In a message dated 8/18/00 7:08:33 PM GMT Daylight Time, [log in to unmask]
writes:
> My impression is that deities throughout Europe were frequently
> euhemerized or absorbed into the figures of saints.
I think I may have already referred in this context to a very interesting
paper by Daphne Brooke 'Saints and Goddesses: the interface with Celtic
Paganism', Seventh Whithorn Lecture, 1998, published by the Friends of the
Whithorn Trust (www.whithorn.com) in which she makes a good case for the
identification of various saints 'Madrun', 'Medan', with the goddess Madrun,
Modron (L. Matrona). The relevence for Whithorn is in the parish names
Kirkmadrine and Kirkmaiden, found in _both_ the Rhins and the Machars of
Galloway.
Other candidates may be St Malo (my-_Lug_/_Lleu_ , a case of a god's name
transferred hypocoristically to an early saint?) and St Nynia ('Ninian'). The
latter, I believe, may have something to do with the cult of a sacred ash
tree, and the supposed etymology of this saint's name does not tell us if
they were masculine or feminine. There are probably many more. But the
question should also be looked at from the point of view of personal names of
well-attested individuals recorded c.300-700 AD in which names of
pre-christian dieties were conserved.
Henry
visit the Scottish Place-Name Society website at
http://www.st-and.ac.uk/institutes/sassi/spns/index.htm
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|