Belisama

The Gaulish theonym Belesama has been traditionally interpreted as meaning 'the very bright', stemming from the Indo-European root *bʰelH- ('white, shining'; cf.

[1][2] Xavier Delamarre notes that the proposed cognates stemming from *bʰelH- do not seem to connote 'shining', but rather 'white, grey, pale', and proposes to derive the name from the Gaulish root belo- ('strong, powerful'), rendering Belesama as 'the very strong' (cf.

[2] Alternatively, Peter Schrijver has conjectured a connection with the stem for 'henbane', *beles-, attached to an unknown suffix -ma, by comparing the name with the Gaulish theonym Belisa-maros.

[3] The toponyms Beleymas, Bellême, Balesmes, Blesmes, Blismes, and Velesmes are based on the theonym.

[2] A Gaulish inscription found at Vaison-la-Romaine in Provence (RIG G-172) shows that a nemeton was dedicated to her:[6] The identification with Minerva in Gallo-Roman religion is established in a Latin inscription from Saint-Lizier (anciently Consoranni), Ariège department (CIL XIII, 8):[8] The presence of the goddess in Ancient Britain is more difficult to establish.