Reo (deity)

Reo Paramaeco is a name appearing on a Latin dedication to a Lusitanian-Gallaecian deity discovered in Lugo in Galicia. The name is in the dative case, for a Latinized name *Reus Paramaecus.

Name and meaning

The full name may mean "Reus of Paramo" with the -aik- element an adjectival marker[1] familiar from Lusitanian inscriptions. The first element Reo/Reus is very similar to the name Reue appearing on the Lusitanian Cabeço das Fráguas inscription, part of which reads INDI TAVROM IFADEM REVE T..., usually interpreted as "and (or thereafter) a fertile(?) bull for Reue" with the epithet lost. Reue therefore also seems to be a dative, with *Reu as the possible original Lusitanian name of the deity. Reue appears again on the Ribeira da Venda inscription, including an epithet, as REVE AHARACVI - this time the deity is receiving a sacrifice of ten sheep [2] - and also in Latin inscriptions with the epithets Amoaego Arcunii, Anabaraeco, Larauco and Alabaraico Sulensi.[3] K T Witczak derives the name from earlier *diewo, suggesting that the Lusitanian language changed the Proto-Indo European d to r, making Reo a sky deity similar to (and having a name cognate with) the Greek Zeus and Roman Jupiter.[4]

See also

Bull (mythology)

References

  1. ^ La declinación céltica de los temas en ā y los datos hispanos, Joaquín Gorrochategui, Indogermanica et Caucasica
  2. ^ Uma inscrição votiva em língua lusitana - Carneiro, Encarnação, Oliveira & Teixeira (2008)
  3. ^ Últimas aportaciones a las religiones prerromanas de Hispania (The Most Recent Contributions to Pre-Roman religions of Hispania: Theonyms) (Spanish)
  4. ^ On the Indo-European Origin of Two Lusitanian Theonyms (Laebo and Reve), Krzysztof Tomasz Witczak, Łódz (1999)