Mogons
Encyclopedia
Mogons or Moguns was a god worshipped in Roman Britain
and in Gaul
. The main evidence is from altars dedicated to the god by Roman soldiers, but the deity is not a native Italic
one. It appears to be Celtic. Inscriptional spellings include Mogetios, Mogounos, Mogti, Mounti, Mogont, Mogunt. Not all of these words are necessarily in the nominative case
. For example, Mounti is a dative
, probably *Mogunti, from a hypothetical nominative, *Moguns, of a back-formed
Latin
stem, *Mogunt-.
Etymologically
the name can be seen to be the same as the English word Might personified. It has been translated by others as greatness or the great one. The fact that ordinary soldiers adopted him tends to support a "powerful" or "effective" interpretation rather than self-glorification.
, such as the stones found at the following locations. The number is the catalog number of the artifact and the name in parentheses is the word as it appears on the stone, not necessarily (and probably not) in the nominative case. Most are datives, to be translated as "to" the god:
Modern Mainz
takes its name from Castrum
Moguntiacum, a Roman base placed there. It is hypothesized that Moguns gave his name to it. The inscription at Habitancum identifies the troops stationed at that location as being from the Vangiones
, the Gaesati and Rhaetia; i.e., from Germania Superior
. Mainz was in the territory of the Vangiones, who were Belgae
.
The question of whether Moguns was Celtic or Germanic hinges to a large degree on the ethnicity of the Vangiones. As Belgae, they were considered Celts of Germanic origin. If they had still spoken Germanic, they would have been considered Germanic. Whether Celtic or Germanic, they were not the original population in the region, which had been purely Celtic, but must have been moved into it or allowed to settle there by the Romans. The Celts of Julius Caesar's time had evacuated the region through fear of the Suebi
. The defense of the region against the latter is the main reason for the Roman base.
The Habitancum inscription contains also the expression Deo Mogonito Cad... with the letters following Cad missing. As the region is in the territory of the historic Scottish tribe called the Gadeni, centered around Jedburgh
(Jed possibly from Cad), the Cad.. is interpreted as some case of Cadeni. One speculation is that the Cadeni were a section of the Vangiones. Some derive Cadeni from Gaedhal, or Gael
. A third theory derives Cad from catu-, "battle", with a sense "to the battle god, Mogon...".
Considering that the gods worshipped in the future Alsace
, then home of the Vangiones, were Celtic, such as Grannus
, Moguns is currently taken to be Celtic. The -uns is a specifically Celtic suffix. As for the historic Gadeni, their origin is not known. They could be the remnants of the Vangiones or possibly among the indigenes. Perhaps the future discovery of additional inscriptions or the future publication of inscriptions already known but unpublished will shed further light on Mogons.
, which is in some places hilly terrain, some have characterized Moguns as a mountain god, and the derivation of the name might support the meaning of "high." However, Cumbria and Yorkshire are not the location of the real mountains in Britain and they are not the historical highlands. Alsace contains highlands but it would be hard to find land in that general area that did not. None of the hills and highlands contain the high mountains that are usually associated with mountain gods, such as the Alps, Pyrenees, or Caucasus.
Some connect ancient Magonsaete (modern Kenchester
, England
) with Magons, but that name more likely comes from the ancient city of Magnis in the locality. There is no known connection between Magons and Magnis, and the latter name, although possibly from the same root (which is not a rarely used one) can be explained in other ways.
Magons may have had other epithets, such as Grannus
or Veteros, as did most gods worshipped by the Romans. None yet are specifically mountain-related.
, the various alternations of the name Moguns derive from the Romano-Celtic dialect
al reflexes of Proto-Celtic *mogont-s, an Indo-European
*-nt- -stem cognate
with Sanskrit
mahānt and Avestan mazant ‘great’ .
The word Magonus, an epithet of St. Patrick, the saint who converted Ireland
to Christianity
may be related: Koch states that the ‘alternative name of Patrick Magonus ...Mauonius, Maun, &c., as found in Muirchiu’s Life and other Hagiography
, might be related, though a derivative of Celtic *mogu-, *magu-, ’slave, servant,’ is also possible’ . St. Patrick was not Irish. He was taken as a slave from Britain, escaped, converted to Christianity, and, following the dictates of a dream, returned to convert his former captors. He was not entirely British either, but belonged to a family descending from a Roman officer left behind when the Roman army evacuated Britain. The epithet is Magonus.
