath tongu do dia toinges mo thúath is a suppressed oath to Lugus.<ref name=Koch>Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Rp<ref name=Olmsted/>Template:Rp A. G. van Hamel and Maier proposed a derivation from proto-Celtic {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ("lynx"), perhaps used allusively to mean "warrior", but an article by John Carey found the evidence for the existence of such a word in proto-Celtic lacking.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=Watson>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp Other etymologies derive "Lugus" from the name of the Norse god Loki,<ref name=Delamarre/>Template:Rp proto-Celtic {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ("mouse" or "rat"),<ref name=Coe>Template:Cite book</ref> and Gaulish {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ("raven").<ref name=deVries/>Template:Rp
Linguistic evidenceEdit
EpigraphyEdit
| Text | Image | Context | Language | Citation | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| lang}} | File:CIL II, 2818 in Nicolas Rabal, Soria.jpg | Inscribed on an altar. Found in the Roman city of Uxama Argaela, near Osma, Soria, Spain.<ref name=MarcoSimon/>Template:Rp | Latin | Template:CIL | Translated, the inscription reads "Consecrated to the Lugoves. Lucius L(icinius?), of the Urcici donated it on behalf of the College of Shoemakers".<ref name=MarcoSimon/>Template:Rp Connected to a trait of Welsh Lleu, discussed below.<ref name=Hutton>Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Rp |
| lang}}(or {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}Template:Efn | Inscribed on a stele. Found in Template:Ill, Burgos, Spain.<ref name=MarcoSimon/>Template:Rp<ref name=VH/>Template:Rp | Latin | CIL II, 6338v | This poorly preserved inscription has been interpreted by Jürgen Untermann as a dedication to the Lugoves made, as a result of a vision, by a person with the cognomen Avita. Above the inscription is an ithyphallic figure with his arms outstretched (in orant position).<ref name=MarcoSimon/>Template:Rp<ref name=VH/> | |
| lang}} | Inscribed on an altar. Found in the church of San Martín de Liñarán in Sober, Lugo, Spain.<ref name=MarcoSimon/>Template:Rp | Latin | Template:Abbr 67 | Translated, the inscription reads "To the Luguves Arquieni, with all merit. Caius Iulius Hispanus in fulfilment of a vow".<ref name=MarcoSimon/>Template:Rp | |
| lang}} | File:Ara aos Lugoves.jpg | Inscribed on an altar. From the town of Sinoga in Rábade, Lugo, Spain.<ref name=MarcoSimon/>Template:Rp | Latin | Template:Abbr 68 | Translated, the inscription reads "Dedicated to the Lucouves Arquieni. Silonius Silo in fulfilment of a vow".<ref name=MarcoSimon/>Template:Rp |
| lang}} | Inscribed on an altar. Found in a 2nd-century CE religious building in the city of Lugo, Spain.<ref name=MarcoSimon/>Template:Rp | Latin | Template:AE | Translated, the inscription reads "To the Lucoves Arousae, with all merit, Rutilia Antiania, in willing fulfilment of her vow".<ref name=MarcoSimon/>Template:Rp | |
| lang}} | Inscribed on an altar. Found in a 2nd-century CE religious building in the city of Lugo, Spain.<ref name=MarcoSimon/>Template:Rp | Latin | Template:AE | Translated, the inscription reads "To the Lucoves Gudarovi(?), Valerius (?) Clemens (?) in willing fulfilment of his vow".<ref name=MarcoSimon/>Template:Rp | |
| lang}} | Inscribed on an altar. Found in Template:Ill, Lugo, Spain.<ref name=MarcoSimon/>Template:Rp | Latin | BRAH 1971 185. | Translated, the inscription reads "To the Lucuves Arquieni(...) Iulius (...) in fulfilment of a vow".<ref name=MarcoSimon/>Template:Rp | |
| lang}} | Inscribed on a stele. Found in Nemausus (Roman Nîmes), Gard, France.<ref name=MarcoSimon/>Template:Rp | Latin | Template:CIL | ||
| lang}} | File:CIL XIII, 5078 in Blavignac, Histoire de l'architecture sacrée.jpg | Inscribed on a Corinthian capital. Found in the Roman city of Aventicum, near Avenches, Vaud, Switzerland.<ref name=Tovar/>Template:Rp | Latin | Template:CIL | Karl Zangemeister suggested that the inscription referred to the figure originally set on the capital.<ref name=Tovar/>Template:Rp |
| lang}} (translit.: Template:Transliteration) | Inscribed on a ceramic dish. Found in the Template:Ill, in Alès, Gard, France.<ref name=G-159>RIG I G-159 via Recueil informatisé des inscriptions gauloises.</ref> | Gaulish | RIG I G-159 | The inscription is probably an ownership mark, so at most records a theophoric personal name.<ref name=G-159/> | |
