Bormanicus the Hot-Springs Healer
Lusitanian · deity · Roman period · Recorded classification
Name leads with the English phrase 'the Hot-Springs Healer'; attested votive form Bormanico (dative). Native theonym from a Celtic root *bormo-/*borvo- ('to boil, bubble'), describing thermal water. Classed as a deity; cognate with Gaulish Borvo. Known from the Caldas de Vizela dedications, no narrative.
Domains
- springs sacred waters
- healing medicine
Powers
- heal through hot bubbling springs
Sources
- Bormanicus is the Lusitanian-Gallaecian god of the thermal springs at Caldas de Vizela, attested on votive altars there (one set up by a man of Uxama origin) and assimilated to Apollo; he is the local equivalent of the wider Celtic healing-spring god Borvo/Bormo.: Caldas de Vizela votive altars (inscription); A. Tranoy, La Galice romaine (1981); Olivares Pedreño, e-Keltoi 6 (2005) (secondary)
- One reading of the Vizela altar gives 'Reo Bormanicus', linking the thermal god to the high god Reo/Reve and reinforcing the aquatic interpretation.: A. Redentor, reading of the Caldas de Vizela altar as Reo Bormanicus (secondary)