Celtic Gods: The Gaulish/Germanic Goddess, Viradecdis (She who Honours Truth)

Viradecdis
A Gaulish/Germanic goddess, also known as Viradechtis Virathethis, Virodacti, Viroththis, Viroððis:

Viradecdis (Viradechtis Virathethis, Virodacti, Viroththis, Viroððis) is a Gaulish and Germanic goddess known from inscription found in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Scotland. Interpretation of her name would indicate that she was a judge-type deity.



Synonyms: Viradechtis Virathethis, Virodacti, Viroththis, Viroððis
Gaul: She who Honours Truth

Viradecdis is something of an oddity as a deity, for the name contains an admixture of Celtic and Germanic elements (though it is basically Celtic in etymology). The name can be derived from the reconstructed proto-Celtic elements: *wīrjā-/*wīro- (truth) and *dekos- (honour) thus Viradectis is 'She who Honours Truth'. If the name was purely Celtic, however, we'd expect the feminine endin -a; however, we have the Germaninc ending -dis. Thus it would seem that we have an example of a Gaulish goddess who has been aopted by later Germanic tribes and given a Germanic ending.

Indeed, the majority of inscriptions too this goddess are found either newr the border between Gaul and Germania or well within what, by the first century CE was the land of the Germanic peoples. Specifically, inscriptions dedicated to Viradecdis have been found at Vechten in the Netherlands [CIL XIII 08815]. The same goddess, invoked as d(eae) Virathethi is also known from Strée-lez-Huy in Belgium (the territory of the Belgic Gaulish tribes) [AE 1968, 311]. The same goddess is also probably invoked at Kälbertshausen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany as d(e)ae Viroðði [CIL XIII 06486] (though the name should probably be rendered as Viroðaði). As deae Vi]rodacthi she is also known from a further German inscription [CIL XIII 11944] though the source of the inscirption is now unknown.

In an interesting twist, the goddess is also known from an inscription found at the Roman fort of Blatobulgium (Birrens, Dumfries and Galloway) [RIB 2108], which reads: DEAE VIRADECTHI PAGVS CONDRVSTIS MILIT IN COH II TVNGROR SVB SILVIO AVSPICE PRAEF (To the goddess Viradecthis, [the tribesmen] of the Condrustian district serving in the Second Cohort of Tungrians under the Prefect Silvius Auspex [established this]). The Tungrians were a Germanic peoples thus this inscription to Viradechthis would seem to be an import into Britain. We therefore have an example of a Gaulish goddess adopted by Germanic peoples who introduced her to the territory of another Celtic peoples (the Brython).



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