Belisama (

Gaulish Gaulish was an ancient Celtic language spoken in parts of Continental Europe before and during the period of the Roman Empire. In the narrow sense, Gaulish was the language of the Celts of Gaul (now France, Luxembourg, Belgium, most of Switze ...

''Belesama''; epigraphically ) is a

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foo ...

goddess A goddess is a female deity. In many known cultures, goddesses are often linked with literal or metaphorical pregnancy or imagined feminine roles associated with how women and girls are perceived or expected to behave. This includes themes ...

. She was identified by Roman commentators with

Minerva Minerva (; ett, Menrva) is the Roman goddess of wisdom, justice, law, victory, and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. Minerva is not a patron of violence such as Mars, but of strategic war. From the second century BC onward, the R ...

by ''

interpretatio romana ''Interpretatio graeca'' (Latin, "Greek translation") or "interpretation by means of Greek odels is a discourse used to interpret or attempt to understand the mythology and religion of other cultures; a comparative methodology using ancient Gr ...

''.

Name

Dédicace de Segomaros (inscription gallo-grecque)

The Gaulish

theonym A theonym (from Greek ''theos'' (Θεός), " god"'','' attached to ''onoma'' (ὄνομα), "name") is the proper name of a deity. Theonymy, the study of divine proper names, is a branch of onomastics (the study of the etymology, history, and ...

''Belesama'' has been traditionally interpreted as meaning 'the Very Bright', stemming from the

Indo-European The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Du ...

root ''*bʰelH-'' ('white, shining'; cf. Lith. ''báltas'' 'white', Greek φαλόσ ''phalós'' 'white', Arm. ''bal'' 'pallor', goth. ''bala'' 'grey') attached to the superlative suffix *-''isamā''. As for ''

Belenos Belenus (Gaulish: ''Belenos'', ''Belinos'') is an ancient Celtic healing god. The cult of Belenus stretched from the Italian Peninsula to the British Isles, with a main sanctuary located at Aquileia, on the Adriatic coast. Through ''interpretati ...

'', however, this theory has come under increasing criticism in contemporary scholarship.

Xavier Delamarre Xavier Delamarre (; born 5 June 1954) is a French linguist, lexicographer, and diplomat. He is regarded as one of the world's foremost authorities on the Gaulish language. Since 2019, he has been an associate researcher for the CNRS- PSL AOrOc ...

notes that the proposed

cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words in different languages that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical ef ...

s stemming from ''*bʰelH-'' do not seem to connote 'shining', but rather 'white, grey, pale', and proposes to derive the name from the Gaulish root ''belo''- ('strong, powerful'), rendering ''Belesama'' as 'the Very Strong' (cf. Sanskrit ''baliṣṭhaḥ'' 'the strongest'). Alternatively,

Peter Schrijver Peter Schrijver (; born 1963) is a Dutch linguist. He is a professor of Celtic languages at Utrecht University and a researcher of ancient Indo-European linguistics. He worked previously at Leiden University and the Ludwig Maximilian University ...

has conjectured a connection with the stem for ' henbane', *''beles''-, attached to an unknown suffix -''ma'', by comparing the name with the Gaulish theonym ''Belisa-maros''. Acccording to him, this is "formally attractive and semantically possible (if *''Belesama'' = Lat. ''Minerva medica'') but not supported by direct evidence". The toponyms Beleymas,

Bellême Bellême () is a commune in the Orne department in northwestern France. The musicologist Guillaume André Villoteau (1759–1839) was born in Bellême, as was Aristide Boucicaut (1810-1877), owner of ''Le'' ''Bon Marché'', the world's first depar ...

, Balesmes, Blesmes,

Blismes left, 200px, Field elm, Blismes, Nièvre, France Blismes () is a commune in the Nièvre department in central France. The commune accommodates one of the finest specimens of Field Elm (Orme champetre) ''Ulmus minor'' in France. Population Se ...

, and Velesmes are based on the theonym. The name also appears in various river names of Gauls and Britain, including ''Belisama'' (

River Ribble The River Ribble runs through North Yorkshire and Lancashire in Northern England. It starts close to the Ribblehead Viaduct in North Yorkshire, and is one of the few that start in the Yorkshire Dales and flow westwards towards the Irish Sea ...

) and ''Le Blima'' ( Tarn)., s.v. ''Belisama''. The Galatian personal name ''Blesamius'', from an ealier *''Belesamios'', may also be added to the comparison.

Attestations

Saint-Lizier - Pont de Saint-Lizier - 20110309 (1)

inscription found at

Vaison-la-Romaine Vaison-la-Romaine (; oc, Vaison) is a town in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. Vaison-la-Romaine is famous for its rich Roman ruins and mediaeval town and cathedral. It is also unusual in ...

Provence Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bo ...

( RIG G-172) shows that a '' nemeton'' was dedicated to her: : ''СΕΓΟΜΑΡΟС/ ΟΥΙΛΛΟΝΕΟС/ ΤΟΟΥΤΙΟΥС/ ΝΑΜΑΥСΑΤΙС/ ΕΙѠΡΟΥ ΒΗΛΗ/СΑΜΙ СΟСΙΝ/ ΝΕΜΗΤΟΝ'' : ''Segomaros Ouilloneos tooutious Namausatis eiōrou Bēlēsami sosin nemēton'' : "Segomarus Uilloneos, citizen 'toutius''of Namausus, dedicated this sanctuary to Belesama" The identification with Minerva in

Gallo-Roman religion Gallo-Roman religion is a fusion of the traditional religious practices of the Gauls, who were originally Celtic speakers, and the Roman and Hellenistic religions introduced to the region under Roman Imperial rule. It was the result of selective ...

is established in a

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

inscription from

Saint-Lizier Saint-Lizier (; oc, Sent Líser) is a commune in the Ariège department in southwestern France, situated on the river Salat. History Saint-Lizier has a rich history stretching back to pre Gallo-Roman times. In 72 BC, Pompey, returning from ...

(anciently ''Consoranni''), Ariège department ( CIL XIII, 8): :''Minervae / Belisamae / sacrum / Q(uintus) Valerius / Montan s/ v to?' The presence of the goddess in

Ancient Britain Several species of humans have intermittently occupied Great Britain for almost a million years. The earliest evidence of human occupation around 900,000 years ago is at Happisburgh on the Norfolk coast, with stone tools and footprints prob ...

is more difficult to establish. Based on

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...

's reference to a "Belisama estuary" (Βελισαμα),

in England seems to have been known by the name ''Belisama'' in

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

times.

Ronald Hutton Ronald Edmund Hutton (born 19 December 1953) is an English historian who specialises in Early Modern Britain, British folklore, pre-Christian religion and Contemporary Paganism. He is a professor at the University of Bristol, has written 14 ...

(1991). ''The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles.'' Oxford: Blackwell. p. 218. Hutton also suggests that the name of Samlesbury may derive from a corruption of the name.

Theories

The attestation of the theonym as a river name may indicate that she was a lake- and river-goddess. Belisama has also been speculatively claimed as companion of

, whose name seems to contain the same root.

References

;Bibliography * * * * *

External links

Belisama: a Gaulish and Brythonic goddess (Summer Bright)
{{Celtic mythology (ancient) Gaulish goddesses Sea and river goddesses Minerva

Name

Attestations

Theories

References

See also

External links