Alaunus
Encyclopedia
In the Gallo-Roman religion
, Alaunus or Alaunius is a Gaulish
god of healing and prophecy. His name is known from inscriptions found in Lurs, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence
in southern France
(in the dative form ) and in Mannheim
in western Germany
. In the latter inscription, Alaunus is used as an epithet of Genius Mercury
.
In trying to ascertain the etymology of this theonym
, it is important to bear in mind that it is used not only to refer to deities, but also as a toponym
and hydronym
. In Roman times in its feminine form, for example, it was used to refer to Roman Valognes
in Normandy, Roman Maryport
in Cumbria, Roman Alcester
in Warwickshire, Roman Watercrook in Natland
, Cumbria, Roman Low Learchild on the Devil's Causeway
in Northumberland
, Ardoch
in Perthshire and the River Aln
in Northumberland. The array of referents for this word, together with the masculine and feminine alternations
it exhibits, suggests that the word is an adjective
, with an adjectival
*-n- suffix
used to form adjective
s in many Centum
Indo-European languages
(cf. Latin
-n- in cani-n-us ‘canine
' from Latin
cani-s ‘dog
,’ Latin
Roma-n-us ‘Roman
’ from Latin
Roma ‘Rome
;’ Modern English
wood-en from wood and ash-en from ash).
Welsh
has alaw ‘harmony, melody’ and the name may represent an adjective meaning 'melodious, harmonious' derived from the Romano-British precursor of this word.
Looking across Indo-European languages
, it becomes apparent that the name could be cognate with Old English fealu ‘pale, faded, dark, yellowish-brown,’ Modern English
fallow, from Proto-Germanic *falwaz, cognate with Old Norse
fölr, Middle Dutch
valu, German
falb, from Proto-Indo-European
*polwos ‘dark-colored, gray,’ cf. Old Church Slavonic
plavu, Lithuanian
palvas ‘sallow,’ Greek
polios, Latin
polus 'brilliant white,' Welsh
llwyd ‘gray’ and Irish
liath from Proto-Celtic *φleito-s, Latin
pallere ‘to be pale’ and hence also cognate with words for ‘pigeon’ as Greek
peleia, Latin
palumbes and Old Prussian poalis.
All the same, Proto-Celtic had *alamo- ‘treasure, asset’ and, if the alternation Alaunus ~ Alauna represents the Gaulish
and Romano-British pronunciation
of a derived adjective
*alamo-n-o- (treasure-ADJ
.SUFF
-GEN
-), it may have carried the sense of ‘rich, opulent, fecund, etc.’
Gallo-Roman religion
Gallo-Roman religion was a fusion of the traditional religious practices of the Gauls, who were originally Celtic speakers, and the Roman and Hellenistic religions introduced to the region under Roman Imperial rule. It was the result of selective acculturation....
, Alaunus or Alaunius is a Gaulish
Gaulish language
The Gaulish language is an extinct Celtic language that was spoken by the Gauls, a people who inhabited the region known as Gaul from the Iron Age through the Roman period...
god of healing and prophecy. His name is known from inscriptions found in Lurs, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence
Lurs, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence
Lurs is a commune in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France.It is noted for the triple murder nearby of Jack Drummond and his wife and daughter in 1952.-Population:...
in southern France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
(in the dative form ) and in Mannheim
Mannheim
Mannheim is a city in southwestern Germany. With about 315,000 inhabitants, Mannheim is the second-largest city in the Bundesland of Baden-Württemberg, following the capital city of Stuttgart....
in western Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. In the latter inscription, Alaunus is used as an epithet of Genius Mercury
Mercury (mythology)
Mercury was a messenger who wore winged sandals, and a god of trade, the son of Maia Maiestas and Jupiter in Roman mythology. His name is related to the Latin word merx , mercari , and merces...
.
In trying to ascertain the etymology of this theonym
-onym
The suffix onym, in English and other languages, means "word, name," and words ending in onym refer to a specified kind of name or word, most of which are classical compounds. For example, an acronym is a word formed from the initial letter or letters of each of the successive parts or major parts...
, it is important to bear in mind that it is used not only to refer to deities, but also as a toponym
Toponymy
Toponymy is the scientific study of place names , their origins, meanings, use and typology. The word "toponymy" is derived from the Greek words tópos and ónoma . Toponymy is itself a branch of onomastics, the study of names of all kinds...
and hydronym
Hydronym
A hydronym is a proper name of a body of water. Hydronymy is the study of hydronyms and of how bodies of water receive their names and how they are transmitted through history...
. In Roman times in its feminine form, for example, it was used to refer to Roman Valognes
Valognes
Valognes is a commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France.It lies on the Merderet river, southeast of Cherbourg.-History:...
in Normandy, Roman Maryport
Alauna (Maryport)
Alauna , was a fort in the Roman province of Britannia...
in Cumbria, Roman Alcester
Alcester
Alcester is an old market town of Roman origin at the junction of the River Alne and River Arrow in Warwickshire, England. It is situated approximately west of Stratford-upon-Avon, and 8 miles south of Redditch, close to the Worcestershire border...
in Warwickshire, Roman Watercrook in Natland
Natland
Natland is village and civil parish about two miles south of Kendal in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, close to the village of Oxenholme. At the time of the 2001 census the population was 747....
, Cumbria, Roman Low Learchild on the Devil's Causeway
Devil's Causeway
The Devil's Causeway is a Roman road in Northumberland, in North East England. It branches off Dere Street north of Corbridge and can be traced through Northumberland for about north to Berwick-upon-Tweed.-Description:...
in Northumberland
Northumberland
Northumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...
