I wanted my first post on this blog to be related to the name of it, so I’m going to discuss the Goddess Tamfana first.
Tamfana is a Germanic Goddess of the Marsi Peoples. They settled between the Rhine, Lippe, and Danube. A feast to her was invaded and the events are detailed by Tacitus. Nobody was spared- women, children, elderly, or hale.
Her name has a few different etymological properties, the ones I prefer to use relate to “Tanne” and “Fanum”
Tanne is the word for Fir Tree in Dutch and German, and Fanum means a temple in Latin. We know Tacitus views these people through a Roman Lens, so it’s entirely possible that he is responsible for the addition of ‘Fanum’ (later shortened to Fana) to the original name of Tam or Tanne.
When we look at Tacitus' wording when mentioning Tamfana by name, he uses 'templum quod Tamfanae vocabant solo aequantur.' or 'the temple of Tamfana, as they called it, equalized (I.E, leveled to the ground.)' I'm of the personal speculation that he could have instead said 'templum quod Tam fanae', Templum being the nominative singular and Fanae being the plural. This interpretation of mine would suggest that there were many places where Tam was worshipped, but the passage refers to one of her temples that was destroyed. (or that the place where Tam was worshipped did not encapsulate only a temple, but lands around the temple, perhaps a sacred Grove.)
If we make the assumption that this observation is the truth, we can then make out a few things about her. She’s related to fir trees, her name is just Tanne or Tam, and it’s possible the song “O, Tannebaum” is or was about her at some point. Tannebaum just means Fir tree or Fir bundle. If we don't assume that her name is split strangely, we can still keep the Fir Tree part but we can add in the belief that she might be a goddess of Sacred Spaces, or have the ability to create sacred spaces.
Some other attestations include an now discredited poem discovered in the 1800s and claimed to hark from the 1300s (the man who 'discovered' it has been found lying about other anthropological finds) in which Tamfana is said to "send sheep overhead". There's an inscription of her name in Central Italy in Terni; Tamfanae Sacrum but I couldn't find photos of it online, and there's also a seal from 1336 that supposedly depicts her holding a fir branch, flanked by the sun and accompanied by a cat and an eagle (but this is thought to also be St. Brigid.)
Some other Scholars have tried their hand at different etymological interpretations, most of which resulting with meanings of fullness, bounty, expenditure, unthrifty, lavasciousness, feasting, stuffed (like a feeling after eating a large meal). Justus Lisipus, a sixteenth century scholar likened her name to the Celtic root 'Tan', meaning Fire.
The time of the massacre (and subsequent time of her feast) are said to have happened in autumn, furthering her possibility of being a Harvest Goddess. Some people today place her feast day on November first.
Tamfana is ultimately a mystery, as are most goddesses of the German Tribes. In short: Tamfana is represented by the Fir and by feasts, her feast day in in November, she's a goddess of abundance and fullness, and possibly of fire.
