On the Naming of Gods

An essay in the form of an introduction and three parts, identifying some of the processes involved in the naming of gods and suggesting ways of thinking about the underlying identities implied, using mainly the Celtic religion as a model. (See previous blog for Introuction)

Part One:

The Gods as Archetypes

Gods may be seen and named as archetypes. In a sense this function comes closest to telling us who these gods really are, in that it brings us closest to their real sociological significance. But even when their social role is patent, such as that of Father or Mother, we should avoid being too literal. An element of metaphor is inevitable, as archetypes are used to represent not just specific community members, living or dead, but wider social realities, such as aspects of cultural, ethnic, political, family, technical or trading relations that would be discussed as abstractions today, the type of relations studied by anthropologists, sociologists, economists and politologists alike. Examples of archetypical configurations include:

A) Constellations of characters:

Gods are often imagined in terms of their relationships to each other.

It is difficult to ascribe an individual identity to such Gods apart from these relationships, although they necessarily develop characteristics which distinguish their functions within the grouping. The point is that whatever degree of independent identity they achieve, its characteristics are constrained by their functions in relation to the grouping. Examples of such groupings are:

                        Father-Mother-Son, Father-Daughter, Yin-Yang

A particular example of the dangers of misinterpretations that can arise from considering these gods as if they were fully independent figures can be seen among those who insist that either the Father God or the Mother Goddess are supreme and primary. In reality the male and female principles only carry meaning in relation to each other. If the Universe is seem as beginning in a primal Sea, that sea – which gives birth to the life-giving Gods – can be seen as female, but on deeper reflection, this can be seen to be a misidentification: the Primal Sea is before and beyond gender. and the birth of the Gods marks the creation of gender.

B) Progressions:

Gods are, by nature, eternal, but this does not mean that they are incapable of displaying progressive changes. On the contrary, Gods whose myths we know almost always perform functions related to particular transitions in state. The earlier state of the God is to be imagined as a precondition to the later state or states, a feature often symbolized by prefiguring of later acts, and the later state or states likewise are the necessary products of the earlier states that have been transformed or have evolved.

The result is that the process of change is itself elevated to mythic status, and given personification in the life-story of the God concerned. What today would be seen as an abstract process is thus made immediately understandable in a holistic and real manner, and the necessity of change (say, in the turning of the seasons, sunrise and sunset and so on) is embodied in the inevitable destiny of the God, thus representing what we would today explain as a law of nature. Examples include the transitions:

                         Boy-Hero-King-God, Girl-Wife-Mother-Goddess

Thus: Maponos (The Divine Son), Ollathair (The All-Father), Kore (The Girl) Matrona (The Divine Mother)

The process by which a man is raised to the status of ritual king illustrates a core function of mythic progressions: they sanctify human actions and identify the ceremonials involved with the sacred progression of the myth. In Christianity the Baptism of Jesus creates a model for christening as a sacrament.

Making a ritual king of a known mortal man meant that he had to be seen as reborn, and make an unusually rapid transition from this re-birth to adulthood. Thus we have images of Gods conceived and born in 24 hours (Aonghus), and born with evidently adult features, such as significant body hair (Mongan) or the ability to speak (Vindos, reconstructed) and perform feats of cunning (Hermes) and strength (Herakles).

Progressions are particularly associated with the changing seasons, often with an agricultural (presumably in earlier times a hunting-related) message. The Eastern Mediterranean myth of the Mourning of Demeter (Corn-Mother) for her daughter (Kore = girl) reflects a corn-growing culture, and elevates the culture of bread-making rather than merely the changing of the seasons per se. (Compare the British John Barley- corn, a beer god)

One tradition of analysis indicates the rise and fall of two annual kings; the Summer King and the Winter King respectively, but there is also considerable evidence to suggest a different pan-European mythic structure identifying the winter as female and the summer as male, with each 6-monthly season being symbolized by the birth, rise to maturity and decline into old age of a Godhead of the relevant gender.

C) Socially Important Functions:

                           i) Healer, Craftsman, Trader, Midwife etc.

Gods similarly provide models for professions and crafts, whereby those who follow the craft concerned put themselves under the tutelage of the Gods concerned. In a sense priests themselves formed a profession, and their craft god was, logically, the God of Priesthood, that is the God of the Divine and of all the tellings and associations of the divine.

Thus, a universal ancestor God (say, of the Sky) may be given a particular name to identify him or her as a Seer, a God of rituals or judgements, as a reflection of the various functions of the priestly cast. Similarly the same Ancestor God may be seen as King of the Gods and reflect the functions of the ritual king.

                                    ii) God of the Sacrifice

Particularly interesting is the manner in which certain Gods, such as Odin or Jesus, are said to sacrifice themselves or engage in disfiguring rituals to gain wisdom, eternal life and so forth. In this the Gods may be seen to represent the function of the sacrificial victim, sacrificed to himself.

