12-20-2013, 08:01 PM
"Gaul is a whole divided into three parts... a third by a people called in their own tongue Celtae, in the Latin Galli."
- Julius Caesar's Commentaries on the Gallic War
As you can see it would not be unlikely that the Romans would have their own names for certain tribes/groups. Names could also have been given as a misunderstanding; the first Germanic tribe that the Romans came into contact with were the Germani, subsequently it became a blanket term for the entire cultural group. Since the only accounts that we have of such tribes are primarily Latin, we would not necessarily know whether it was the native name or the Latin interpretation. I believe the most reasonable explanation is that the tribal names are simply a Latinized form of its native counterpart.
- Julius Caesar's Commentaries on the Gallic War
As you can see it would not be unlikely that the Romans would have their own names for certain tribes/groups. Names could also have been given as a misunderstanding; the first Germanic tribe that the Romans came into contact with were the Germani, subsequently it became a blanket term for the entire cultural group. Since the only accounts that we have of such tribes are primarily Latin, we would not necessarily know whether it was the native name or the Latin interpretation. I believe the most reasonable explanation is that the tribal names are simply a Latinized form of its native counterpart.
"The strong did what they could, the weak suffered what they must."
- Thucydides
Sean Cantrell
Northern Michigan
- Thucydides
Sean Cantrell
Northern Michigan
