Celtic Gods: The Gaulish God, Tilenus (He Who Heals [infected] Wounds)

Tilenus
A Celtiberian goddess: The Abundant One, The Wealth Provider

Tilenus is a Gaulish god known from a single inscription found at San Martino de Viloria, Spain. He may be a variant form on the name of the Gaulish god Lenus with the active or verbal particle *ti-. Thus he is the healer of infected wounds.



Synonyms:
Gaul: He Who Heals [infected] Wounds

Although a Celtiberian deity, Tilenus is intresting as a probably variant form of the Gaulish deity Lenus. This deity is known from an inscription invoking Marti Tileno (Mars Tilenus) found at Quintana del Marco, Spain. The same deity is probably invoked as Tillenus in San Martino de Viloria, Spain.

Etymologically Tilenus' name can be derived from the reconstructed proto-Celtic particle *-ti- which converts and abstract noun into a verbal root and the name of the god Lenus which can be interpreted as: *li-n-a- (stick to, but which also has the connotation of 'dirty, pollute'), *lī-no- (pus), *lī-no- (linnen) and *linomn- (blot,erasure). These are all words associated with wounds and infection and possibly the bandaging or treatment of those wounds (Healer of [infected] Wounds). Lenus might therefore have been a deity associated with the healing of wounds and this might account for his popularity in both agrarian and military contexts. Thus the name of Tilenus can be interpreted as the verbal form of Lenus: 'He who Heals (infected) Wounds'. The link between Tilenus and Lenus is strengthened by the assimilation of both into the cult of Roman Mars.



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