Tricasses

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The Tricasses were a Gallic tribe dwelling on the upper Seine and the Aube rivers during the Roman period. Until the first century AD, they were probably reckoned among the Senones. [1]

Contents

Name

They are mentioned as Tricasses by Pliny (1st c. AD), [2] and as Trikásioi (Τρικάσιοι) by Ptolemy (2nd c. AD). [3] [4]

The Gaulish ethnonym Tricasses derives from the root for 'three', tri-. [5] The meaning of the second element -casses, attested in other Gaulish ethnonyms such as Bodiocasses , Durocasses , Sucasses , Veliocasses or Viducasses , has been debated, but it probably signifies '(curly) hair, hairstyle' (cf. Old Irish chass 'curl'), perhaps referring to a particular warrior coiffure. The name Tricasses may thus be translated as 'the three-braided ones' or 'those of the three (many) curls'. [6]

The city of Troyes, attested ca. 400 AD as civitas Tricassium ('civitas of the Tricasses'; Trecassis in the 7th c., Treci in 890, Troies in 1230), is named after the Gallic tribe. [7]

Geography

The Tricasses dwelled near the Senones, the Parisii, the Meldi, the Remi and the Lingones. [1]

From the reign of Augustus, Augustobona Tricassium (modern Troyes) was the chief town of their civitas . [1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Polfer 2006.
  2. ↑ Pliny. Naturalis Historia, 4:107.
  3. ↑ Ptolemy. Geōgraphikḕ Hyphḗgēsis, 2:8:10.
  4. ↑ Falileyev 2010, s.v. Tricasses.
  5. ↑ Delamarre 2003, p. 301.
  6. ↑ Delamarre 2003, pp. 109–110: "H. Birkhan parvient cependant à la conclusion raisonnable que -casses et cassi- sont deux mots différents, que -casses signifie probablement 'au cheveux bouclés / crépus' ("mit wirrem Kraushaar") et s'explique par la coiffure spéciale des Celtes au combat (une forme celto-germanique *kazdh- permettrait d'unifier le celtique -cass- et les mots v.norr. haddr 'longs cheveux de femme', ags. heord 'chevelure' < *kazdh-to-/ti-)."
  7. ↑ Nègre 1990, p. 157.

Bibliography

  • Delamarre, Xavier (2003). Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise: Une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental (in French). Errance. ISBN   9782877723695.
  • Falileyev, Alexander (2010). Dictionary of Continental Celtic Place-names: A Celtic Companion to the Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. CMCS. ISBN   978-0955718236.
  • Nègre, Ernest (1990). Toponymie générale de la France (in French). Librairie Droz. ISBN   978-2-600-02883-7.
  • Polfer, Michel (2006). "Tricasses". Brill's New Pauly. doi:10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e1220270.
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