It is sometimes difficult to determine the origin and character of some goddesses, who could be either Celtic or Germanic. In certain cases, the attributive bynames* indeed confront us with a problem, for they seem to combine Celtic and Germanic words or derivations.296 This is what Schmidt and Spickermann call ‘hybrids’, that is words with mixed etymologies, or ‘keltisch-germanische Mischkomposita’, that is Celtic-Germanic compound words.297 In Lower Germany, for instance, Spickermann counts twenty-two purely Celtic epithets, eighteen ‘Mischkomposita’ plus fourteen unclear ‘hybrids’.298 Are these Mother Goddesses to be regarded as Celtic, Germanic deities or Celto-Germanic on account of their seemingly ambivalent character, mirrored in the mixed etymology* of their names?
Scherer, 1955, pp. 199-210.
Schmidt, 1987, pp. 141-149 ; Spickermann, 2005, pp. 142-146.
Spickermann, 2005, p. 131.