Nemetes

Last updated
A map of eastern Gaul showing the Nemetes at the right along the Rhine. BelgicaI GermaniaI.jpg
A map of eastern Gaul showing the Nemetes at the right along the Rhine.

The Nemetes E.g. Frederick Kohlrausch "History of Germany. From the Earliest Period to the Present Time". D.Appleton and Company, New York, 1880. [1] were a tribe settled along the Upper Rhine by Ariovistus in the 1st century BC.

Contents

Their area of settlement was the contact zone between Celtic (Gaulish) and Germanic peoples. According to Tacitus, the Nemetes were "unquestionably Germanic". [2] The name of the tribe, however, is Celtic as the name of its main town Noviomagus meaning novios 'new' and magos 'plain', 'market' (cf. Welsh maes 'field', Old Irish mag 'plain'), [3] as are those of several gods worshipped in their territory, including Nemetona, who is thought to have been their eponymous deity. [4] Both of these names are taken to be derivations from the Celtic stem nemeto- "sacred grove". [3] [4] [5]

In De Bello Gallico , Caesar writes that the Hercynian Forest "begins at the frontiers of the Helvetii, and Rauraci, and extends in a right line along the river Danube to the territories of the Daci and the Anartes". [6] Their territory on the left bank of the Rhine had belonged to the Mediomatrici during the time of Caesar and Strabo, but the Nemetes must have crossed the river and settled there sometime afterward. [7] Under the Roman administrative organization of Gaul, the Nemetes constituted a civitas of the province of Upper Germany with a relatively small territory extending from the Rhine into the Palatinate Forest and an administrative centre at Speyer. Ptolemy mentions Neomagus (i.e. Noviomagus) and Rufiniana as the towns of the Nemetes; [8] if the latter is to be identified with Rouffach, Ptolemy is mistaken in attributing it to the Nemetes, for Rouffach is far to the south in Rauracan territory. [9] [10] It may also be supposed that Saletio (Seltz) belonged to the Nemetes, as in modern times it belonged to the diocese of Speyer; Saletio would have been near the northern limits of the Triboci, whose civitas later became the diocese of Strasbourg. [11] The Nemetes fought alongside the Romans and Vangiones against the Chatti when the latter invaded in 50 AD. [12]

The name of the Nemetes has been suggested, on contestable grounds, [13] as a possible source of the term for Germany and German people in Romanian : nemți/neamț, Hungarian : német(ek) and the Slavic languages (Russian : немцыnyemtsy, Ukrainian : німціnimtsi, Polish : Niemcy, Czech : Němci). [14]

See also

Notes

  1. p. 40.
  2. Tacitus. Germania 28.
  3. 1 2 Xavier Delamarre (2003). Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise. Éditions Errance, p. 233.
  4. 1 2 John T. Koch (2006). Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO, p. 1351.
  5. X., Delamarre (2003). Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise : une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental (2e éd. rev. et augm ed.). Paris: Errance. pp. 233–234. ISBN   9782877723695. OCLC   354152038.
  6. C. Iulius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico , VI:25. Translation based on W. A. McDevitte and W. S. Bohn (1869), cf. Latin text.
  7. George Long. "Mediomatrici", from Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography.
  8. Claudius Ptolemaeus. Geographia, II:8.
  9. George Long. "Rufiniana", from Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography.
  10. In fact, the mistake comes from more modern historians, because Rufiniana cannot be the former name of Rouffach. It is impossible for three reasons : 1 - The ancient forms of this place-name are known as Rubiaco en 662, Rubac 912, Rubiacum 12th. 2 - The end of Rufiniana supposes two suffixes -ini(us?)-ana and Rubiaco has only one -aco. 3 - The first element Ruf- cannot change to [b] into Latin Rub-. On the contrary, the shift from [b] to [p] and finally to [f] (Rubac > *Rupach > Rouffach) is the typical result of the High German consonant shift, that took place a long time after Ptolemy's death.
  11. George Long. "Triboci", from Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography.
  12. Tacitus. Annals, XII: 27.
  13. "nêmьcь". Denkschriften der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Band 15. Philosophisch-Historische Klasse, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien, 1867. (in German)
  14. The Journal of Indo-European studies 1974, v.2 Etymology of the Polish-language word for Germany Archived 2008-04-02 at the Wayback Machine (in Polish)

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nervii</span> Belgic tribe

The Nervii were one of the most powerful Belgic tribes of northern Gaul at the time of its conquest by Rome. Their territory corresponds to the central part of modern Belgium, including Brussels, and stretched southwards into French Hainault. During their first century BC Roman military campaign, Julius Caesar's contacts among the Remi stated that the Nervii were the most warlike of the Belgae. In times of war, they were known to trek long distances to take part in battles. Being one of the northerly Belgic tribes, with the Menapii to the west, and the Eburones to their east, they were considered by Caesar to be relatively uncorrupted by civilization. According to Tacitus they claimed Germanic descent. According to Strabo they were of Germanic origin.

