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Abandinus
A Brythonic god: Defender of the Waters
This deity is known from a single inscription found at Godmancheser in Cambridgeshire, England and is probably a protector deity of the 'Mars' type. |
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Bryth: ?Defender of the waters / Andinus of the River
An obscure Romano-Brython deity, local to Dvrovigvtvm (Godmanchester) in Cambridgeshire. He is known only from a single inscription, namely an inscribed bronze votive feather which is dedicated to him with the following text: DEO ABANDINO VATIAVCVS D S D (to the god Abandinus, Vatiaucus gave this from his own money) [RIB 230a and RIB 2432.4].
Some believe that he was associated with the river Ouse (formerly known as Abona or Afon). However, Celtic river deities are invariably female and the word afon in modern Cymric is the generic term for any river. Indeed, even in the Brython language the Ouse would have been called Afon/Abon <something> with the descriptive having been lost through Anglo-Saxon mis-interpretation; all of which makes the link between Abandinus and the Ouse unlikely.
One etymological possibility is that Abandinus is derived from the Brythonic Abon (the modern Cymric Afon, meaning river) and Dîn or Dūn (fortification) rendering his name something like ‘Defender of the Waters’, which would make him a local protector deity of the insular 'Mars' type. It is aso possible that the name is derived from a shortened form of *abon, *ab-. Thus, Abandinus could be rendered as *Ab-Andinus or 'Andinus of the River'. Andinus is a Continental Celtic deity known from the area of modern-day Kacanik in ancient Illyria.
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