--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "loreto bagio" <bagoven20@...>
wrote:
> I just found this
> http://www.geocities.com/cas111jd/celts/celttrib.html
> and got intrigued by one of the last lines in this table of Celtic
> tribes.
> It suggests something like a Celtic deity named Volcanus or
Vulchalo
> which of course sounds like a volcano being associated with a
falcon.
> I know of some other instances like this (within IE i.e. a
seemingly
> volcanic god associated with a bird) but here why? I mean is this
> possible, that of the word falcon being derived from volcano?
>
> Loreto
***********
There seem to be several false associations made here.
Volcanus was indeed worshipped in Gaul, but apparently attested
in inscriptions that show a remarkable syncretism of Gaulish and
Roman deities, so he was presumably Roman and not Gaulish. I
suppose he was considered a God of fire or the smithy -- volcanoes
were of less concern in Gaul than in Italy.
Vulchalo was not a deity but a locality, where in Cicero's day
toll on wine imports was collected.
'Falcon' <-- L. 'falco' ?<-- Germanic is supposed to reflect I.E.
*pel- "pale". Interpretation of Volcanus or Vulchalo as
meaning "falcon" in Gaulish would imply I.-E. p- showing up as v-.
Initial p- simply disappears in Old Irish. I find sources that
suggest this is not an Irish idiosyncrasy, but a proto-Celtic
feature. Maybe someone can make a more definitve statement here.
Dan Milton