Alisanos (Latinized as Alisaunus) was a local Gallo-Roman god worshipped in what is now the Côte-d'Or in Burgundy and at Aix-en-Provence. [1]
Name
The Gaulish theonym Alisanos is generally derived from the word alisia, meaning either 'rock, boulder' (cf. Old Irish ail) or ' whitebeam' (cf. French alisier), which is also found in the toponym Alesia. [2] Miranda Green interpreted Alisanos as a mountain-god. [3] Alternatively, the stem Alisa- has been phonologically compared to the Proto-Celtic noun *alisā, meaning 'alder'. [4]
Attestations
The inscription from Gevrey-Chambertin in the Côte-d'Or is in the Gaulish language:
- DOIROS SEGOMARI
- IEVRV ALISANV [5]
- Doiros (son) of Segomaros has dedicated (this) to Alisanos
The inscription from Visignot, also in the Côte-d'Or, is in Latin:
- DEO·ALISANO·PAVLLINVS ❧
- PRO·CONTEDIO·FIL·SVO ❧
- V·S·L·M· [6]
- Paullinus has freely and deservedly fulfilled his vow to the god Alisanus on behalf of his son Contedius
References
- ^ L'Arbre Celtique entry for Alisanus.
- ^ Delamarre 2003, pp. 38–39.
- ^ Green 1986, p. 24.
- ^ Proto-Celtic—English lexicon
- ^ CIL XIII: 5468.
- ^ CIL XIII: 2843; cf. also "Toward a phylogenetic chronology of ancient Gaulish, Celtic, and Indo-European: Supporting Appendix" (2003), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.
- Bibliography
- Delamarre, Xavier (2003). Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise: Une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental. Errance. ISBN 9782877723695.
- Green, Miranda J. (1986). The Gods of the Celts. A. Sutton. ISBN 978-0-389-20672-9.
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