Celtic Gods: The Brythonic goddess, Garmangabis (She who takes hold of the weaver's beam)

Garmangabis
A Brythonic Goddess: She who takes hold of the weaver's beam

Garmangabis is a Brythonic goddess known from a single inscription found at Lanchester in England where she seems to be invoked as a goddess of fate.



Synonyms:
Bryth: She who takes hold of the weaver's beam

Garmangabis is a goddess known from a single inscription [RIB 1074] found at Longovicium (Lanchester, Durham) which reads: DEAE GARMANGABI ET N GORDIANI AVG N PRO SAL VEX SVEBORVM LON GOR VOTVM SOLVERVNT M (To the goddess Garmangabis and the divine spirit of our lord, Giordanus, for the health of the detachment of Suevi in Gordian's lingones [who] deservedly fulfilled their vow). The Suebi were a Germanic peoples from the right bank of the rhine (at least until 406 CE where they migrated south and west to establish a short-lived kingdom in Iberia. If the Suevi truly were a Germanic peoples then this would make Garmangabis a native deity. However, if the Suebi are a Germano-Celtic peoples then the goddess might be an import.

On balance, it is likely that Garmangabis represents a native deity and though there are no images of the goddess and we have no further information about her other than the altarstone on which the inscription above is carved, we can glean some information from the goddess' name. This can be interpreted on the basis of the reconstructed proto-Celtic lexicon as being derived from the elements: *karb-agno- weaver's beam and gab-yo- (take hold). Literally therefore Garmangabis canbe interpreted as: 'She who takes hold of the weaver's beam'. More poetically it is posssible to interpret the weaver's beam as that which separates the warp and weft of cloth and the person who takes hold of this takes hold of the thread of another's life. Thus Garmangabis may represent a goddess of fate (similar to the Greek Clotho).

Further evidence for Garmangabis being a Celtic name is derived from numismatic evidence in that there are several coins (mostly from the Belgic areas of Gaul that bear the masculine name Garmingabus which seems to have been a personal name prevalent at the time.



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