Page:The Celtic Review volume 3.djvu/54

Rh On an inscription of Soulosse, now in Épinal, we have D(eo) M(ercurio) et Rosmerte, and also Mercurio (et) Rosmert(ae) sacr. vicani Solimariac(enses). At Mt. Sion, dép. Meurthe-et-Moselle, arrond Nancy, canton Vézelize, we read on an inscription ‘Deo Mercurio et Rosmertae,’ and similarly at Metz. At Wasserbillig, in Luxembourg, an inscription (Orelli, 5909) is thought to read Deo Mercurio et deæ Rosmertae, and there is a similar inscription at Chatenoy, dép. Vosges, now in the museum of Épinal, ‘Mercurio et Rosmertæ sacrum.’ From this we may gather that Rosmerta was worshipped largely in the neighbourhood of the Rhine, and in the neighbourhood of Langres. The origin of the name is doubtful. The root may be smer(t)-, brilliant, so that Ro-smerta would mean the exceedingly brilliant one. The same root appears to occur in other proper names, such as Smertus, Smertullos, Smerto-mārā, Smerto-rix, Smertu-ccus, Smertu-litanos, and the old British tribe of the Smertæ, as well as Ate-smerius. We have also Smerius, Smertalus, Smerto-rix, Smertu, and Cante-smerta. These names appear to be distributed on inscriptions as follows : Smerius at Tresques, Gaujac, Nîmes, Tarendol (dép. Drome, arr. Nyons, canton Buis). Smertae occurs in Ptol II. iii. 8, in the words Ὑπὲρ τοὺς Λούγους Σμέρται, and in Rav. V. xxxi. p. 433, 17, as Smetri. Smertalus occurs at Moresby; Smertatius is an attributive name of Mars on an inscription at Möhn in the neighbourhood of Trêves. Smerto-mara is a woman’s name in the Palatine Anthology (Σμερτομάρᾳ στυγερὸν ματρὶ λέλοιπε γόον). Smerto-rix occurs on a coin, and possibly on an inscription at Les Beaux, near Aries. Smertu occurs as a man’s name at Rheims, and Smertu-ccus at Vechten. In another form, Smertucus, it occurs at Rheims. Smertu-litanos is found at Worms and Smertullos on an inscription, apparently as the name of a god, at Paris. As a man’s name it is found at Le Veyer in Queyras (dép. Hautes-Alpes, near the village of Aiguilles, arr. Briançon); at Cadenet, dép. Vaucluse, arr. Apt, on the hill Castelar, and possibly on inscriptions at Alise-Sainte-Reine and Dijon, Aux Poussots. Atesmerius occurs at