Part Two: Ways of Naming Gods

By titles

It is easy to mistake a title with a proper name, as the example of Vercingetorix       (Over-Infantry-King) illustrates. Julius Caesar refers to this Gallic leader as if this were his personal name, whereas the translation (possibly unknown to Caesar) confirms that it was a military title. Examples include:

Toutatis (Tribe-Father – the Ancestor of all Tribes, Deiwos/Devos, the Daytime Sky)

Brigantia (High Woman – the seat of druidic wisdom, the Moon Goddess)

Esus (Lord – almost certainly Lugus – the Binder, compare “Baal” = Lord)

A God may have many such titles, including those associated with different descriptions of the same function and those associated with different functions.

By relation to other religions

(interpretatio romana/graeca/celtica/germanica/catolica):

A God may have different local designations, whereby their name in one culture effectively becomes a title when applied to Gods of another, just as Caesar began as a name and later became a title for any Emperor, or as in “Zeus Kasios” = Zeus (i.e. Sky-God) of mount Kasios, where the Greek form of the name of the Indo-European God of the daytime sky Deiwos, Zeus, reverts back to meaning Sky God in general.

In this way what has long been accepted as a proper name (e.g. Zeus, Jupiter - originally titles, becoming names through usage) can regain their function as titles, thereby creating an interpretatio, or a reading of a local deity.

As a further extention of this, Gods of different origins can be identified with or surplant each other. Thus:

Melqert (Phoenician Lord of the City of Tyre, later identified with Herakles)

Herakles (Greek Hero of travelers, identified with Ogmios in Gaul)

Mercury (Roman God of trade, identified with Hermes and probably Lugus)

Dis Pater (Roman Ancestor God, probably identified with Toutatis)

Wodinaz (Germanic Warrior God, identified with/or derived from Lugus)

Thor (Germanic Thunder-God identified with or derived from Jupiter Taranos)

St. Michael (Christian Archangelic Hero, identified with Lugus)

By kennings and epithets

Kennings, are poetic ways to identify a God by reference to a detail from a story told about them or by using a conventional and well-established metaphoric reference to some characteristic of the God. This second type can be called an epithet. Knowledge of the linguistic traditions, legends and images referring to the God make these references into a kind of short-hand retelling of the story, or re-establishment of his or her imagined powers, much enjoyed by those familiar with the full cultural context.

Kennings can make a wide variety of literary references. These may refer to:

a) an action the God famously engaged in (as in the “Giant-Killer” also known as Jack),

b) a famous attribute, such as a weapon or other tool they typically use,

c) an animal which they are totemically identified with, or which they hunt or use,

and, importantly, one of the simplest and most widely used form of kenning refers to

d) physical peculiarities of a God which can be either:

i) extraordinary bodily features or

ii) dramatic physical abilities.

These physical peculiarities (d) necessarily also figure in the tales told of the God, typically as permanent identifying features, thereby reaching the status of titles.

Examples of which are:

The One-Eyed ( = Aonsúil, the Sun)
The Fast-Coursing ( = Dian Cecht, God of Medicine)

The Blazing God ( = Belenos, God of Summer)

The Full/Pregnant Lady ((P)iveria, Goddess of the Land)

The Intoxicator (Meduva, Goddess of Sovereignty)

The Divine Horned One (Cernunnos, God of the Hunt/Animal Husbandry)

By specific manifestations in place or time

The God of the Mountain (Breandan)

The God of the Goat Festival (Ailill Molt = Spirit of the Wether God)

and

By proper names

Any of the above that have become fixed by usage and are taken to refer to a specific individual, independent of the meaning of the words.

Cu Roi ( = Roaring Warrior)

Dagda ( = Good God)

Aongus ( = True Strength)

Part Three: Lists of Celtic Divine Names

This provisional list features names for the Father God, the Mother God and the Divine Son, illustrative of the Sacred Succession, a core myth of Sacred Kingship. It is constantly under review and open to correction and extention. Each list refers to only one God.

List 1

The Father God: The Great Ancestor (Deiwos)

As the Sun:

DEVOS/DIA : The Shining One

AED ÁILIND : The Beautiful Fire (King of the Otherworld)

DELB-ÁEDH : Fire-shaped

As One-Eyed:

ÁNCHEANN AONSÚLA : The One-eyed Fire-head

As Eternal Ancestor:

SENOS : The Ancient Man

DIS PATER : The God Who Is Father

As Fertile:

OLLATHAIR : The All-Fathering

DÁIRE : The Fertile One

As a Mighty Horse:

RÓ-EACH : The Great Stallion

EKWOMAROS : The (One-eyed) Great Hors(-man of the Sky)

As a Mighty Bull:

DEVOTAROS : The Bull God

As the Bull of Day:

FIND (The White)

As Powerful God:

SUNDOS DAGO-DEVOS/AN DAGDA : The Effective God

SUCELLOS : The Good Striker

As a Nobleman:

EOCHU/EOCHAID : The (Eternal) Horse/man (of the Skies)

EOCHU BRES : The Beautiful Horseman

As Chief Warrior:

CON AIRE : Warrior-Lord

As a Jealous Husband:

ELCMHAR : The Envious One

As a Farmer:

EOCHAIDH AIREAMH : Horseman Ploughman

As a Herdsman:

EOCHAIDH FEIDHLEACH : Horseman Herdsman

AILILL MOLT: The Ram-Spirit, protector of flocks

As a Seasonal Protector of Animals & Agiculture:

BELENUS : The Bright One?

