Ialonus Contrebis

Template:Short description In ancient Celtic religion, Ialonus Contrebis or Ialonus or Gontrebis was a god (or perhaps two related gods) worshipped in what are now Lancashire and Provence. Ialonus is thought to be the god of clearings and/or meadows.

Name

The name Ialonus, which may have designated a god of clearing, derives from the Celtic stem ialo(n)- ('cleared place, clearing'; cf. Middle Welsh ial 'clearing', an-ial 'wasteland').Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Harvnb, s.v. *yalo-.</ref> The stem ialon- also had the meaning 'village' in Gaulish. In the words of Xavier Delamarre, "In forest-covered Gaul, a village was essentially established by clearing a wood."Template:Sfn

The name Contrebis is based on the prefix con- ('with, together') attached to the root -treb- ('settlement'; cf. Old Irish treb, Middle Welsh tref, Old Breton treff 'town, dwelling-place'). It can be compared with the Celtiberian place name Contrebia, meaning 'conurbation'.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Cult

He is known from three dedicatory inscriptions. One, at Lancaster, was dedicated (in the dative) to Deo Ialono Contre Sanctissimo ("to the holiest god Ialonus Contre[bis]");<ref>Template:RIB</ref> another, at Overborough or Over Burrow near Kirkby Lonsdale, to Deo San Gontrebi ("to the holy god Gontrebis").<ref>Template:RIB</ref> In the third inscription, found at Nîmes in Provence, Ialonus was invoked in conjunction with the goddess Fortune.<ref>L'Arbre Celtique. Ialonus</ref>

See also

• Trebaruna
• Trebopala

Bibliography

• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Miranda Green (1997). Dictionary of Celtic Myth and Legend. Thames and Hudson Ltd, London.