, Ardoch
Ardoch
Ardoch Roman Fort is an archaeological site just outside the village of Braco in Perthshire, Scotland, about 7 miles south of Crieff. At Ardoch are the remains of a Roman fort and castra which included Ardoch Tower...
in Perthshire and the River Aln
River Aln
The River Aln runs through the county of Northumberland in England, discharging into the North Sea on the east coast of England.The river gives its name to the town of Alnwick and to the village of Alnmouth, and its source, Alnham in the Cheviot Hills...
in Northumberland. The array of referents for this word, together with the masculine and feminine alternations
Grammatical gender
Grammatical gender is defined linguistically as a system of classes of nouns which trigger specific types of inflections in associated words, such as adjectives, verbs and others. For a system of noun classes to be a gender system, every noun must belong to one of the classes and there should be...
it exhibits, suggests that the word is an adjective
Adjective
In grammar, an adjective is a 'describing' word; the main syntactic role of which is to qualify a noun or noun phrase, giving more information about the object signified....
, with an adjectival
Adjective
In grammar, an adjective is a 'describing' word; the main syntactic role of which is to qualify a noun or noun phrase, giving more information about the object signified....
*-n- suffix
Suffix
In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns or adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs...
used to form adjective
Adjective
In grammar, an adjective is a 'describing' word; the main syntactic role of which is to qualify a noun or noun phrase, giving more information about the object signified....
s in many Centum
Centum-Satem isogloss
The centum-satem division is an isogloss of the Indo-European language family, related to the different evolution of the three dorsal consonant rows of the mainstream reconstruction of Proto-Indo-European:...
Indo-European languages
Indo-European languages
The Indo-European languages are a family of several hundred related languages and dialects, including most major current languages of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and South Asia and also historically predominant in Anatolia...
(cf. Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
-n- in cani-n-us ‘canine
Canidae
Canidae is the biological family of carnivorous and omnivorous mammals that includes wolves, foxes, jackals, coyotes, and domestic dogs. A member of this family is called a canid . The Canidae family is divided into two tribes: Canini and Vulpini...
' from Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
cani-s ‘dog
Dog
The domestic dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in...
,’ Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
Roma-n-us ‘Roman
Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most recognized alphabet used in the world today. It evolved from a western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, which was adopted and modified by the Etruscans who ruled early Rome...
’ from Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
Roma ‘Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
;’ Modern English
Modern English
Modern English is the form of the English language spoken since the Great Vowel Shift in England, completed in roughly 1550.Despite some differences in vocabulary, texts from the early 17th century, such as the works of William Shakespeare and the King James Bible, are considered to be in Modern...
wood-en from wood and ash-en from ash).
Welsh
Welsh language
Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...
has alaw ‘harmony, melody’ and the name may represent an adjective meaning 'melodious, harmonious' derived from the Romano-British precursor of this word.
Looking across Indo-European languages
Indo-European languages
The Indo-European languages are a family of several hundred related languages and dialects, including most major current languages of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and South Asia and also historically predominant in Anatolia...
, it becomes apparent that the name could be cognate with Old English fealu ‘pale, faded, dark, yellowish-brown,’ Modern English
Modern English
Modern English is the form of the English language spoken since the Great Vowel Shift in England, completed in roughly 1550.Despite some differences in vocabulary, texts from the early 17th century, such as the works of William Shakespeare and the King James Bible, are considered to be in Modern...
fallow, from Proto-Germanic *falwaz, cognate with Old Norse
Old Norse
Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
fölr, Middle Dutch
Middle Dutch
Middle Dutch is a collective name for a number of closely related West Germanic dialects which were spoken and written between 1150 and 1500...
valu, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
falb, from Proto-Indo-European
Proto-Indo-European language
The Proto-Indo-European language is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European languages, spoken by the Proto-Indo-Europeans...
*polwos ‘dark-colored, gray,’ cf. Old Church Slavonic
Old Church Slavonic
Old Church Slavonic or Old Church Slavic was the first literary Slavic language, first developed by the 9th century Byzantine Greek missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius who were credited with standardizing the language and using it for translating the Bible and other Ancient Greek...
plavu, Lithuanian
Lithuanian language
Lithuanian is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognized as one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.96 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and about 170,000 abroad. Lithuanian is a Baltic language, closely related to Latvian, although they...
palvas ‘sallow,’ Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
polios, Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
polus 'brilliant white,' Welsh
Welsh language
Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...
llwyd ‘gray’ and Irish
Irish language
Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
liath from Proto-Celtic *φleito-s, Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
pallere ‘to be pale’ and hence also cognate with words for ‘pigeon’ as Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
peleia, Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
palumbes and Old Prussian poalis.
All the same, Proto-Celtic had *alamo- ‘treasure, asset’ and, if the alternation Alaunus ~ Alauna represents the Gaulish
Gaulish language
The Gaulish language is an extinct Celtic language that was spoken by the Gauls, a people who inhabited the region known as Gaul from the Iron Age through the Roman period...
and Romano-British pronunciation
Pronunciation
Pronunciation refers to the way a word or a language is spoken, or the manner in which someone utters a word. If one is said to have "correct pronunciation", then it refers to both within a particular dialect....
of a derived adjective
Adjective
In grammar, an adjective is a 'describing' word; the main syntactic role of which is to qualify a noun or noun phrase, giving more information about the object signified....
*alamo-n-o- (treasure-ADJ
Adjective
In grammar, an adjective is a 'describing' word; the main syntactic role of which is to qualify a noun or noun phrase, giving more information about the object signified....
.SUFF
Suffix
In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns or adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs...
-GEN
Grammatical gender
Grammatical gender is defined linguistically as a system of classes of nouns which trigger specific types of inflections in associated words, such as adjectives, verbs and others. For a system of noun classes to be a gender system, every noun must belong to one of the classes and there should be...
-), it may have carried the sense of ‘rich, opulent, fecund, etc.’