Scholarship suggests the name is a compound of at- (intensifier), -epo- (the Celtic word for "horse") and -marus ("large, great").[2][3] Thus, the epithet is sometimes translated as "Great Horseman" or "possessing a great horse".[4][5]
Pierre-Yves Lambert rejects his connection with horses and suggests an etymology based on *ad-tepo, related to 'protection, refuge'.[6]
A character named Atepomarus appears with a Momoros (fr) as a pair of Celtic kings and founders of Lugdunum. They escape from Sereroneus and arrive at a hill. Momorus, who had skills in augury, sees a murder of crows and names the hill Lougodunum, after the crows. This myth is reported in the works of Klitophon of Rhodes and in Pseudo-Plutarch's De fluviis.[7][2][8][4]
The name appears as a theonym attached to Graeco-Roman deities Apollo and Mercurius.[4][9] An inscription of Apollo Atepomarus was found in Mauvières, tied to the Gallic tribe of the Bituriges.[10][11]
^Clavel-Lévêque, Monique (1985). "Mais où sont les druides d'antan... ? Tradition religieuse et identité culturelle en Gaule". Dialogues d'histoire ancienne (in French). 11: 556–604 [598]. doi:10.3406/dha.1985.1675.
^Carru, Dominique; Christol, Michel; Janon, Michel (2004). "Mercure et les AteiideCarpentorate (Carpentras, Vaucluse): Note sur une inscription récemment découverte". Revue archéologique de Narbonnaise (in French). 37 (1): 277–289 [285]. doi:10.3406/ran.2004.1143.
^Hatt, Jean-Jacques (1983). "Apollon guérisseur en Gaule: Ses origines, son caractère, les divinités qui lui sont associées - Chapitre II". Revue archéologique du Centre de la France (in French). 22 (3): 185–218 [189]. doi:10.3406/racf.1983.2383.
^Fincker, Myriam; Tassaux, Francis (1992). "Les grands sanctuaires "ruraux" d'Aquitaine et le culte impérial". Mélanges de l'École française de Rome: Antiquité (in French). 104 (1): 41–76 [71]. doi:10.3406/mefr.1992.1746.
