Editing Taranis (section)

==Name==
[[File:RIB 452, John Grenehalgh.png|alt=Drawing of an altar to Taranis|thumb|Altar dedicated to Jupiter Tanaris from [[Chester]], England]]
===Etymology and development===
Taranis's name derives from [[proto-Celtic]] {{lang|cel-x-proto|torano-}} ("thunder"), which in turn derives from the [[proto-Indo-European root]] {{lang|ine-x-proto|(s)tenh₂-}} ("to thunder"). Through the proto-Celtic etymon, the theonym is cognate with words for thunder in [[Old Irish]] ({{lang|sga|torann}}), [[Old Breton]] ({{lang|obt|taran}}), [[Middle Welsh]] ({{lang|wlm|taran}}), and (as a loan word into a non-Celtic language) the [[Gascon dialect]] of French ({{lang|oc|taram}}).<ref name=Matasovic>{{cite book |first=Ranko |last=Matasović |title=Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic |url=https://archive.org/details/matasovic-etymological-dictionary-of-proto-celtic |volume=9 |location=Leiden / Boston |series=Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series |publisher=Brill |date=2009 }}</ref>{{rp|384}}

During the development of Celtic, the word for thunder seem to have undergone a [[metathesis (linguistics)|metathesis]] (transposition of syllables) from {{lang|cel-x-proto|tonaro-}} to {{lang|cel-x-proto|torano-}}.<ref name=Matasovic/>{{rp|384}} The question of whether the [[Chester]] altar (discussed below) should be read as attesting to an unmetathesised form of the god's name, Tanaris, was for a long time controversial. However, the discovery of a dedication to {{lang|la|Iovi Tanaro}} ("Jupiter Tanaris") in [[Dalmatia]] confirms that such a form did exist.<ref name=ALIP/>

===Thunder god===
The association with thunder, suggested by the etymology of Taranis's name, is confirmed by his equation with Jupiter.<ref name=Meid>{{cite journal |last=Meid |first= Wolfgang |title=Keltische Religion im Zeugnis der Sprache |journal=Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie |volume=53 |issue=1 |date=2003 |pages=20–40 |doi=10.1515/ZCPH.2003.20 }}</ref>{{rp|33}} Taranis's name corresponds etymologically to that of the Germanic god [[Donar]] (i.e., Thor).<ref name=Meid/>{{rp|33}} Peter Jackson has conjectured that the theonyms Taranis and Donar (as well as perhaps the epithet [[Jupiter Tonans|Tonans]] of Jupiter) originated as a result of the "fossilization of an original epithet or [[epiklesis]]" of the [[Proto-Indo-European mythology|proto-Indo-European]] thunder god [[*Perkʷūnos]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Jackson |first=Peter |date=2002 |title=Light from Distant Asterisks. Towards a Description of the Indo-European Religious Heritage |journal=Numen |volume=49 |issue=1 |pages=61–102 |jstor=3270472 |doi=10.1163/15685270252772777}}</ref>{{rp|77}} [[Calvert Watkins]] compared Taranis's name with the name of the [[Hittites|Hittite]] weather god [[Tarḫunna]]. However, [[John T. Koch]] pointed out that an etymology linking the two theonyms would reverse the order of the metathesis (so that Taranis precedes Tanaris) and therefore compromise the proto-Indo-European etymology.<ref name=Koch>{{cite book|last=Koch|first=John T.|title=Celto-Germanic, Later Prehistory and Post-Proto-Indo-European vocabulary in the North and West |publisher=University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies |date=2020 }}</ref>{{rp|143}}