| lang}} | File:M0120 D 2000-1-870 01.jpg | Inscribed on a lead tablet. Found in Chamalières, Puy-de-Dome, France.<ref name=L-100/> | Gaulish | RIG II.2 L-100 | At the end of the Chamalières tablet inscription, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} is repeated three times. This feature is very difficult to interpret, but Template:Ill has interpreted it as an incantation of Lugus (in the singular). This interpretation has not been widely accepted.<ref name=L-100>RIG II.2 L-100 in Lambert, Pierre-Yves (2002). Recueil des inscriptions gauloises. II, fasc. 2, Textes gallo-latins sur instrumentum. Paris: Éd. du CNRS. pp. 269-280.</ref><ref name=Ovist/>Template:Rp |
| lang}}Template:Efn | File:Juan Calbre, Peñalba de Villastar K3.3.jpg | Inscribed on a rock. Found at the site of Peñalba de Villastar, in Villastar, Aragon, Spain.<ref name=Untermann/>Template:Rp | Celtiberian | MLH IV K.3.3 | lang}} is to be interpreted as a dedication to Lugus (in the dative singular).<ref name=JordanColera/>Template:Rp<ref name=Untermann>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:RpTemplate:Efn |
| lang}}Template:Efn | File:I tarteso.jpg | Inscribed on a stele. Found in the Template:Ill, in Bensafrim, Lagos, Portugal.<ref name=Correa/>Template:Rp<ref name=Untermann/>Template:Rp | Tartessian | MLH IV J.1.1 | lang}}).<ref name=MarcoSimon/>Template:Rp<ref name=Correa>Template:Cite journal</ref> Template:Ill has expressed scepticism about this reading.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> |
A number of dedications to Lugus, dating between the 1st century BCE and 3rd century CE, have been found in Continental Europe.<ref name=Sagredo/>Template:Rp This epigraphic data is concentrated in Iberia; only a small number of inscriptions are known from Gaul, and none are known from Britain or Ireland.<ref name=Tovar/>Template:Rp A peculiarity of this data is that the singular of Lugus's name is rarely recorded.<ref name=MarcoSimon>Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Rp There is consensus that a Celtiberian inscription from Peñalba de Villastar features the singular.<ref name=Ovist/>Template:Rp A minority interpret the Gaulish-language Chamalières tablet as invoking singular Lugus.<ref name=Ovist/>Template:Rp<ref name=MarcoSimon/>Template:Rp The singular is inscribed on a ceramic sherd from Template:Ill, but this is probably a theophoric name and not a reference to the god Lugus.<ref name=Ovist/>Template:Rp<ref name=G-159/> Many Celtic gods are referenced both in the plural and the singular,Template:Efn but in dedications to Lugus the plural form ("Lugoves" or "Lucoves"Template:Efn) predominates.<ref name=Olmsted>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp
The nature of the Lugoves, and their relationship to Lugus, has been much debated.<ref name=Sagredo>Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Rp The epigraphic record is equivocal as to the gender of these deities. The epithet {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (attested at San Martín de Liñarán) has masculine gender, whereas the epithets {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (attested on an altar from Lugo) and possibly {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} indicate the feminine.<ref name=MarcoSimon/>Template:Rp Henri Gaidoz contended that plural deities were minor in the Celtic pantheon, and that therefore Lugus could not have been the chief god of the Celts. Arbois de Jubainville and Joseph Vendryes argued that the Celts invoked even major gods (such as Mars) in the plural.<ref name=Ovist/>Template:Rp Some scholars have tried to explain the multiplicity of the Lugoves through traits of Irish Lugh or Welsh Lleu.<ref name=MarcoSimon/>Template:Rp<ref name=deVries/>Template:Rp Marie-Louise Sjoestedt, for example, pointed out that Lugh was one of triplets.<ref name=Watson/>Template:Rp Maier has argued that the obscurity of the nature of the Lugoves limits the value of the epigraphic record as evidence for pan-Celtic Lugus.<ref name=MaierCaesar>Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Rp Krista Ovist argues against this point.<ref name=Ovist/>Template:Rp
Proper namesEdit
