Angus J Huck

22-12-2002

Sun and moon gods

Dear Luisma,
 
Our knowledge of the deities and the religious beliefs of pre-Christian Iberia is fragmentary, largely because (1) the Romans took no interest in native religions and (2) the Church did everything in its power to extinguish all memory of pagan beliefs and practices.
 
We do know the names of many Iberian deities. Most of these are in the west of the peninsula, with another block in the Central Pyrenees. It seems that most were highly localised with only Ataecina and Endovellicus having a more widespread distribution. If there were supreme deities equivalent to Juppiter, Thor, etc, then they are scantily attested.
 
Basque folklore and mythology suggest a widespread worship of the sun and moon (Strabo does speak clumsily of the latter), and the former is certainly suggested by the henge monuments, most of which were built at the very beginning of the Bronze Age (about 2,500 to 2,000 BC).
 
Do we have any clues as to what the sun and moon gods might have been called?
 
Yes, I think perhaps we do.
 
Take the Basque word for "sun", eki. This is cognate with Proto-Yeniseian *khiga (Kott and Arin ega). Among derivatives of eki are Ekaina "June" and Ekainaldi "summer solstice". I suggest that eki, combined with the mysterious -aina suffix, conceals the name of the ancient sun god.
 
Is there any evidence that a god by such a name ever existed?
 
Yes, there is. There is Iconna, recorded in Roman era inscriptions at Guarda, Portugal, and Chateau-Chinon, France (in both cases, the deity had been adopted by Celts and then Romans).
 
We know that in the Bronze Age, and also the Iron Age, rivers were considered to be holy and often had deities named after them. Could the name of the sun god, by any chance, have been given to rivers?
 
Yes. In Britain, there are the Rivers Itchen in Hampshire, Warwickshire and Suffolk (where it is the old and lost name of the River Alde), Ycenan 998, Icene 701 and Ykene 1212) (the tribal name, Iceni, may be taken from the last of these rivers). And there is also the River Yonne in France (known to the Romans as Icauna). (The god, Icauna, recorded in a Roman era inscription, is probably taken from the name of the river.)
 
And is there any evidence of a corresponding moon god?
 
Again, yes, perhaps. There are river names which are at least suggestive.
 
There is the Ilargus "bright, ie new, moon"? (as recorded by Ptolemy), now the Iller in Bavaria, the Elaver (*Ilberri?) (now the Allier in France), and in Britain the Ilidh in Sutherland (the Ila of Ptolemy) and the Isle in Somerset (Yle 693).
 
And it gets more interesting still. There is an ancient road which runs across England from Norfolk through to Dorset, which is known as Icknield Way (Iccenhilde weg, 903). This may mean "Iken's highway" (Iken being the sun god). -ield may be connected by Basque ildo "furrow, highway", which is found in many Iberian personal names (Abarildur, Dadildis of Pallars, etc), and toponyms (Ilduro, Ildu-m, Ildugoite).
 
With best wishes,
 
 
 
Angus J Huck
 

 6-1-2003

 Sun and moon gods

Dear Luisma,
 
In my e-mail of 22/12/2002, I listed two rivers in the UK which appear to bear the names of the ancient moon god, *Il-, these being the Ilidh in Sutherland and the Isle in Somerset.
 
There are two more which I might mention:
 
(1)    The River Manifold in Staffordshire may once have been the Ill (Manifold is a late English name, meaning "many folds").
 
        This hypothesis is supported by the presence of a village on the river now known as Ilam (Hilum 1002, Ylum 1208), which is in the dative case, but might well represent the old name of the river.
 
(2)    The river Roding, which runs from rural Essex through East London to meet the Thames, was once known as the Hyle (Hile 958, Hyle 1250), which name survives in the place-name, Ilford.
 
With best wishes,
 
 
 
 
Angus J Huck