Editing Andarta

{{short description|Celtic goddess from Gaul}}
{{wiktionary|Andarta}}
'''Andarta''' was a [[Ancient Celtic religion|Celtic]] [[goddess]] worshiped in southern [[Gaul]]. Inscriptions invoking her name have been found among the [[Vocontii]] in [[Southern France]], and in [[Bern]], Switzerland.{{Sfn|Delamarre|2003|p=|pp=55–56}}<ref name="MacKillop"/>

== Name ==
The Gaulish [[theonym]] ''Andarta'' is traditionally interpreted as meaning 'Great Bear', perhaps 'powerful bear' or ''[[Ursa Major]]'', formed with an intensifying suffix ''and''- attached to a feminine form of ''artos'' ('bear').{{Sfn|Delamarre|2003|p=|pp=55–56}}<ref name="MacKillop" /> ''Andarta'' might thus have been a counterpart or an alternative name of the Celtic [[Bear worship|bear goddess]], [[Artio]].<ref name="MacKillop">{{harvnb|MacKillop|2004}}, s.v. ''Andarta'' and ''bear''.</ref>

According to linguist [[Blanca María Prósper]], however, "this idea is uncompelling because the semantics lack good parallels and the inner syntax of the compound is utterly problematic." In her view, the name should be translated as 'Well-fixed, Staying-firm', formed with a prefix *''h₂ndʰi-'' (or *''h₁ndo-'') attached to a participle *-''h₂-rtó'' ('fixed, composed, built'; cf. Sanskrit ''[[ṛta]]'' 'cosmic law, order', Greek ''artús'' 'arrangement', Latin ''artus'' 'joint').{{sfn|Prósper|2018|p=12}}

== See also ==

* [[March Malaen]]

==References==
'''Notes'''
{{Reflist}}

'''Bibliography'''
{{refbegin}}
* {{Cite book|last=Delamarre|first=Xavier|title=Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise: Une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental|year=2003|publisher=Errance|isbn=9782877723695|author-link=Xavier Delamarre}}
* {{Cite book|last=MacKillop|first=James|title=A dictionary of Celtic mythology|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2004|isbn=0-19-860967-1|author-link=James MacKillop (author)}}
* {{cite journal|last=Prósper|first=Blanca María|title=The Venetic Inscription from Monte Manicola and Three termini publici from Padua: A Reappraisal|journal=Journal of Indo-European Studies|volume=46|issue=1 & 2|year=2018|pages=1–61}}
{{refend}}

{{Celtic mythology (ancient)}}

[[Category:Gaulish goddesses]]
[[Category:Bear deities]]
{{Celt-myth-stub}}