Cicolluis

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Cicolluis or Cicoluis (also known as Cicollus, Cicolus, Cicollui, and Cichol) is a god in Celtic mythology worshiped by the ancient Gauls and having a parallel in Ireland.

Name

The

Proto-Celtic *kīko-, meaning 'meat, flesh, muscle' (cf. Old Breton cic-, Middle Welsh cig 'meat') and, by metonymy, 'breast' (cf. Middle Irish cích).[1][2] It could be translated as 'Big-Muscle' or 'Great-Breast'.[1][3]

Cult

Roman Gaul

In the Gallo-Roman religion, Cicolluis is thought to be a common epithet for the Gaulish equivalent of Mars.[4] A Latin dedicatory inscription from Narbonne (which was in the far south of Gaul), France, bears the words MARTI CICOLLUI ET LITAVI (“Mars Cicolluis and Litavis”).[5],[6] “Mars Cicolluis” has dedications in Xanten, Germany, and Aignay-le-Duc (where his consort is given as Litavis) and Mâlain (where his consorts are given as Litavis and Bellona, Roman goddess and personification of war) of the Côte-d'Or, France. “Cicolluis” is named alone (not as an epithet of Mars) in an inscription at Chassey, Côte-d'Or, Franche-Comté, France, and a partial inscription from Ruffey-lès-Echirey, Côte-d'Or, France, may be dedicated to Cicolluis. In Windisch, Switzerland, he is known as “Cicollus,” and in Dijon, Côte-d'Or, France, he is known as Mars Cicoluis.[4]

Ireland

Cicolluis may also be compared to

Magh Ithe.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b Delamarre 2003, p. 116.
  2. ^ Matasović 2009, p. 204.
  3. .
  4. ^ a b c Evans, Dyfed Lloyd. “Cicolluis: A Gaulish and Irish God, Also Known as Cicollus, Cicolus, Cichol (Great-Breasted).” Celtnet: Nemeton. 22 May 2007 <http://www.celtnet.org.uk/gods_c/cicolluis.html Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine>.
  5. ^ Koch, John T. “Ériu, Alba, and Letha: When Was a Language Ancestral to Gaelic First Spoken in Ireland?Emania: Bulletin of the Navan Research Group 9 (1991): 17–27.
  6. >.

Bibliography

External links