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Teutates (also Toutatis) was a Celtic god whose name can be interpreted crystal-clearly: it derives from Celtic toutā ("tribe, people") and means "he (the god) of the tribe". Teutates was thus the divine embodiment of the community itself – its protector in war and peace.
Every tribe could have "its" Teutates – the name is almost a title: the protective god of this people. The Roman poet Lucan names him together with Taranis and Esus as one of the great Gaulish deities to whom sacrifice was made. Caesar equated the Celtic gods with Roman ones; Teutates was linked, depending on his role, with Mars or Mercury.
The most fascinating thing is the language: Celtic toutā and Germanic *þeudō ("people") go back to the same Indo-European root *teutā. From Germanic *þeudō, via diutisc ("belonging to the people"), came the German word "deutsch". The Celtic "god of the people" and the German "Volk" thus literally share a root – and the Mars connection links Teutates at the same time with the Germanic Tiwaz (Mars Thingsus): a god of war and of the people on both sides of the Rhine.
"Wits must he have who wanders wide, but all is easy at home."Hávamál 5, after Henry A. Bellows 1923 (public domain)
Teutates is the god of the community – and the finest proof of how closely the Celtic and Germanic worlds were interwoven: right into the word we call "deutsch" today. More in the overview Celtic Religion.
Celtic Religion · Tiwaz · Lugh · Taranis · Interpretatio Romana.
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