Dear Sir,
I first of all must apologise for my inability to speak or
read Portuguese.
I am therefore unable properly to ascertain your identity
or motives. So do forgive me if my assumption is entirely wrong!
I came across your page while searching for information about
the deity Ilurbeda, which is recorded on Roman era inscriptions at
Condeixa a Velha and Covas dos Ladroes, both in Portugal.
My concern is that it appears to be your belief that Ilurbeda
was a Celtic deity. Although he/she may have been worshipped by people who
spoke Celtic (do we have evidence for this?), and was certainly
worshipped by people who wrote in Latin, Ilurbeda is quite clearly
Iberian in origin.
Take the first element, ilur. This is found in the
deity name, Ilurberixus (literally "new snow"?),
recorded in Roman era inscriptions at two locations, one in Hautes Pyrenees,
France, the other in the Val D'Aran, Spain. It is also recorded as an
element in an Iberian personal name on the Ascoli Bronze Plate, which dates
from c 72 BC: Illurtibas (literally "greedy snow"?). ilur
may mean "snow" or "hawthorn", depending on context. As
you can see, it is found in compounds which are transparently Dene-Caucasian
and has cognates in Basque.
beda is found in the ancient mountain names Idubeda
(the range in the south of Rioja, Spain) and Orospeda (in the
South-East of Spain), both recorded by classical writers. It is probably
cognate with Basque bede "entrance hall", and may indicate
that the mountain top was thought to be a portal to the next world (it is
known that mountain peaks were once believed to be the abode of deities, and
this is still the case in Basque folklore). Note the similarity
between Basque bedagin/bedegin "witch" (literally
"gatekeeper"?) and the Iberian deity Ataecina/Adaegina
"gatekeeper (to the underworld)". Bedagin/bedegin was
probably an unrecorded deity who was demonised after Christianisation.
I hope that the above clarifies my concern.
You can contact me at ...
Yours faithfully,
Angus J Huck