Hatty
Site Admin
In: Berkshire
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Nicholas Crane, ambling around Ireland in the footsteps of Camden, was delighted to discover the source of the Shannon, Ireland's main river and apparently good for salmon fishing; it was a rather spectacular source compared to the puny dribbles of some major rivers.
Shannon is Sionna in Celtic or Senua:
Senua:
In ancient Celtic polytheism, the female deification of the outpouring wellspring
Well, the waterfall could be described as an outpouring.
Senua was probably an older Celtic goddess, worshipped at a spring on the site, who was then adopted and Romanised - twinned with their goddess Minerva - by the invaders.. ...Etymological evidence suggests this goddess may be a Brythonic form of Shannon. |
Online Etymology says some scholars think salmon has a Celtic etymology. It's all a bit vague and words like Proto-Celtic (?) crop up..
Senua is derived from the Proto-Celtic *Send(o)wā meaning 'the one that pours out' (q.v. [1] [2] [3]), from which root the theonym and hydronym Shannon is also derived. Proto-Celtic, also called Common Celtic, is the putative ancestor of all the known Celtic languages. ... |
The Roman version of Senua is said to be Minerva, goddess of war and wisdom, art and science.
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