--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Joao S. Lopes" <josimo70@...> wrote:
>
> What are the most plausible etymologies for Gualish goddess NANTOSUELTA?
>
> Joao SL
*******
Joao, why don't you look for yourself on the Web, before posting
questions?
Here's Wikipedia:
This theonym was previously thought to mean 'winding river' and to be
derived from Proto-Celtic *Nanto-sweltÄ meaning 'feminine
valley-turning [spirit]' (q.v. [1] [2] [3]), of which meandering river
valleys could have been a manifestation. However, more recent
scholarship understands it to mean 'sun-warmed valley' as follows:
nantu- or nanto- in Gaulish means a valley, as seen in the glossary of
Vienna, in placenames such as Trinanto (three valleys), Nantiacum,
Nantu-ialon (light valley), Diou-nanto (sacred valley), in personal
names such as Nantonos, and in the Carjac inscription (RIG L-49) in
uertamon nantou(s) (at the head of the valley) (Delamarre p. 231). The
name passed into Vulgar Latin and is preserved in some French dialects
such as those of Savoie, where the valley has come to mean the river
that flows through the valley, or a torrent (Delamarre p. 232). The
same double sense is found in later Celtic languages; Breton has nant
meaning a valley, Welsh has nant meaning a valley, water-course or
stream. The root is IE *nem- meaning a curve or slope (Porkorny
p.764). Thus, while it later came to mean a river or stream, it
originally meant a valley.
Gaulish swel- refers to the sun (Le Roux p.93; Olmstead pp.302-303;
Polomé p.738) and with the -ta means sun-warmed, sunny (Delamarre
p.278). In Brythonic, the form *sÄuliË"o- is postulated, giving the
Welsh haul, Old Cornish heuul, and Breton heol. Both forms are derived
from IE *sÄuË"el- or *suË"el- which in other IE languages produced latin
sol-, Greek helios (from **sÄuË"elios), Gothic sauil, Sanskrit súvar
(Delamarre p. 279 with additional extensive bibliography).