The CISP (Celtic Inscribed Stones) database published by the University College, London, records a number of names from Gaul related to some historical Welsh
words. Welsh is a reflex (descendent) of the language spoken by the population among whom the Roman soldiers dedicating the altars were placed. Old Welsh maon or maun, a plural, comes from *magones (according to Julius Pokorny
Page 695). Quite a few Gallic names featuring the word have been attested: Magunia, Magunius, Maguno, Magunna, Magonus, Magunus, including a king's name, Magono-rix. As they have a plural sense, they are probably Latin corruptions of Celtic *Magones.
Maon has a double meaning. On the one hand it means the king's subjects; on the other, a warband. Similarly Old Irish mug means slave. The plural, mogi, possesses the o otherwise seen mainly in Mogons. McBain's dictionary (under magh-) unites the two concepts as being based on the might of youth being used for service, whether noble or ignoble.
McBain's Indo-European
root therefore is *magh-, seen also in English might and machine. McBain also connects it with Irish
magh, "field", Gallic *magos, which McBain's explains means an "expanse" of earth.
The Indo-European linguist, Julius Pokorny, however, attributes might (Page 695)and magh (Page 709) to different roots. The "field" aspect is related to Indo-European *meg(h)- (palatal g), "big", giving rise to the translation "the great one" and the conclusion that Mogons might be a mountain god.
Under *meg(h)- Pokorny includes Gallic names such as Maginus, Magiorix, Aremagios and Old Welsh maon. Various persons have reconstructed slightly different proto-Celtic roots. Matasovic has *maglo-, *magos- and *magyo-, all from "great." A list of Proto-Celtic roots published by the University of Wales has *Mogon for "great".
Whichever possibility the reader selects, it seems clear that Mogons was a Gallic god rather than a Germanic one; moreover, he was a general Gallic god. The frequency of his altars among the Vangiones is only accidental. Publication of additional archaeological finds could change the picture at any time. There is no evidence of a mountain God. And finally, despite Pokorny (who does not always win agreement), the concept of young fighting men appealing to the strength of youth is much more apt than that of soldiers throwing themselves on the mercy of the great. Whenever Roman soldiers did so, discipline broke down totally and they became helpless.
Roman Britain
Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...
and in Gaul
Gaul
Gaul was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gauls were the speakers of...
. The main evidence is from altars dedicated to the god by Roman soldiers, but the deity is not a native Italic
Ancient Italic peoples
Ancient people of Italy are all those people that lived in Italy before the Roman domination.Not all of these various people are linguistically or ethnically closely related...
one. It appears to be Celtic. Inscriptional spellings include Mogetios, Mogounos, Mogti, Mounti, Mogont, Mogunt. Not all of these words are necessarily in the nominative case
Nominative case
The nominative case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb or the predicate noun or predicate adjective, as opposed to its object or other verb arguments...
. For example, Mounti is a dative
Dative case
The dative case is a grammatical case generally used to indicate the noun to whom something is given, as in "George gave Jamie a drink"....
, probably *Mogunti, from a hypothetical nominative, *Moguns, of a back-formed
Back-formation
In etymology, back-formation is the process of creating a new lexeme, usually by removing actual or supposed affixes. The resulting neologism is called a back-formation, a term coined by James Murray in 1889...
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...
stem, *Mogunt-.
Etymologically
Etymology
Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...
the name can be seen to be the same as the English word Might personified. It has been translated by others as greatness or the great one. The fact that ordinary soldiers adopted him tends to support a "powerful" or "effective" interpretation rather than self-glorification.
Centres of worship
Altar-stones raised to Mogons have been recovered in the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, such as the stones found at the following locations. The number is the catalog number of the artifact and the name in parentheses is the word as it appears on the stone, not necessarily (and probably not) in the nominative case. Most are datives, to be translated as "to" the god:
- Voreda (Old Penrith)Hesket, CumbriaHesket is a large civil parish in Eden District, Cumbria, England. It was formed in 1934 by a County Review Order which merged the civil parishes of Hesket in the Forest and Plumpton Wall.-Villages in the parish:...
: 921 (Mogti), 922 (Mounti) - Castra Exploratorum (Netherby, CumbriaCumbriaCumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...
): 971 (Mogont Vitire) - Habitancum (Risingham): 1225 (Mogonito, dative of *Mogonitus, adjective formed from *Mogons), 1226 (Mouno, *Moguno, dative of *Mogunus)
- BremeniumBremeniumBremenium was an ancient Roman fort located at Rochester, Northumberland, England. The fort was one of the defensive structures built along Dere Street, a Roman road running from York to Corbridge and onwards to Melrose....
(High Rochester): 1269 (Mountibus, *Moguntibus, dative plural of *Moguns) - VindolandaVindolandaVindolanda was a Roman auxiliary fort just south of Hadrian's Wall in northern England. Located near the modern village of Bardon Mill, it guarded the Stanegate, the Roman road from the River Tyne to the Solway Firth...
