Litavis (

Gaulish Gaulish is an extinct Celtic languages, Celtic language spoken in parts of Continental Europe before and during the period of the Roman Empire. In the narrow sense, Gaulish was the language of the Celts of Gaul (now France, Luxembourg, Belgium, ...

: ''Litauī'' 'Earth', lit. 'the Broad One') is a Gallic deity whose cult is primarily attested in east-central

Gaul Gaul () was a region of Western Europe first clearly described by the Roman people, Romans, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and parts of Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, and Northern Italy. It covered an area of . Ac ...

during the Roman period. She was probably originally an earth-goddess.' In medieval Celtic languages, various terms derived from ''*Litauia'' came to designate the Brittany Peninsula.

Epigraphic evidence

Inscription with the name of goddess Litavis

Her name is found in inscriptions found at Aignay-le-Duc and Mâlain of the

Côte-d'Or Côte-d'Or () is a département in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of Northeastern France. In 2019, it had a population of 534,124.

, France, where she is invoked along with the

Gallo-Roman Gallo-Roman culture was a consequence of the Romanization (cultural), Romanization of Gauls under the rule of the Roman Empire in Roman Gaul. It was characterized by the Gaulish adoption or adaptation of Roman culture, Roman culture, language ...

god Mars Cicolluis in a context which suggests that she might have been his consort. Also, a

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

dedicatory inscription from Narbonne (which was in the far south of Gaul), France, bears the words "MARTI CICOLLUI ET LITAVI" ("To Mars Cicolluos and Litavis").Koch, John T.
Ériu, Alba, and Letha: When Was a Language Ancestral to Gaelic First Spoken in Ireland?
''Emania: Bulletin of the Navan Research Group'' 9 (1991): 17–27.

Name

Etymology

The

divine name ('Earth', lit. 'the Vast One') likely stems from

Proto-Celtic Proto-Celtic, or Common Celtic, is the hypothetical ancestral proto-language of all known Celtic languages, and a descendant of Proto-Indo-European. It is not attested in writing but has been partly Linguistic reconstruction, reconstructed throu ...

('broad'; cf. Old Breton , Middle Welsh , 'broad'),Bader, Françoise. "Les grands de l'Iliade et les Achéménides". In: ''Revue des Études Grecques'', tome 112, Juillet-décembre 1999. p. 375. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3406/reg.1999.4376; www.persee.fr/doc/reg_0035-2039_1999_num_112_2_4376 ultimately from

Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. No direct record of Proto-Indo-European exists; its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-Euro ...

' ('the Broad One'; cf.

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

, Greek ; also

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

, 'earth'). The Gaulish personal name ''Litauicos'' ('sovereign', lit. 'possessor of the land') is also cognate with the Welsh , meaning 'pertaining to Brittany', pointing to a Proto-Celtic term *''Litauī-kos'', here attached to the determinative suffix -''kos''.

Medieval terms

The medieval or 'neo- Celtic' names for the Brittany Peninsula (cf.

Old Irish Old Irish, also called Old Gaelic (, Ogham, Ogham script: ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; ; ; or ), is the oldest form of the Goidelic languages, Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive written texts. It was used from 600 to 900. The ...

'',''

Old Welsh Old Welsh () is the stage of the Welsh language from about 800 AD until the early 12th century when it developed into Middle Welsh.Koch, p. 1757. The preceding period, from the time Welsh became distinct from Common Brittonic around 550, ha ...

, Old Breton , Latinized as ) all stem from an original ''*Litauia'', meaning 'Land' or 'Country'. In the Irish ' (11th c.), means 'Britons of the Continent or Armorica, i.e. Bretons.' Linguist Rudolf Thurneysen proposed a semantic development from an Ancient Celtic term meaning 'broad land, continent' into the Insular Celtic names for the part of the Continent nearest the

British Islands The British Islands is a term within the law of the United Kingdom which refers collectively to the following four polities: * the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; * the Bailiwick of Guernsey (including the jurisdictio ...

References

Bibliography

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