The element "lug(u)-" appears frequently in Celtic proper names. In many of these cases, an etymology involving the deity-name Lugus has been proposed.<ref name=Evans/>Template:Rp<ref name=Hofeneder3/>Template:Rp Celtic personal names with this element include Lug, Lugaunus, Lugugenicus, Lugotorix, Luguadicos, Luguselva, and Lougous.<ref name=Evans/>Template:Rp A number of cognate names are known from Irish Ogham inscriptions, for example, Luga, Lugudecca (perhaps, "serving the god Lugus"<ref name=Matasović>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp), Luguqritt (perhaps, "poet like Lugus"<ref name=Zeidler/>Template:Rp), and Luguvvecca.<ref name=Evans/>Template:Rp Some ethnic names have been connected with Lugus, for example the Lugi in Scotland<ref name=Hofeneder3/>Template:Rp and the Template:Ill in Asturias.<ref name=Hofeneder3/>Template:Rp Place-names connected with Lugus include Lugii, Lougoi, Lougionon, Lugisonis, and Lugnesses.<ref name=Evans/>Template:Rp Lucus Augusti (modern-day Lugo) is the site of a Roman sanctuary with dedications to the Lugoves;<ref name=MarcoSimon/>Template:Rp its name may be derived from the deity-name Lugus, though it could simply be Latin for "grove of Augustus".<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Rp The name of Luguvalium (modern-day Carlisle) is sometimes glossed as "wall of Lugus", but may instead derive from a personal name.<ref name=MaierCaesar/>Template:Rp<ref name=Hofeneder3/>Template:Rp
Since Arbois de Jubainville argued for the connection, the place-name "Lugdunum" has frequently been connected etymologically with Lugus. The most famous known by this name is Lugdunum (modern-day Lyon) in the region of Gallia Lugdunensis,Template:Efn a Roman colony and among the most important cities of Roman Gaul.<ref name=Lambert/>Template:Rp The etymology of this place-name has been the subject of much conjecture. Following Arbois de Jubainville, the most widely held hypothesis analyses the name as {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} + {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ("fort"),Template:Efn that is, "the fortress of Lugus".<ref name=Evans/>Template:Rp Many other etymologies have been given.<ref name=Whatmough/>Template:Rp An ancient etymology derives it from a Gaulish word for raven.Template:Efn Attempts have been made to analyse it as {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ("luminous" or "clear") + {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ("hill"), bolstered by a medieval etymology which gives the gloss {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ("shining mountain").<ref name=Hofeneder3>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp<ref name=Evans>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp
The place-name Lugdunum is attested, in its cognate forms, as the name of as many as twenty-seven locations.<ref name=Hofeneder3/>Template:RpTemplate:Efn Apart from Lyon, there is Lugdunum Convenarum (modern-day Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges), Lugdunum Batavorum (near Leyden), Lugdunum Remorum (modern-day Laon), two Welsh places named Din Lleu (the order of the elements reversed),<ref name=Lambert>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp and two cities of unclear location in North East England and Germania Magna.<ref name=Hofeneder3/>Template:Rp The wide range and abundance of these place-names has been used to argue for the importance of Lugus.<ref name=Ovist/>Template:Rp Whatever the etymology, not all of these place-names must owe themselves a Celtic root. Lugdunum/Lyon was a major city, and other locations may have borrowed the name. Some two-thirds of the cognate place-names are attested only from the 10th century on; we know that Lugdunum Remorum had an older, native name (Bibrax) which was displaced in the 6th century.<ref name=MaierCaesar/>Template:Rp
Caesar and Gaulish MercuryTemplate:AnchorEdit
Commentaries on the Gallic War is Julius Caesar's first-hand account of the Gallic Wars (58 to 50 BCE). In giving an account of the customs of the Gauls, Caesar wrote the following:
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{{#invoke:Lang|lang}}<ref>Template:Perseus</ref>
The god they reverence most is Mercury. They have many images of him, and they regard him as the inventor of all arts, the god who directs men on their journeys, and the most powerful helper in trading and getting money. Next to him they reverence Apollo, Mars, Jupiter, and Minerva, about whom they have much the same ideas as other nations.<ref>Template:Cite book </ref>Template:Rp {{#if:|{{#if:|}}
— {{#if:|, in }}Template:Comma separated entries}}
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Caesar here employs the device of interpretatio romana, in which foreign gods are equated with those of the Roman pantheon.Template:Efn With very few exceptions, Roman writings about Celtic and Germanic religion employ interpretatio romana, but the equations they made varied from writer to writer. This makes identifying the native gods behind the Roman names very difficult.<ref name=Hofeneder1>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp Indeed, if their information was confused or their intention was propagandistic, reconstruction of native religion is next to impossible.<ref name=Hofeneder1/>Template:Rp
