I have often wondered about possible Celtic borrowings
in the Baltic, and this one definitely has me wondering:
The 13th century Volynija Chronicle mentions a Lithuanian
divinity named Diviriks - the name has not been translated in any of the sources
I have read, and has been labelled "mysterious" (the name might be a byname of
Perkunas). I know that if the name is broken down into Divi-riks, the second
part of the name seems to look like a relative of Gaulish Rix - which shouldn't
naturally exist in Lithuanian.
The name grabbed my attention because there is a Celtiberian
name - likely a divine name - Deiuoreiks "God-king" (Deiuo "god" reiks "king").
Is it possible that Diviriks is the same name, borrowed by the Lithuanians -
perhaps through a Germanic source - or can it be possible that Celts might
have entered the Baltics during their time of expansion in the Iron Age (I am
thinking also of a classical author - need to look the name - who claimed that
soma people in the Baltics spoke the same language as the British - it is likely
just a false story - but could there be any truth to it at
all?).