Celtic Gods: The Cymric and Brythonic goddess, Clud, Clota (Famed, Renowned)

Clud
A Cymric and Brythonic Goddess, also known as Clōta, Clutida, Clutiθa: Famoed, Renowned

Clud (Clōta, Clutida, Clutiθa) is a Cymric and Brythonic goddess known mainly from epigraphic information as the patronness of he river Clyde and by analogy with the Irish goddess Clothra. She was probably a mother goddess and a water deity and may be the figure of Clud from the Mabinogi of Pwyll Pendefig Dyfed.



Synonyms: Clōta, Clutida, Clutiθa
Bryth: Famed, Renowned

Clud is another goddess mainly identified by extrapolation. She is the patron deity of the Clyde (Brythonic *clōta), both river and region (Indeed Strathclyde originates from the Old Cymric Ystrad Clud), and her name has been extrapolated to Clota in Brythonic. The goddess' name is cognate with that of the Irish deity Clothra one of the four daughters of Eochad Feidlech and the sister of Medb.

This goddess may also be known from Gaul as there is deities with very similar names known from Latin inscriptions. This goddess is Clutoida, invoked in the plural form as deae Cluto[i]dae (CIL XIII 02895) at Mesves-sur-Loire, Nièvre, France and as dea(e) Clutiθae (CIL XIII 02082) at Etang-sur-Arroux, Saône-et-Loire, France. Apart from the names little is known of the goddess' attributes though the plural forms of the names indicate that they were probably mother goddesses similar to the Matronae. However the Clutoidae of the Nièvre are associated with a spring source and this would make the Gaulish Clutodia a water goddess, the same as the Brythonic Clōta; patronness of the Clyde.

Thus Clōta/Clutida would seem to be a Mother Goddess and the divine source of a sacred river. The name itself can be derived from the reconstructed proto-Celtic lexical elements: *kluto- (fame, renown) along with the deicitic particle -ī and the feminine ending -a. Thus Clutida is 'The Famed Goddess' or the 'Renowned Goddess' and in general the Goddess' names can be rendered as 'The Famed' or 'The Renowned'.

It is entirely possible that Clōta of the Clyde was originally a multiple mother goddess and that her name would be rendered: Clōtae but in the move from Brythonic to Old Cymric to Middle Cymric her name became Clud and that in the transition from the Cymric of the Old North to Scottish Clud became Clyde.

This goddess may also be known from the Mabinogi of Pwyll Pendefig Dyfed where Pwyll's rival for the hand of Rhiannon is Gwawl ap Clud. Assuming this to be a matronymic then this Clud may be the same deity as Clōta of the Clyde region and Clutida of Gaul.

*snād- (protect)


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