(Chesterholm): 1722d (Mogunti et Genio Loci).
Modern Mainz
Mainz
Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...
takes its name from Castrum
Castra
The Latin word castra, with its singular castrum, was used by the ancient Romans to mean buildings or plots of land reserved to or constructed for use as a military defensive position. The word appears in both Oscan and Umbrian as well as in Latin. It may have descended from Indo-European to Italic...
Moguntiacum, a Roman base placed there. It is hypothesized that Moguns gave his name to it. The inscription at Habitancum identifies the troops stationed at that location as being from the Vangiones
Vangiones
The Vangiones appear first in history as an ancient Germanic tribe of unknown provenience. They threw in their lot with Ariovistus in his bid of 58 BC to invade Gaul through the Doubs river valley and lost to Julius Caesar in a battle probably near Belfort...
, the Gaesati and Rhaetia; i.e., from Germania Superior
Germania Superior
Germania Superior , so called for the reason that it lay upstream of Germania Inferior, was a province of the Roman Empire. It comprised an area of western Switzerland, the French Jura and Alsace regions, and southwestern Germany...
. Mainz was in the territory of the Vangiones, who were Belgae
Belgae
The Belgae were a group of tribes living in northern Gaul, on the west bank of the Rhine, in the 3rd century BC, and later also in Britain, and possibly even Ireland...
.
The question of whether Moguns was Celtic or Germanic hinges to a large degree on the ethnicity of the Vangiones. As Belgae, they were considered Celts of Germanic origin. If they had still spoken Germanic, they would have been considered Germanic. Whether Celtic or Germanic, they were not the original population in the region, which had been purely Celtic, but must have been moved into it or allowed to settle there by the Romans. The Celts of Julius Caesar's time had evacuated the region through fear of the Suebi
Suebi
The Suebi or Suevi were a group of Germanic peoples who were first mentioned by Julius Caesar in connection with Ariovistus' campaign, c...
. The defense of the region against the latter is the main reason for the Roman base.
The Habitancum inscription contains also the expression Deo Mogonito Cad... with the letters following Cad missing. As the region is in the territory of the historic Scottish tribe called the Gadeni, centered around Jedburgh
Jedburgh
Jedburgh is a town and former royal burgh in the Scottish Borders and historically in Roxburghshire.-Location:Jedburgh lies on the Jed Water, a tributary of the River Teviot, it is only ten miles from the border with England and is dominated by the substantial ruins of Jedburgh Abbey...
(Jed possibly from Cad), the Cad.. is interpreted as some case of Cadeni. One speculation is that the Cadeni were a section of the Vangiones. Some derive Cadeni from Gaedhal, or Gael
Gaël
Gaël is a commune in the Ille-et-Vilaine department of Brittany in north-western France.It lies southwest of Rennes between Saint-Méen-le-Grand and Mauron...
. A third theory derives Cad from catu-, "battle", with a sense "to the battle god, Mogon...".
Considering that the gods worshipped in the future Alsace
Alsace
Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...
, then home of the Vangiones, were Celtic, such as Grannus
Grannus
In the Celtic polytheism of classical antiquity, Grannus was a deity associated with spas, healing thermal and mineral springs, and the sun. He was regularly identified with Apollo as Apollo Grannus...
, Moguns is currently taken to be Celtic. The -uns is a specifically Celtic suffix. As for the historic Gadeni, their origin is not known. They could be the remnants of the Vangiones or possibly among the indigenes. Perhaps the future discovery of additional inscriptions or the future publication of inscriptions already known but unpublished will shed further light on Mogons.
Associations
Based on the concentration of altars in CumbriaCumbria
Cumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...
, which is in some places hilly terrain, some have characterized Moguns as a mountain god, and the derivation of the name might support the meaning of "high." However, Cumbria and Yorkshire are not the location of the real mountains in Britain and they are not the historical highlands. Alsace contains highlands but it would be hard to find land in that general area that did not. None of the hills and highlands contain the high mountains that are usually associated with mountain gods, such as the Alps, Pyrenees, or Caucasus.
Some connect ancient Magonsaete (modern Kenchester
Kenchester
Kenchester is a parish in Herefordshire, England. It is about west-northwest of Hereford.-History:Kenchester is near the Romano-British town of Magnis. It was once part of the Angles' Magonsæte kingdom....
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
) with Magons, but that name more likely comes from the ancient city of Magnis in the locality. There is no known connection between Magons and Magnis, and the latter name, although possibly from the same root (which is not a rarely used one) can be explained in other ways.
Magons may have had other epithets, such as Grannus
Grannus
In the Celtic polytheism of classical antiquity, Grannus was a deity associated with spas, healing thermal and mineral springs, and the sun. He was regularly identified with Apollo as Apollo Grannus...
or Veteros, as did most gods worshipped by the Romans. None yet are specifically mountain-related.
