Vasio a Gaulish and Ligurian god (He who is given Libation)

Celtic Gods: The Gaulish and Ligurian god, Vasio (He who is given Libation)

Vitiris

A Gaulish and Ligurian god: He who is given Libation

Vitiris is a Gaulish and Ligurian known from seven inscriptions primarily found in the department of Vaucluse in southwestern France. He is the tutelary deity of Vasio (modern Vaison-la-Romaine) in the region. He is probably a deity of the 'tribal protector' type, sacred to the city of Vasio.

Synonyms:
Gaul, Liguria: He who is given Libation

Vasio is a god attested from a number of insciriptions predominantly found in the department of Vaucluse in southwestern France. This was the territory of the Vocontii tribe whose main settlement was Vasio (in Roman times Vasio Iulia Vocontiorum). This is modern Vaison-la-Romaine in the Vaucluse and the name of the god Vasio still remains in the town's name. Apart from the name of the town Vasio is also attested from five insciriptions found at Vaison-la-Romaine itself where the god is invoked as Vasioni [ILGN 201, CIL XII 1336, CIL XII 1301, AE 1917/18, 53, AE 1992, 1202] as well as a single inscription from Mérindol in the Vaucluse [CIL XII 1338] and Piégon in the Dôme [CIL XII 1337].

Unfortunately we have little information about the attributes of Vasio and even the name has proved almost impossible to interpret. The main problem is that it doesn't seem to be a Gaulish name at all. It could represent the survival of the earlier Ligurian peoples of northern Italy and eastern Gaul; a people who were eventually absorbed into the settling Celtic tribes. If the name represents the survival of a Ligurian deity into Romano–Celtic times then any interpretation relies on knowning to which language group Ligurian belongs. Some commentators (such as Xavier Delamarre) argue that Ligurian was an early form of Celtic, though most commentators believe that Ligurian was a non-Celtic Indo-European language (this has led to some circular logic with all Celtic elements in surviving Ligurian inscriptions beig removed as 'non-native'). Even if Ligurian was a Celtic language it is an early form and much of its lexicon will not be included in the current reconstructed proto-Celtic lexicon. We are therefore dependent on Ligurian being an Indo-European language and have to look to the reconstructed proto-Indo-European lexicon in deriving a meaning. There are a number of roots beginning with *wīs-/*wes-, but the most likely root is probably *wes- (fat, moisture which gives the Old Indian vasā- and vedhás- [title for priests or gods] it also gives the Italic vesticatu [libation]). Thus, based on this derivation Vasio could be 'he who is given libation'. This can only be a tentative etymology, but it does fit with the apparent import of this god.

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