Litavis (Gaulish:Litauī 'Earth',lit. 'the Broad One')[1][2] is aGallic deity whose cult is primarily attested in east-centralGaul during theRoman period.[1] She was probably originally an earth-goddess.[2][1][3] In medieval Celtic languages, various terms derived from*Litauia came to designate theBrittany Peninsula.[2]
Her name is found in inscriptions found atAignay-le-Duc andMâlain of theCôte-d'Or, France, where she is invoked along with theGallo-Roman god MarsCicolluis in a context which suggests that she might have been his consort.[citation needed] Also, aLatin dedicatory inscription fromNarbonne (which was in the far south of Gaul), France, bears the words "MARTI CICOLLUI ET LITAVI" ("To Mars Cicolluos and Litavis").[4][5]
TheGaulish divine nameLitauī ('Earth',lit. 'the Vast One') likely stems fromProto-Celtic*flitawī ('broad'; cf.Old Bretonlitan,Middle Welshllydan, 'broad'),[6] ultimately fromProto-Indo-European*Pleth2-wih1 ('the Broad One'; cf.SanskritPṛthvī,GreekPlátaia; alsoOld Norsefǫld, 'earth').[1][2][7][3]
The Gaulish personal nameLitauicos ('sovereign',lit. 'possessor of the land') is also cognate with the WelshLlydewig, meaning 'pertaining to Brittany', pointing to a Proto-Celtic term *Litauī-kos, here attached to the determinative suffix -kos.[1]
The medieval or 'neo-Celtic' names for theBrittany Peninsula (cf.Old IrishLetha,Old WelshLitau,Old BretonLetau, Latinized asLetavia) all stem from an original*Litauia, meaning 'Land' or 'Country'.[2] In the IrishLebor Bretnach (11th c.),Bretain Letha means 'Britons of the Continent or Armorica, i.e. Bretons.' LinguistRudolf Thurneysen proposed a semantic development from an Ancient Celtic term meaning 'broad land, continent' into theInsular Celtic names for the part of the Continent nearest theBritish Islands.[1]
