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Verauduna
A Gaulish goddess: Utter Darkness
Veraudunua (Veradunua) is a Gaulish goddess known from a single inscription found at Widdenberg, Luxembourg. She forms a divine pairing with the Gaulish god Vera(u)dunus and may represent an ancestral deity of the underworld. |
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Gaul: Utter Darkness
Verauduna is a goddess known from a single inscription [IAL 136] found at Widdenberg, Luxembourg, where she is invoked as Veraudun(a)e. Her name would seem to be the feminine cognate of the Gaulish god, Veraudunus/Veradunus who is known from two inscriptions found at Mensdorf, Luxembourg; which would indicate that the tow form a local divine pairing.
In common with her masculine counterpart, Verauduna's name proves difficult to interpret, but it may be composed of the reconstructed proto-Celtic elements: *wēro- (true) and *dunno (dark, brown) or d3no (fort, rampart). Thus we have two possible interpretations 'true darkness' (as in 'utter darkness') or 'true fortress' with the sense of 'defender'. In the case of Verauduna there is now easy way of choosing between these two options though analogy with Veraudunus would seggest that the name means 'Utter Darkness' and would suggest that she was an ancestral deity of the netherworld. Though this is merely speculation and may never be known with any certainty.
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