Summary
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 edit
The Gaulish theonym Cicollu(i)s derives from the stem cico-, itself from 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 edit
Roman Gaul edit
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 edit
Cicolluis may also be compared to Cichol or Cíocal Gricenchos, the earliest-mentioned leader of the Fomorians or Fomóiri (the semi-divine initial inhabitants of Ireland) in Irish mythology. According to the seventeenth-century Irish historian Seathrún Céitinn (also known by the English name Geoffrey Keating), Cichol arrived in Ireland with fifty men and fifty women on six boats a hundred years after the Flood. There, his people lived on fish and fowl for two hundred years until Partholón and his people (who brought the plough and oxen) invaded and defeated the Fomorians in the Battle of Magh Ithe.[4]
References edit
- ^ a b Delamarre 2003, p. 116.
- ^ Matasović 2009, p. 204.
- ^ Lyle, Emily (2018). Celtic Myth in the 21st Century: The Gods and their Stories in a Global Perspective. University of Wales Press. p. 62. ISBN 978-1-78683-206-1.
- ^ 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>.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Gwinn, Christopher. “Re: Litavi.” LISTSERV 15.0: OLD-IRISH-L Archives. 31 Dec. 2000, 13:48:19 −0500. L-Soft. 22 May 2007 <https://listserv.heanet.ie/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0012&L=old-irish-l&P=10754>.
Bibliography edit
- Delamarre, Xavier (2003). Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise: Une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental. Errance. ISBN 9782877723695.
- Matasović, Ranko (2009). Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic. Brill. ISBN 9789004173361.
External links edit
- A section of the Lebor Gabála Érenn relating to Ciccul Gricenchoss and its translation into English by Jonathan Slocum, Patrizia de Bernardo Stempel, and Caren Esser
- Etymological translations of “Cicolluis,” “Cicollus,” “Cicos,” etc. by Patrick Cuadrado (in French); automatic Google translation into English