Caesar contrasts Gaulish Mercury with the other gods of the Gauls, insofar as he is the god about whom they do not have "much the same ideas" as the Romans. The Romans associated Mercury with trading and travel, but they did not think of him as "inventor of all arts".<ref name=MaierCaesar/>Template:Rp Another difference is suggested by the order in which the gods are presented: Mercury is given primacy, whereas the Romans considered Jupiter the most important deity.<ref name=Hofeneder1/>Template:Rp Moreover, Mercury's role as guide of souls to the underworld (an important aspect of the god for the Romans) goes unmentioned in this passage. Caesar elsewhere ascribes to the Gauls a belief in metempsychosis, which may have precluded Gaulish Mercury from this function.<ref name=MaierCaesar/>Template:RpTemplate:Efn
The first Celtic god to be identified as Caesar's Gaulish Mercury was Teutates.Template:Efn This identification was widely accepted until the late 19th century, when Arbois de Jubainville proposed that Lugus lay behind Caesar's description. Arbois de Jubainville pointed to the prominence of "Lug(u)-" elements in Gaulish place-names, and a possible festival of Lugus at Lugdunum/Lyon (discussed below). He also drew comparison between Irish Lugh's epithet {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ("master of all arts") and Caesar's description of Gaulish Mercury as "inventor of all arts".<ref name=MaierCaesar/>Template:Rp Maier has criticised this identification on the basis that "inventor of all arts", though not a Greco-Roman belief about the god Mercury, is a common literary topos in Roman descriptions of foreign religions. He also casts doubt on the possibility that an epithet like this, not otherwise attested in the epigraphic record, could have survived into medieval Irish literature.<ref name=MaierCaesar/>Template:Rp
A confusing aspect of Caesar's description of this cult is his reference to the "many images" of Gaulish Mercury; specifically he uses the word {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, a word which had the connotation of worshipped idols for Roman authors.<ref name=Kiernan>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp Archaeological evidence of anthropomorphic cult images is scant before the Roman conquest of Gaul.<ref name=Hofeneder1/>Template:Rp The testimony of some Roman authors suggests the Gauls did not produce images of their gods, though Lucan describes the Gauls as having wooden idols.<ref name=Kiernan/>Template:Rp Salomon Reinach suggested that Caesar meant to draw a comparison between aniconic monuments to Gaulish Mercury and the herms (aniconic monuments to Hermes, Mercury's Greek equivalent) he knew from Rome, but this is an unlikely use of the word {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}.<ref name=Hofeneder1/>Template:Rp<ref name=Kiernan/>Template:Rp
Certainly, after Caesar's conquest of Gaul, depiction and worship of Mercury was widespread.Template:Efn More images of Mercury have been found in Roman Gaul than those of any other God,<ref name=MaierCaesar/>Template:Rp but these representations of Mercury are conventional, and show no discernible Celtic influence.<ref name=Bauchhenss/>Template:Rp Epigraphic material does reveal some bynames of Mercury peculiar to Gaul, thought to be suggestive of native gods.<ref name=Bauchhenss>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>Template:Rp An inscription from Langres attests to a Mercur(io) Mocco ("Mercury of the Swine"), perhaps Lugus.<ref name=LeDuc/>Template:Rp Other epithets—connecting Mercury with heights, particular Gaulish tribes, and the emperor Augustus—have been thought to be suggestive of Lugus.<ref name=Ovist/>Template:Rp<ref name=Olmsted/>Template:Rp The epigraphic record has not produced any epithets portraying Mercury as inventor or master of arts.<ref name=MaierCaesar/>Template:Rp
DepictionsEdit
