Litavis


Litavis is a Gallic deity whose cult is primarily attested in east-central Gaul during the Roman period, where she mainly appears as the consort of Mars Cicolluis. She was probably originally an earth-goddess. The divine pair Mars Cicolluis–Litavis was likely associated with fertile and nourishing land, an interpretation supported by the meanings of both divine names. In medieval Celtic languages, various terms derived from the name *Litauia came to designate the Brittany Peninsula.

Name and etymology

Etymology

The Gaulish divine name Litauī is generally derived from Proto-Celtic *flitawī, itself going back to Proto-Indo-European Pl̥th₂éwih₂. This form is commonly interpreted as an epithet of the Proto-Indo-European Earth-goddess Dheghom. Cognates are found in the Vedic Earth-goddess Pṛithvī Mātā and in Ancient Greek Plátaia, a naiad described as the consort of Zeus, as well as in ritual expressions such as Old Hittite palḫiš dankuiš daganzipaš and Young Avestan ząm pərəθβīm.

Derived terms

Cassius Dio, in his account of the events of the Gallic War in 52 BCE, cites an Aeduan bearing this name, Litaouikou. Julius Caesar likewise mentions several Gauls whose names derive from Litavis, including Convictolitavis and Litaviccus. The latter represents the Latinized form of Gaulish Litauicos, meaning 'sovereign', a formation that is cognate with Welsh Llydewig, pointing to a shared Proto-Celtic term Litauī-kos built with the determinative suffix -kos.
The medieval Celtic names for the Brittany Peninsula all stem from an earlier *Litauia, meaning 'Land' or 'Country'. In the Middle Irish Lebor Bretnach, Bretain Letha denotes the 'Britons of the Continent or Armorica', i.e. the Bretons. Linguist Rudolf Thurneysen proposed that these forms reflect a semantic development from an Ancient Celtic term meaning 'broad land, continent', applied in the Insular Celtic languages to the part of the European mainland nearest the British Islands.

Epigraphic evidence

A goddess Litavis, consort of the Gaulish Mars Cicolluis, is attested on several stelae from the region of Aignay-le-Duc and especially from Mâlain, in Burgundy. These finds situate her cult on the frontier between the territories of the Lingones and the Mandubii. Among the Petrocorii, a dedication to Cobledu-Litavus, a god associated with springs, is also recorded. A protected-spring fibula, discovered at Alesia, bears the inscription Litaiccos. A Latin dedicatory inscription from Narbonne likewise records the formula MARTI CICOLLUI ET LITAVI, meaning 'To Mars Cicolluos and Litavis'.
The divine pair Mars Cicolluis–Litavis was probably connected with fertile and nourishing land, since Cicolluis has been interpreted as meaning 'the Nourisher', and the etymology of Litavis points to the Proto-Indo-European name for the deified Earth, Dheghom.