Celtic Water Goddess Ancamna

Moselle

The Mosel near Wolf In Gallo-Roman religion, Ancamna was a water goddess worshipped particularly in the valley of the Moselle River. She was commemorated at Trier as the consort of Mars Lenus, and at Möhn as the consort of Mars Smertulitanos. Jufer and Luginbühl link Ancamna with two other consorts of the Gaulish Mars, Litavis and Nemetona, noting that none of these appear to be warrior goddesses themselves; instead, they suggest that Ancamna might have been associated with a spring. This name may be derived from the Proto-Celtic *anko-abonā, denoting ‘crooked river.'The name *ank-ab(o)nā presumably developed into Brythonic or Gaulish *Ankabna, being transcribed in Latin as Ancamna. This apparent semantic connotation has led Dr. John Koch at the University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies to suggest that this personality may personify "meandering freshwater flow". This theory, if it is correct, may imply a parallel between Ancamna and such beings as Nantosuelta, which may be another name for the same personified aspect of nature.