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Limetus
A Celtic God: He of the Elm
Limetus is a Gaulish god known from three inscriptions on the walls of the temple of Mercury at Châteauneuf, France. His name is related to that of the elm tree, thus Limetius is the patron of the Elm and Elm groves. |
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Gaul: He of the Elm
Limetus is known from three inscriptions on the walls of the temple of Mercury at Châteauneuf in the Savoie region of France (AE 1993, 1111, 1118 abd 1152). Unfortunately none of this deity's attributes have been left to us save his name.
Theis deity's name an initial element which is derived from the reconstructed proto-Celtic root *limo- (elm), thus the deity's name can be interpreted as 'He of the Elm' and he would seem to belong to the group of tree-associated deities which also includes Fagus (Beech) and Robur (oak), Buxenus (box), Gwern (alder) and Coll (hazel). Limetius's association with Mercury may mean that this deity was a psychopomp, leading the spirits of the deceased to the otherworld; this is probable as trees in Celtic mythos are intimately tied to other realms Ithey delineate the change bwtween winter and summer and they span the region between the underworld and the sky.
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