Taranis

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In Celtic mythology Taranis was the god of thunder worshipped in Gaul and Britain and mentioned, along with Esus and Toutatis, by the Roman poet Lucan in his epic poem Pharsalia as a Celtic deity to whom sacrificial offerings were made. He was associated, as was the cyclops Brontes (Thunder) in Greek mythology, with the wheel and may have received human sacrifices. He is likely connected with the Anglo-Saxon god Þunor, the Norse Thor, Ambisagrus, the Irish Tuireann and the Culdee saint Taran.

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Etymology

The reconstructed lexis of the Proto-Celtic language as collated by the University of Wales [1] suggests that the name is likely to be ultimately derived from the Proto-Celtic *Toranos. This Proto-Celtic word connotes the semantics of ‘Thunder.’

Taranis, as a personification of thunder, is often identified with similar deities found in other Indo-European mythologies. Of these, Thor and the Hittite god Tarhun (see also Teshub) contain a comparable *Template:PIE element. Others have different etymologies, e.g. *Template:PIE, Brontes and Indra.

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Bibliography

Ellis, Peter Berresford, Dictionary of Celtic Mythology (Oxford Paperback Reference), Oxford University Press, (1994): ISBN 0195089618
MacKillop, James. Dictionary of Celtic Mythology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998. ISBN 0192801201.
Wood, Juliette, The Celts: Life, Myth, and Art, Thorsons Publishers (2002): ISBN 0007640595

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