As God of Summer:

APOLLO GRANNUS : Apollo of the Corn?/Shining?

As a Wise Judge:

RUADH RO-FHEASA : The Lord of All Knowledge

CONDOS/CONN : Wise-Head

As an Old King:

MEDROS/MIDHIR : He who is Judge/Measures

LIATH : The Grey-haired One

As a Reincarnating/Shape-shifter/Druid:

VINDO-SENOS : White-haired Old Man

VINDONNUS : The Divine Illuminated One

FINTÁN MAC BÓCHNA : The Divine Illuminated Son of the Sea

As God of the Sky/Weather:

TARANIS : The Thunderer

As a Spirit King: 

EILILL/AILILL : Phantom/Spirit

As a Fire-breather:

ELLÉN TRÍCHEANND /AILLÉN MAC MIDNA: Little (3-headed) Phantom/Spirit

As a Tyrant:

BOLEROS/BALOR : The Flashing One

GOLL : The One-eyed

As The Dragon:

AILEN : Little Phantom

At Sunset:

DEARG (The Red)

As Host of the Dead: 

DONN/DHUOSNOS (The Dark)

As the Bull of Night:

DONN (The Dark)

As Roman Dis Pater:

JUPITER (DIV PATER)

As a Roman Sky God:

VULCAN (Originally a Sun God)

List 2

The Son of God: The Young Champion (Maponos)

As a Child:

VINDOS : The Illuminating One

As a Precocious Child:

MONGÁN : The Hairy One

As a Healthy Youth:

AN MAC ÓC/MAPONOS: The Youthful Child/The Divine Child

As a Lover:

AONGHUS : Real Vigor

FERGUS : Manly Vigor

As a Skilled Champion:

ELATHA : Science/Art/Craft

LUGOS SAMILDÁNACH: He who swears/(binds by sworn oath) of All Sciences (The Master)

As a Dragon-killer:

FIONN MAC UMHAILL :

AMERGHIN :

As a Beserkr/Venitor:

CÚ : The Wolf-man

As a Hunter:

SMERTULUS : The Provider

VINDONNOS : The Divine Illuminator

As a Virile Woodcutter:

ESUS : Divine Lord (of the Mistletoe)

As a God of Animal Regeneration:

CERNUNNOS : The Divine Horned One

As a Sacred Tree:

IVOGENOS/Eoghan : (Son of the Yew)

As a Sacred Ram:

OVOGENOS : (Son of the Molt)

As a Battle-King:

CATUVEROS : (Battle-Man)

As a Ritual Inauguree:

EKWOMEDUOS : Horse-Mead (Horse Broth)

As a Warrior Chief:

CONCHOBER : Beloved of Warriors

As a Ritual Symbol:

MAC GRÉINE: Son of the Sun (Kingly/Warrior Icon) wed to Fódla

MAC CÉCHT : Son of the Plough-share (Land-owner Icon) wed to Banba

MAC CÚILL : Son of Hazel (Druidic Icon) wed to Eriú

As a Roman Lugos:

MERCURY

As a Roman Esus:

MARS

List 3:

The Mother God: The Great Provider (Piveria)

As a Tribal Queen:

DANUVA : Broad River?

As The Earth:

(P)IVERIA/ÉVERIJU/ÉIRIU: The Fat One

ALBIU : Land

As a Queen:

MEDUVA : She Who Intoxicates (Sovereignty)

MORRIGAN : The Great Queen

RIGATONA : The Divine Queen

RIGANI: (Eye/Owl) Queen

As a Mistress:

ÉTAÍN : She Who Inspires Jealousy

As a Divine Nurse:

BRIGID : The Most Exalted (Maid of the Hearth Fire)

SULIS MINERVA : Minerva (She of the Menses), the Eye Goddess…

BORMO : Bubbling Spring

As a Source of Milk:

FLIDAIS : Flowing (with Milk)

As a Sacred Cow:

DAMONA : The Divine Cow

BO VINDA : Bright (i.e. Sacred) Cow

BOÍ (Sacred) Cow

As a Source of Honey and Wine:

NANTOSUELTA : Sunny Valley

As a Healing River: 

SEQUANA

SABRINA
SOUCONNA
VERBEIA

As a Horsewoman:

EPONA : The Divine Mare (Female Champion)

MACHA : (Enclosed Land)

RHIANNON : ?

As a Death Goddess:

LEITHDEARG : Red-Side

As a Warrior: 

BODUVA : The Raven Woman (Battle Queen)

As a Matron:

SENA: The Ancient Woman

MATRONA: The Divine Mother

As a Witch: 

AN CHAILLEACH : The Hag (Witchcraft & Death)

MONGFHIND : The White-haired One

© Mícheál úa Séaghdha, Praha 2013