Mercury Dubnocaratiacus

Gaulish deity

A complicated translation for this deity's name. Chris Gwinn translates it as possibly "God of the Dubnocaratos Festival"; *Dubno-caratos means "Deeply Loved" or "Loved One of the Domain," while the -ia:cos1 ending means either "festival" (though such a festival is unknown) or "matter pretaining to". If the latter, the translation would be "He who pertains/belongs to That which is Deeply Loved/Loved by the Domain."

Gwinn also says the ending -a:cos may be a "pet name" suffix, like the English -y (Jim: Jimmy; Dan: Danny), as that seems to be the case in many of the saints' names ending in the diminutive -oc in Breton and Welsh.

NOTES
1. The -ia:cos ending, as regards "matter pretaining to"--it is thought that this may be the meaning of mabinogi, i.e. *Maponia:cii "Matter pertaining to Maponos".

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Mary Jones © 2004