Reo (deity)


Reo is a name appearing on Latin dedications to a Lusitanian-Gallaecian deity, usually with an epithet relating to a place, such as Reo Paramaeco discovered in Lugo in Galicia. The name Reo is in the Latin dative case, for a Latinized name *Reus.

Name and meaning

Apart from Reo Larauco the epithets share an -aik- element interpreted as an adjectival marker familiar from Lusitanian inscriptions in the dedications to Reo Paramaeco Amoaego Arcunii, Anabaraeco, and Alabaraico Sulensi. The first element Reo/Reus is very similar to the name Reue appearing on the Lusitanian Cabeço das Fráguas inscription, part of which reads INDI TAVROM IFADEM REVE T..., usually interpreted as "and a fertile bull for Reue" with the epithet lost. Reue therefore also seems to be a dative in the Lusitanian form of the name. Reue appears again on the Ribeira da Venda inscription, including an epithet, as REVE AHARACVI - this time the deity is receiving a sacrifice of ten sheep.
Polish scholar K. T. Witczak derives the name from earlier *diewo, suggesting that the Lusitanian language changed the Proto-Indo European d to r, making Reo a sky deity similar to the Greek Zeus and Roman Jupiter, something which may be supported by dedications to him near mountains which also allude to Roman Jupiter; however other authorities such as Blázquez and Villar suggest he may have been a deity linked to rivers and that the name derives from a root meaning a flow or current.