Editing Arvernus

{{Short description|Gaulish epithet of Mercury}}
[[File:Gripswalder-Matronenstein-Mercurius-_Arvernus-01.png|right|thumb|Drawing of an altar to Mercury Arvernus found at [[:de:Haus Gripswald|Gripswald]] along with a [[:de:Gripswalder Matronensteine|group of votive altars and reliefs]] dedicated to the [[Matronae]]]]
In [[Gallo-Roman religion]], '''Arvernus''' was the tribal god of the [[Arverni]] and an [[epithet]] of the Gaulish [[Mercury (mythology)|Mercury]]. Although the name refers to the [[Arverni]], whose territory Mercury had at important sanctuary at the [[Puy-de-Dôme]] in the [[Massif Central]], all of the inscriptions to Mercury Arvernus are found further away along the [[Rhine|Rhenish]] frontier. The similar name '''Mercury Arvernorix''', ‘king of the Arverni’,  is also recorded once.<ref>[http://www.bifrost.it/CELTI/2.Divinitagalliche/02-Mercurius.html MERCURIUS - L'inventore di tutti le arte].</ref> Compare also the title '''Mercury Dumiatis''' (‘of the Puy-de-Dôme’), found in the territory of the Arverni.<ref>Nicole Jufer & Thierry Luginbühl (2001). ''Les dieux gaulois : répertoire des noms de divinités celtiques connus par l'épigraphie, les textes antiques et la toponymie.'' Paris: Editions Errance. {{ISBN|2-87772-200-7}}.</ref> The name, like the name of the [[Arverni]] and of [[Auvergne (province)|Auvergne]], appears to derive from a [[Proto-Celtic]] [[compound (linguistics)|compound]] [[adjective]] *''φara-werno-s'' ‘in front of [[alder]]s’.{{citation needed|date=June 2016}}

==References==
{{Commonscat|Gripswalder Matronensteine}}
{{Reflist}}

{{Celtic mythology (ancient)}}

[[Category:Gaulish gods]]
[[Category:Tutelary gods]]
[[Category:Mercurian deities]]
[[Category:Arverni]]
[[Category:Mercury (mythology)]]
{{Celt-myth-stub}}