Alisanos

Alisanos (latinized as Alisanus) was a local Celtic god worshipped near Dijon (modern Côte-d'Or, France).

== Name == The theonym Alisanos is generally connected with the Gaulish word alisia, which may denote either a 'rock, boulder, rocky height' (cf. Old Irish ail 'rock, boulder') or the 'whitebeam' (source of French alisier 'whitebeam'; ultimately from a Proto-Indo-European term for 'alder'). On this basis, Alisanos has been interpreted either as a deity associated with rocky features of the landscape or as a god of whitebeams or alders. An alternative etymology, deriving the name from a river name Alisos, has also been suggested. Most Celticists nevertheless traditionally interpret Alisanos as a 'god of the rock', viewing him as an expression of Celtic animism, the belief that natural features of the landscape were endowed with their own divine presence.