Brigantia (goddess)

Brigantia was a goddess in Celtic (Gallo-Roman and Romano-British) religion of Late Antiquity.

Through interpretatio Romana, she was equated with Victoria. The tales connected to the characters of Brigid and Saint Brigid in Irish mythology and legend have been argued to be connected to Brigantia although the figures themselves remain distinct.

The name Brigantia continues the feminine PIE *bhr̥g'hntī, from a root berg'h "high, lofty, elevated". The name is in origin an adjectival epithet simply meaning "the high one", "the elevated one".

An exact cognate is found in the Germanic Burgundi (Proto-Germanic *burgundī, compare Bornholm), in Sanskrit br̥hatī, and in Avestan bǝrǝzaitī, both feminine adjectives meaning "high" (Sanskrit Brhati also being a female given name, as is Old High German Purgunt). The ethnonym Brigantes may either translate to "the high, noble ones" or to "highlanders" (IEW, s.v. "bhereg'h-").

Seven inscriptions to Brigantia are known, all from Britain (Epigraphik-Datenbank Clauss/Slaby). At Birrens (the Roman Blatobulgium), Dumfries and Galloway, in Scotland, is an inscription:

Brigantia is assimilated to Victoria in two inscriptions, one from Castleford in Yorkshire (AE 1892, 00098; RIB 00628) and one from Greetland near Halifax, also in Yorkshire (RIB 00627). The later may be dated to 208 AD by mention of the consuls:

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