Catubodua ("battle-crow") is a Gaulish goddess known from a single inscription in Haute Savoie, eastern France. She appears to be identical to the Irish goddess, the Badb. Nicole Jufer and Thierry Luginbühl provisionally link Catubodua with other apparently martial goddesses attested elsewhere, such as Boudina, Bodua, and Boudiga, whose names share roots meaning either 'fighting' or 'victory'.^[1] She would therefore be comparable to the Roman Victoria and the Greek goddess Nike and possibly the Nordic goddess Sigyn. For other uses, see Crow (disambiguation). ... Gaulish is name given to the now-extinct Celtic language that was spoken in Gaul before the Romans, the Franks and the British Celts invaded. ... For the 1934 film, see The Goddess (1934 film). ... Haute-Savoie is a French département, named Upper Savoy for its location in the Alps mountain range. ... In Irish mythology, the Badb ( crow in Old Irish; modern Irish Badhbh means vulture or carrion-crow) was a goddess of war who took the form of a crow, and was thus sometimes known as Badb Catha (battle crow). ... Victoria on the reverse of this coin by Constantine II. In Roman mythology, Victoria was the personification/Goddess of victory. ... This article discusses the Greek Goddess. ... Sigyn was, in Norse mythology, the wife of Loki, who bore him two sons, Narvi and Váli. ...

A related Roman legend?

A story of the Roman wars against the Gauls of the 4th century BC, recorded by Livy, Aulus Gellius and Dionysius of Halicarnassus, may preserve a reference to her. A Roman soldier, Marcus Valerius, accepted a challenge to single combat with a Gaulish champion. When the fight began, a crow landed on Valerius's helmet and began to attack the Gaul, who, terrified by this divine intervention, was easily beaten. Valerius adopted the cognomen "Corvus" (crow), and as Marcus Valerius Corvus went on to be a famous general and politician of the Roman Republic.^[2] Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew from a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula circa the 9th century BC to a massive empire straddling the Mediterranean Sea. ... The 4th century BC started the first day of 400 BC and ended the last day of 301 BC. It is considered part of the Classical era, epoch, or historical period. ... A portrait of Titus Livius made long after his death. ... Aulus Gellius ( 125 - after 180), Latin author and grammarian, possibly of African origin, probably born and certainly brought up at Rome. ... Dionysius Halicarnassensis (of Halicarnassus), Greek historian and teacher of rhetoric, flourished during the reign of Augustus. ... The cognomen (name known by in English) was originally the third name of a Roman in the Roman naming convention. ... Marcus Valerius Corvus (370 BC - 270 BC) was a Roman hero of the 4th century BC, characterized as a farmer who lived to be one hundred. ... This article is about the state which existed from the 6th century BC to the 1st century BC. For the state which existed in the 18th century, see Roman Republic (18th century). ...

Name and etymology

In the Gaulish language, the name Catubodua is believed to mean battle-crow.^[3][4]

Etymological lexical forms reconstructed in the University of Wales' Proto-Celtic lexicon, suggest that the name is likely to be ultimately derived from the Proto-Celtic *Katu-bodwā, a word that could be interpreted as ‘battle-fighting’.^[5] Nonetheless it is this second element *bodwā which appears to be the Proto-Celtic root of the later form of the name Badhbh.^{[citation needed]} The masculine form *bodwos ('fighting') developed in Gaelic into Bodb.^{[citation needed]} The University of Wales (Prifysgol Cymru in Welsh) is a federal university founded in 1893. ... The Proto-Celtic language, also called Common Celtic, is the putative ancestor of all the known Celtic languages. ... In Irish mythology, Badb (crow) or in modern spelling Badhbh was a goddess of war who took the form of a crow, thus known as Badb Catha (battle crow). ... The Goidelic languages (also sometimes called, particularly in colloquial situations, the Gaelic languages or collectively Gaelic) have historically been part of a dialect continuum stretching from the south of Ireland, the Isle of Man, to the north of Scotland. ... In Irish mythology, Bodb Derg (Old Irish: Bodb the Red; Middle and Modern Irish Bodhbh Dearg ) was a son of Eochaid Garb. ...

References

1. ^ Jufer, N. and T. Luginbühl (2001). Répertoire des dieux gaulois. Paris, Editions Errance.
2. ^ Titus Livius. Periochae. Book 7:10.
3. ^ Georges Dottin (1918) La Langue Gauloise, Grammaire, Textes et Glossaire. Paris Librairie C. Klincksieck. p. 235 and 244
4. ^ arbre-celtique
5. ^ Proto-Celtic—English lexicon. University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies. (See also this page for background and disclaimers.)