Celtic Gods: The Gaulish God, Tamitenus (He who Fells the Oak/He who Died upon the Oak)

Tamitenus
A Gaulish God: He who Fells the Oak/He who Died upon the Oak

Tamitenus is a Gaulish god known from a single inscription found at Riben, Bulgaria where he is associated with Roman Jupiter. This indicates thet he was originally a deity of the 'father of the tribe' type.



Synonyms:
Gaul: He who Fells the Oak/He who Died upon the Oak

Tamitenus is a deity known from a single inscription found at Riben, Bulgaria, where he is assimilated by Interpretato Romana with the Roman deity, Jupiter Optimus Maximus. Apart from the deity's name and his assimilation with Jupiter nothing is known of this god's attributes.

Even Tamitenus' name provides the etymologist with problems in its interpretation. However, a meaning for the name can be derived from the reconstructed proto-Celtic elements: *tam-e/o- (die) or *tamna-(j)e/o- (cut) and *tannyo-/tennyo (oak) along with the Latinied masculine ending -us. Thus Tamitenus' name can be interpreted as either 'He who Fells the Oak' or 'He who Died upon the Oak'. If the latter interpretation is correct, then could we have a hint here of a god whose mythos is equivalent to that of Lleu/Lugh? Though this can be little more than conjecture it remains an intriguing possibility.



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