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No images of Lugus are known.<ref name=Deyts>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp<ref name=LeDuc>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp However, a number of figures have been proposed to represent Lugus. A Gallo-Roman silver cup from Lyon is decorated with a number of figures, including a human counting money next to a raven. Pierre Wuilleumier identified the human figure as Mercury/Lugus, whereas Template:Ill identified the raven as Apollo/Lugus.<ref name=Deyts/>Template:Rp Paula Powers Coe argued that the depiction of Mercury on an altar from Reims could be Lugus, as a rat (Gaulish {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) is depicted above Mercury, perhaps punning on Lugus's native name.<ref name=Coe/>Template:Rp Arguing from an association between Irish Lugh and pigs, Template:Ill has proposed that the Euffigneix statue (of a Gaulish boar-god) is a representation of Lugus.<ref name=LeDuc/>Template:Rp
Later mythologyEdit
Lugh in Irish mythologyEdit
Lugh Lamfhota (literally, "Long-armed Lugh") is an Irish mythological figure from the Mythological Cycle and the Ulster Cycle. He is portrayed as a leading member of the Tuatha Dé Danann, a supernatural race in medieval Irish literature often thought to represent euhemerized pre-Christian deities. Alongside Fionn mac Cumhaill and Cú Chulainn (Lugh's supernatural son), he is one of the three great heroes of the Irish mythological tradition.<ref name=MacKillopLugh>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref><ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> The Irish celebrated Lughnasa, a harvest festival which fell on 1 August and which, according to Irish tradition, was established by Lugh in honour of his foster mother.<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>
Arbois de Jubainville made the connection between Lugh and Lugus.<ref name=Hutton/>Template:Rp He adduced two connections between Irish Lugh and Celtic Lugus. Firstly, he drew attention to the (above discussed) correspondence between Lugh's epithet {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ("master of all arts") and Caesar's description of Gaulish Mercury.<ref name=MaierCaesar/>Template:Rp Secondly, he pointed out that an annual concillium of the Gauls in Lugdunum/Lyon, instituted in 12 BCE in honour of the emperor Augustus, fell on exactly the same day as Lughnasa. He suggested that both must ultimately derive from a Celtic festival in honour of Lugus.<ref name=MaierCaesar/>Template:Rp<ref name=Drinkwater/>Template:Rp Recent scholarship has tended to dismiss this as a coincidence.<ref name=Ovist/>Template:RpTemplate:Efn Maier has pointed out that the Continental Celts used a lunar calendar, whereas the Irish used a solar calendar, so continuity of a seasonal festival would be unlikely.<ref name=MaierCaesar/>Template:Rp
Lleu in Welsh mythologyEdit
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Lleu Llaw Gyffes (literally, "Lleu of the Skillful Hand" or "Steady Hand") is one of the protagonists of the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi, a set of Welsh stories compiled in the 12th-13th centuries. He is a prince whose story culminates in him becoming ruler of Gwynedd.<ref name=Hutton/>Template:Rp<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> Though not depicted as other than human, Lleu is depicted with extraordinary or magical skills, like many other characters in Welsh mythology.<ref name=Hutton/>Template:Rp Lleu (or characters similar to him) appears in other works of medieval Welsh literature. Notable examples are Lluch Llavynnauc (Lluch "of the Striking Hand" or Lluch "Equipped with a Blade") in Pa gur; Lluch Lleawc (Lluch "the Death Dealing") in Preiddeu Annwn; and Llwch Llawwynnyawe (Lluch "of the Striking Hand") in Culhwch.<ref name=Hutton/>Template:Rp
John Rhys was the first to relate Lleu to Lugus, which he did in 1888. Rhys drew a comparison between an episode in the Mabinogi, wherein Lleu and his foster father Gwydion produce gold-ornamented shoes, and the inscription from Uxama Argaela, where the Lugoves are invoked by a group of shoemakers. This parallel has received a mixed reception.<ref name=Hutton/>Template:Rp Joseph Loth felt that the episode was minor and the conclusion extravagant.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Rp Jan de Vries agreed with Rhys, and further argued that the "Lugoves" in this inscription were Lleu and Gwydion.<ref name=deVries>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp
Lugus-Lugh-Lleu?Edit
Though the stories told of Lleu and Lugh do not show many similarities,<ref name=Hutton/>Template:Rp comparisons have been drawn between epithets of Lleu and Lugh: Lleu is {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ("of the Skillful Hand") and Lugh is {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ("master of all arts"); Lleu is {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ("of the Striking Hand") and Lugh is {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ("of the Fierce Blows").<ref name=Hutton/>Template:Rp Ronald Hutton points out that medieval Welsh and Irish literature are known to have borrowed superficially from each other (for example, the similar in name but dissimilar in character Welsh Manawydan fab Llŷr and Irish Manannán mac Lir). This would suffice to explain the common epithets.<ref name=Hutton/>Template:Rp