The Atrebates were a Belgic tribe of the Iron Age and the Roman period, originally dwelling in the Artois region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lingones</span> Gallic tribe

The Lingones were a Gallic tribe of the Iron Age and Roman periods. They dwelled in the region surrounding the present-day city of Langres, between the provinces of Gallia Lugdunensis and Gallia Belgica.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ariovistus</span> 1st-century BC Germanic ruler

Ariovistus was a leader of the Suebi and other allied Germanic peoples in the second quarter of the 1st century BC. He and his followers took part in a war in Gaul, assisting the Arverni and Sequani in defeating their rivals, the Aedui. They then settled in large numbers into conquered Gallic territory, in the Alsace region. They were defeated, however, in the Battle of Vosges and driven back over the Rhine in 58 BC by Julius Caesar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treveri</span> Belgic tribe

The Trēverī were a Germanic or Celtic tribe of the Belgae group who inhabited the lower valley of the Moselle in modern day Germany from around 150 BCE, if not earlier, until their displacement by the Franks. Their domain lay within the southern fringes of the Silva Arduenna, a part of the vast Silva Carbonaria, in what are now Luxembourg, southeastern Belgium and western Germany; its centre was the city of Trier, to which the Treveri give their name. Celtic in language, according to Tacitus they claimed Germanic descent. They contained both Gallic and Germanic influences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bellovaci</span> Belgic tribe

The Bellovaci were a Belgic tribe dwelling in the modern Picardy region, near the present-day city of Beauvais, during the Iron Age and the Roman period. After they were defeated by Caesar in 57 BC, they gave lukewarm support to the Gallic revolt led by Vercingetorix in 52 BC. The Bellovaci nonetheless organized resistance against Rome in 51 BC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carnutes</span> Gallic tribe

The Carnutes or Carnuti, were a Gallic tribe dwelling in an extensive territory between the Sequana (Seine) and the Liger (Loire) rivers during the Iron Age and the Roman period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vangiones</span>

The Vangiones appear first in history as an ancient Germanic tribe of unknown provenance. They threw in their lot with Ariovistus in his bid of 58 BC to invade Gaul through the Doubs river valley and lost to Julius Caesar in a battle probably near Belfort. After some Celts evacuated the region in fear of the Suebi, the Vangiones, who had made a Roman peace, were allowed to settle among the Mediomatrici in northern Alsace.. They gradually assumed control of the Celtic city of Burbetomagus, later Worms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Morini</span> Belgic tribe

The Morini were a Belgic coastal tribe dwelling in the modern Pas de Calais region, around present-day Boulogne-sur-Mer, during the Iron Age and the Roman period.

The Mandubii were a small Gallic tribe dwelling near their chief town Alesia, in modern Côte-d'Or, during the Iron Age and the Roman period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Petrocorii</span> Gallic tribe

The Petrocorii were a Gallic tribe dwelling in the present-day Périgord region, between the Dordogne and Vézère rivers, during the Iron Age and the Roman period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mediomatrici</span> Belgic tribe

The Mediomatrici were according to Caesar a Gaulish tribe at the frontier to the Belgicae dwelling in the present-day regions Lorraine, Upper Moselle during the Iron Age and the Roman period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lemovices</span> Gallic tribe

The Lemovīcēs were a Gallic tribe dwelling in the modern Limousin region during the Iron Age and the Roman period.

The Lexovii, were a Gallic tribe dwelling immediately west of the mouth of the Seine, around present-day Lisieux, during the Iron Age and the Roman period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leuci</span> Belgic tribe

The Leucī were a Belgic tribe dwelling in the southern part of the modern Lorraine region during the Iron Age and the Roman period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andecavi</span> Gallic tribe

The Andecavi were a Gallic tribe dwelling in Aremorica during the Roman period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gabali</span> Gallic tribe

The Gabali were a Gallic tribe dwelling in the later Gévaudan region during the Iron Age and the Roman period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Triboci</span> Germanic people of eastern Gaul

In classical antiquity, the Triboci or Tribocci were a Germanic people of eastern Gaul, inhabiting much of what is now Alsace.

The Germani cisrhenani, or "Left bank Germani", were a group of Germanic peoples who lived west of the Lower Rhine at the time of the Gallic Wars in the mid-1st century BC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cadurci</span> Gallic tribe

The Cadurci were a Gallic tribe dwelling in the later region of Quercy during the Iron Age and the Roman period.