Nantosuelta

In Celtic mythology, Nantosuelta is the goddess of nature the earth, fire, and fertility.
She was a part of the Tuatha Dé Danann and was paired with Sucellus and later on Dagda.
Pseudo-historical texts explain how there is an uncanny resemblance between Nantosuelta and what we know of the Irish goddess The Morrígan who was associated with death and war. Evidence suggests that Nantosuelta was the name given to the goddess The Morrígan after a transformation or joining of new alliances.
The Mediomatrici (Alsace, Lorraine) depicted her in art as holding a round house on a pole and with a crow. Other likely depictions show her with a pot or bee hive. Nantosuelta's round house was a symbol of her connection to the faery habitation of her Irish counterpart and may have symbolized abundance. It was believed that Nantosuelta transformed into a crow on the battlefield, which was an appropriate transformation for the goddess or may have been a metaphor for her ability to powerfully navigate a battlefield.
Nantosuelta is often associated with water and depicted as being surrounded by water. The goddess's name literally translates as 'of winding stream' or 'sun-drenched valley'.
Nantosuelta is attested by statues, and by inscriptions 
Nantosuelta's themes are health, miracles, providence and abundance. Her symbols are spring water and cornucopia. 
==Etymology==
Nantosuelta's name was reconstructed by linguists and cannot be definitely translated, yet two accepted approximations of its meaning in Proto-Celtic are “She of the Winding River” and “She of the Sun-drenched Valley”, though Her attributes do not show Her as a water deity (actually, the watery attributes seem more likely to describe the goddess Icovellauna, ‘Divine Pourer of the Waters’, a Gallic goddess who was also worshipped in Metz, France).
For a long time the name Nantosuelta was assumed to mean ‘winding river’, being derived from the reconstructed proto-Celtic from *Nanto-swelt- with the feminine ending ā which can be rendered as ‘river-turning [spirit]’. However, in common with the Brythonic languages it is possible that the Gaulish nanto could mean both river/stream and valley (the Cymric cognate being nant that is usually taken to mean ‘stream’ but which, in its older form, also meant ‘valley’. The swel component of the came could be derived from the proto-Celtic *sƒwol-/*s3li- (sun, which yields the Cymric form of haul). The final particle ta is contained in the proto-Celtic word tတ-je/o (thaw) and bears the connotation of ‘to warm’. Thus, an alternative interpretation for Nantosuelta would be ‘She of the Sun-warmed Valley’. Potentially this could be used in the context of ‘plenty’ but it might also bear the context of the sun-drenched realms of the netherworld. Thus Nantosuelta's association with the raven might indicate that she had a function as a psychopomp.” 
==Associations==
Chief amongst her associations is her little house, usually depicted on a long pole like a sceptre of some kind. Other associated objects, as previously mentioned, include a bird, a bee-hive and honeycombs. The latter certainly have homely connotations and she therefore appears to have been a Goddess of hearth and home, well-being and prosperity. Like Her husband, she also had nourishment and fertility aspects and sometimes carried a cornucopia. In Britain, She is probably to be found depicted on a small stone from East Stoke in Nottinghamshire…shown [with] bushy hair and carries a bowlful of apples.
Category:Nature goddesses
Category:Fire goddesses
Category:Earth goddesses
Category:Fertility goddesses
Category:Celtic mythology
Category:War goddesses
Category:Articles with content from Wikipedia