Page:The Celtic Review volume 3.djvu/55

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THE CELTIC REVIEW

Meaux (Dasay collection) as the name of a god, and as a man’s name at St. Peter im Holz in Carinthia. In the form Adsmerius it occurs at Poitiers as the name of a god identified with Mercury (Deo Me(r)curio Adsmerio). The name Cantismerta occurs in the dative Cantismerte as that of a goddess at Lens in the canton of Wallis, before the chapel of St. Clement. From this it will be seen that the root in question was extensively distributed in personal names. The next goddess, Sīrona, is widely associated in the area in question with Apollo, her name being also written as Dirona or Đirona. The distribution of her inscriptions is as follows:—(1) Baumburg, Apollini Granno [et Si]ronae. (2) Rome, Apollini Granno et sanctae Sironae sacrum. (3) Bordeaux, Sironae. (4) Luxeuil, Apollini et Sironae. (5) Bitburg, Apollin[i Granno] et Siro[nae]. (6) Nierstein, Deo Apollini et Sironae. (7) Mainz [Deae] Sirona . . . (8) Grossbottwar am Marbach, A.D. 201, Apo[lli]ni et Sironae; (9) Maximiliansau, Deae Sironae. (10) Wiesbaden, Sironae. (11) Andemach Dir[onae]. (12) Graux, dép. Vosges, Apollini et Sironae. (13) Sept-Fontaines, near Saint-Avoid, in Lorraine, Deæ Đironae. (14) Corseul, dép. Côtes-du-Nord, arrond. Dinan, cant. Plancoet, Sirona. From these inscriptions Sirona may be regarded as the companion of Grannus, whose name we have in Aquae Granni (Aix-la-Chapelle) and in Granheim. The name Sirona was not improbably that of the Earth, regarded as a goddess, and it probably meant the ‘long-lived one.’ Another name for Apollo besides Grannos in this district is Mogounos, (whence Moguntiâcum). A name of a goddess Mogontia occurs (Deae Mogontiæ) at Le Sablon, near Metz.

Of the other names of goddesses in the zone now under consideration one occurs near Divodurum (Metz), while the other is one of the most widely distributed of the names of Celtic goddesses. The former is Icovellauna, the latter Epona. Icovellauna occurs like Mogontia at Le Sablon, near Metz, and may have meant the ‘protectress of health.’ The goddess Epŏna is commemorated on numerous inscriptions: