Nemetes
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The Nemetes or Nemeti (German: Nemeter) were a Germano-Celtic tribe living by the Rhine between the Palatinate and Lake Constance where Ariovistus had led them, the Suebi and other allied Germanic peoples in the second quarter of the 1st century BC. The Roman name Noviomagus Nemetum for the town of Speyer reflects this. The goddess Nemetona was worshiped throughout their area and is thought to have been their eponymous deity.[1] The names of both tribe and goddess derive from the Celtic root nemeto-, referring to sacred spaces, and is related to nemeton.[1]
In De Bello Gallico, Caesar writes in Book VI 25,1: The Hercynian Forest begins in the area of the Helveti, Nemeti and Rauraci and stretches along the Danube to the areas of the Daci and Anarti).[2] Tacitus (in Annals XII 27) considers the Nemeti as allies of Rome.[3]
The name of the Nemetes is a probable source of the term for Germany and German people in the Slavonic languages, e.g. немцы (nemtsy) in the Russian language.[4][5] See also exonyms.
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[edit] Notes
- ^ a b Koch, p. 1351.
- ^ C. Iulius Caesar, "Commentariorum Libri VII de Bello Gallico", VI, 25. Latin text
- ^ P. CORNELIVS TACITVS ANNALES, 12, 27. Latin text
- ^ The Journal of Indo-European studies 1974, v.2
- ^ Etymology of the Polish-language word for Germany (Polish)
[edit] References
- Koch, John T. (2006). Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO.