Welsh Lleu and Irish Lugh are both linguistically correct as reflexes of a Gaulish or Brittonic name Lugus.<ref name=Hutton/>Template:Rp Hutton notes that a medieval borrowing cannot explain the linguistic relationship between Lugh and Lleu. For the names to be cognate, their common origin must be prior to the respective sound changes in Irish and in Welsh.<ref name=Hutton/>Template:Rp Jessica Hemming argues that, insofar as Lugus is entirely absent from the epigraphic record in Britain and Ireland, the etymology is questionable.<ref name=Hemming>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp
ReconstructionEdit
The god Lugus was first reconstructed by Arbois de Jubainville in his monumental {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (1884). Arbois de Jubainville linked together Irish Lugh, Caesar's Gaulish Mercury, the toponym Lugdunum, and the epigraphic evidence of the Lugoves. By 1888, Sir John Rhys had linked Lugus with Welsh Lleu.<ref name=Hutton/>Template:Rp Initial criticism of this theory (for example, from Henri Gaidoz) gave way to what Ovist has described as "uncritical affirmation" of the existence of a pan-Celtic god Lugus.<ref name=Ovist/>Template:Rp Over the 20th century, the theory was further elaborated.<ref name=Hutton/>Template:Rp The long inscription from Peñalba de Villastar was first published in 1942 and, by the 1950s, it had been identified as a unique dedication to Lugus in the singular.<ref name=Tovar/>Template:Rp<ref name=JordanColera/>Template:Rp In a 1982 article, Antonio Tovar cited Lugus as an exemplar of the unity of ancient Celtic culture. Few other Celtic gods could be said to be attested in Gaulish, Insular, and Iberian sources.<ref name=Tovar>Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Rp
Early doubts about Lugus were raised by Pierre Flobert (in the 1960s) and Stephanie Boucher (in the 1980s).<ref name=Hofeneder1/>Template:Rp However, scepticism about the god only entered the mainstream in the 1990s, coinciding with a wave of scepticism about the unity of the ancient Celts.<ref name=Hutton/>Template:Rp The most important of these critiques was mounted by Bernhard Maier, in his 1996 article "Is Lug to be Identified with Mercury?".<ref name=Hutton/>Template:Rp As well as criticising the identification of Caesar's Gaulish Mercury with Irish Lugh, Maier cast doubt on the value of the previously adduced epigraphic and toponymic data from Continental Europe. As Ovist put it, Maier "in effect, question[ed] the very existence of Continental Lugus".<ref name=Ovist>Template:Cite thesis</ref>Template:Rp
Scepticism about the existence of Lugus has not become consensus.<ref name=Hutton/>Template:Rp Recent monographs on the god by Krista Ovist (2004) and Gaël Hily (2012) have reaffirmed and elaborated on Arbois de Jubainville's reconstruction.<ref name=MaierHily>Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Rp The strength of the epigraphic and toponymic evidence has been marshalled in defense of the hypothesis by scholars such as Ovist and Zeidler.<ref name=Zeidler/>Template:Rp<ref name=Ovist/>Template:Rp
NotesEdit
ReferencesEdit
Further readingEdit
- Arbois de Jubainville, Henry d' (1884) Le cycle mythologique irlandais et la mythologie celtique. Paris: E. Thorin.
- Boucher, Stephanie (1983) "L'image de Mercure en Gaule" in La patrie gauloise d'Agrippa au VIème siècle. Lyon: Les Belles Lettres. pp. 57–69.
- Flobert, Pierre (1968) "Lugdunum, une étymologie gauloise de l’empereur Claude (Sénèque, Apoc. VII, 2, v. 9-10)" Revue des études latines 46: 264-280.
- Goudineau, Christian (1989) "Les textes antiques sur la fondation et sur la topographie de Lugdunum” in Aux origines de Lyon. Lyon: Alpara. pp. 23-36.
- Guyonvarc'h, Christian-Joseph (1963) "Notes de toponymie gauloise. 2. Répertoire des toponymes en LVGDVNVM" Celticum. 6: 368-376.
- Hily, Gaël (2012) Le dieu celtique Lugus. Rennes: Centre de Recherche Bretonne et Celtique.
- Maier, Bernhard (2001) Die Religion der Kelten: Götter - Mythen - Weltbild. Munich: C. H. Beck.
- Rhys, John (1888) Lectures on the origin and growth of religion as illustrated by Celtic heathendom. London: Williams and Norgate.
External linksEdit
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