Talk:Rosmerta

Disputed etymology
I moved

An alternative etymology based upon the University of Wales' reconstructed Proto-Celtic lexicon suggests that the name could be ultimately derived from the Proto-Celtic *roud-smertā'', a word with the semantic connotations of ‘the red-glimmering one.’ She would then personify warming, homely firelight and as such would be comparable to the Roman Vesta and the Greek Hestia. However, this etymology is at variance with the attributes of Rosmerta in iconography.''

Here. Its been sitting there a while, as pointed out its both linguistically suspect and at variance with the iconography. The dubious etymology seems to be unique to this wikipedia page; I have not found it in any printed discussion. It is therefore original research. --Nantonos 10:39, 8 February 2007 (UTC)


 * There is another proposed etymology. Jake King, “'Lochy' Names and Adomnán's Nigra Dea”, in Nomina: Journal of the Society for Name Studies in Britain and Ireland, 28 (2005), pp. 69 – 91, at p. 76.  "Her name has been said to have a number of derivations, one being 'The Very Smeared One' with the implication of being smeared in blood."  King cites Watson, The History of the Celtic Place-Names of Scotland, pp. 17 - 18.  I don't have Watson to hand, so can't check this out any further at the moment.  - L  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 192.41.131.254 (talk) 15:43, 16 March 2017 (UTC)

Etc
She hated marriage, and yet she was married? Tough break... --Angr/undefined 8 July 2005 21:27 (UTC)

I think the 'hated marriage' was fictitious, since there is no surviving mythology this could have come from. The existing evidence consists of Gallo-Roman sculpture, primarily depicting her holding a conucopia and paired with mercury, and inscriptions. --Nantonos 9 July 2005 17:10 (UTC)

inscriptions
A couple of questions arose when I was trying to observe WP dictates not to offer untranslated passages of languages other than English. First, it was stated that Rosmerta was described as sacrum. This can't be right, as it isn't a feminine form; either sacra, nominative, which should be fine regardless of the case it appears in for the inscription, or sacram, if it's accusative (though as the other examples show, the name of a deity is most likely to appear in the dative, as the recipient of the thing given).

The other point regards the translation of hospitalia as "hospital." First, there were no hospitals in antiquity; there were temples dedicated to deities who presided over healing where medical care was offered by priest-physicians, but the OLD offers no example of hospitalia (neuter plural) as having this meaning. It seems to refer to rites in conjunction with the dedication of an aedes, a structure to house a god, that is, a shrine. The adjective hospitalis means "having to do with guests, offering hospitality," so I'm guessing without having deciphered this one entirely that it refers to banqueting festivities. This is entirely in keeping with Rosmerta's function as a generous provider, and I seem to recall that the Celts offered sacred hospitality from specially designated festive areas, though at the moment I don't know where I gathered that. Hospitalia is the origin of English "hospital" (because it's a place where people are taken in and cared for) but more significantly in this cae "hostel." I don't know what the Irish word is, but Celticists will know better than I that "hostel" is translated into English as the scene of much hospitality and otherwordly activity in the early medieval Irish narratives. Cynwolfe (talk) 16:55, 3 May 2011 (UTC)