Etymology
According to Koch at the University of WalesUniversity of Wales
The University of Wales was a confederal university founded in 1893. It had accredited institutions throughout Wales, and formerly accredited courses in Britain and abroad, with over 100,000 students, but in October 2011, after a number of scandals, it withdrew all accreditation, and it was...
, the various alternations of the name Moguns derive from the Romano-Celtic dialect
Dialect
The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...
al reflexes of Proto-Celtic *mogont-s, an Indo-European
Indo-European
Indo-European may refer to:* Indo-European languages** Aryan race, a 19th century and early 20th century term for those peoples who are the native speakers of Indo-European languages...
*-nt- -stem cognate
Cognate
In linguistics, cognates are words that have a common etymological origin. This learned term derives from the Latin cognatus . Cognates within the same language are called doublets. Strictly speaking, loanwords from another language are usually not meant by the term, e.g...
with Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
mahānt and Avestan mazant ‘great’ .
The word Magonus, an epithet of St. Patrick, the saint who converted Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
to Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
may be related: Koch states that the ‘alternative name of Patrick Magonus ...Mauonius, Maun, &c., as found in Muirchiu’s Life and other Hagiography
Hagiography
Hagiography is the study of saints.From the Greek and , it refers literally to writings on the subject of such holy people, and specifically to the biographies of saints and ecclesiastical leaders. The term hagiology, the study of hagiography, is also current in English, though less common...
, might be related, though a derivative of Celtic *mogu-, *magu-, ’slave, servant,’ is also possible’ . St. Patrick was not Irish. He was taken as a slave from Britain, escaped, converted to Christianity, and, following the dictates of a dream, returned to convert his former captors. He was not entirely British either, but belonged to a family descending from a Roman officer left behind when the Roman army evacuated Britain. The epithet is Magonus.
The CISP (Celtic Inscribed Stones) database published by the University College, London, records a number of names from Gaul related to some historical 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...
words. Welsh is a reflex (descendent) of the language spoken by the population among whom the Roman soldiers dedicating the altars were placed. Old Welsh maon or maun, a plural, comes from *magones (according to Julius Pokorny
Julius Pokorny
Julius Pokorny was an Austrian linguist and scholar of the Celtic languages, particularly Irish, and a supporter of Irish nationalism. He held academic posts in Austrian and German universities.-Life:...
Page 695). Quite a few Gallic names featuring the word have been attested: Magunia, Magunius, Maguno, Magunna, Magonus, Magunus, including a king's name, Magono-rix. As they have a plural sense, they are probably Latin corruptions of Celtic *Magones.
Maon has a double meaning. On the one hand it means the king's subjects; on the other, a warband. Similarly Old Irish mug means slave. The plural, mogi, possesses the o otherwise seen mainly in Mogons. McBain's dictionary (under magh-) unites the two concepts as being based on the might of youth being used for service, whether noble or ignoble.
McBain's 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...
root therefore is *magh-, seen also in English might and machine. McBain also connects it with 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...
magh, "field", Gallic *magos, which McBain's explains means an "expanse" of earth.
The Indo-European linguist, Julius Pokorny, however, attributes might (Page 695)and magh (Page 709) to different roots. The "field" aspect is related to Indo-European *meg(h)- (palatal g), "big", giving rise to the translation "the great one" and the conclusion that Mogons might be a mountain god.
Under *meg(h)- Pokorny includes Gallic names such as Maginus, Magiorix, Aremagios and Old Welsh maon. Various persons have reconstructed slightly different proto-Celtic roots. Matasovic has *maglo-, *magos- and *magyo-, all from "great." A list of Proto-Celtic roots published by the University of Wales has *Mogon for "great".
Whichever possibility the reader selects, it seems clear that Mogons was a Gallic god rather than a Germanic one; moreover, he was a general Gallic god. The frequency of his altars among the Vangiones is only accidental. Publication of additional archaeological finds could change the picture at any time. There is no evidence of a mountain God. And finally, despite Pokorny (who does not always win agreement), the concept of young fighting men appealing to the strength of youth is much more apt than that of soldiers throwing themselves on the mercy of the great. Whenever Roman soldiers did so, discipline broke down totally and they became helpless.
Locations of artifacts
- PenrithPenrith, CumbriaPenrith was an urban district between 1894 and 1974, when it was merged into Eden District.The authority's area was coterminous with the civil parish of Penrith although when the council was abolished Penrith became an unparished area....
Museum, Cumbria, EnglandEnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. - Carlisle Museum, Cumbria, EnglandEnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.