On the Evidence of a Connection Between the Cimbri and the Chersonesus Cimbrica
Read Before the Philological Society
FEBRUARY 9, 1844.
It is considered that the evidence of any local connection between the Cimbri conquered by Marius, and the Chersonesus Cimbrica, is insufficient to counterbalance the natural improbability of a long and difficult national migration. Of such a connection, however, the identity of name and the concurrent belief of respectable writers are primâ facie evidence. This, however, is disposed of if such a theory as the following can be established, viz. that, for certain reasons, the knowledge of the precise origin and locality of the nations conquered by Marius was, at an early period, confused and indefinite; that new countries were made known without giving any further information; that, hence, the locality of the Cimbri was always pushed forwards beyond the limits of the geographical areas accurately ascertained; and finally, that thus their supposed locality retrograded continually northwards until it fixed itself in the districts of Sleswick and Jutland, where the barrier of the sea and the increase of geographical knowledge (with one exception) prevented it from getting farther. Now this view arises out of the examination of the language of the historians and geographers as examined in order, from Sallust to Ptolemy.
Of Sallust and Cicero, the language points to Gaul as the home of the nation in question; and that without the least intimation of its being any particularly distant portion of that country. “Per idem tempus adversus Gallos ab ducibus nostris, Q. Cæpione et M. Manlio, malè pugnatum—Marius Consul absens factus, et ei decreta Provincia Gallia.” Bell. Jugurth. 114. “Ipse ille Marius—influentes in Italiam Gallorum maximas copias repressit.” Cicero de Prov. Consul. 13. And here an objection may be anticipated. It is undoubtedly true that even if the Cimbri had originated in a locality so distant as the Chersonese, it would have been almost impossible to have made such a fact accurately understood. Yet it is also true, that if any material difference had existed between the Cimbri and the Gauls of Gaul, such must have been familiarly known in Rome, since slaves of both sorts must there have been common.
Cæsar, whose evidence ought to be conclusive (inasmuch as he knew of Germany as well as of Gaul), fixes them to the south of the Marne and Seine. This we learn, not from the direct text, but from inference: “Gallos—a Belgis Matrona et Sequana dividit.” Bell. Gall. i. “Belgas—solos esse qui, patrum nostrûm memoria, omni Galliâ vexatâ, Teutones Cimbrosque intra fines suos ingredi prohibuerunt.” Bell. Gall. ii. 4. Now if the Teutones and Cimbri had moved from north to south, they would have clashed with the Belgæ first and with the other Gauls afterwards. The converse, however, was the fact. It is right here to state, that the last observation may be explained away by supposing, either that the Teutones and Cimbri here meant may be a remnant of the confederation on their return, or else a portion that settled down in Gaul upon their way; or finally, a division that made a circle towards the place of their destination in a south-east direction. None of these however seem the plain and natural construction; and I would rather, if reduced to the alternative, read “Germania” instead of “Gallia” than acquiesce in the most probable of them.
Diodorus Siculus, without defining their locality, deals throughout with the Cimbri as a Gaulish tribe. Besides this, he gives us one of the elements of the assumed indistinctness of ideas in regard to their origin, viz. their hypothetical connexion with the Cimmerii. In this recognition of what might have been called the Cimmerian theory, he is followed by Strabo and Plutarch.—Diod. Sicul. v. 32. Strabo vii. Plutarch. Vit. Marii.
The next writer who mentions them is Strabo. In confirmation of the view taken above, this author places the Cimbri on the northernmost limit of the area geographically known to him, viz. beyond Gaul and in Germany, between the Rhine and the Elbe: τῶν δὲ Γερμάνων ὡς εἶπον, ὁὶ μὲν προσάρκτιοι παρηκοῦσι τῷ Ὠκεανῷ. Γνωρίζονται δ’ ἀπὸ τῶν ἐκβολῶν τοῦ Ῥήνου λαβόντες τὴν ἀρχὴν μέχρι τοῦ Ἄλβιος. Τούτων δὲ εἰσὶ γνωριμώτατοι Σούγαμβροί τε καὶ Κίμβροι. Τὰ δὲ πέραν τοῦ Ἄλβιος τὰ πρὸς τῷ Ὠκεανῷ ἄγνωστα ἡμῖν ἐστιν. (B. iv.) Further proof that this was the frontier of the Roman world we get from the statement which soon follows, viz. that “thus much was known to the Romans from their successful wars, and that more would have been known had it not been for the injunction of Augustus forbidding his generals to cross the Elbe.” (B. iv.)
Velleius Paterculus agrees with his contemporary Strabo. He places them beyond the Rhine and deals with them as Germans:—“tum Cimbri et Teutoni transcendere Rhenum, multis mox nostris suisque cladibus nobiles.” (ii. 9.) “Effusa—immanis vis Germanarum gentium quibus nomen Cimbris et Teutonis erat.” (Ibid. 12.)
From the Germania of Tacitus a well-known passage will be considered in the sequel. Tacitus’ locality coincides with that of Strabo.
Ptolemy.—Now the author who most mentions in detail the tribes beyond the Elbe is also the author who most pushes back the Cimbri towards the north. Coincident with his improved information as to the parts southward, he places them at the extremity of the area known to him: Καῦχοι οἱ μείζονες μέχρι τού Ἀλβίου ποταμοῦ· ἐφεξῆς δὲ ἐπὶ αὔχενα τῆς Κιμβρικῆς Χερσονήσου Σάξονες, αὐτὴν δὲ τὴν Χερσόνησον· ὑπερ μὲν τοὺς Σάξονας, Σιγουλώνες ἀπὸ δυσμῶν· εἶτα Σαβαλίγγιοι εἶτα Κόβανδοι, ὑπὲρ οὓς Χάλοι· καὶ ἔτι ὑπερτάτους δυσμικώτεροι μὲν Φουνδούσιοι, ἀνατολικώτεροι δὲ Χαροῦδες, πάντων δὲ ἀρτικώτεροι Κύμβροι.—Ptolemæi Germania.
Such is the evidence of those writers, Greek or Roman, who deal with the local habitation of the Cimbri rather than with the general history of that tribe. As a measure of the indefinitude of their ideas, we have the confusion, already noticed, between the Cimbri and Cimmerii, on the parts of Diodorus, Strabo, and Plutarch. A better measure occurs in the following extract from Pliny, who not only fixes the Cimbri in three places at once, but also (as far as we can find any meaning in his language) removes them so far northward as Norway: “Alterum genus Ingævones, quorum pars Cimbri Teutoni ac Chaucorum gentes. Proximi Rheno Istævones, quorum pars Cimbri mediterranei.” (iv. 14.) “Promontorium Cimbrorum excurrens in maria longe Peninsulam efficit quæ Carthis appellatur.” Ibid. “Sevo Mons (the mountain-chains of Norway) immanem ad Cimbrorum usque promontorium efficit sinum, qui Codanus vocatur, refertus insulis, quarum clarissima Scandinavia, incompertæ magnitudinis.” (iv. 13.) Upon confusion like this it is not considered necessary to expend further evidence. So few statements coincide, that under all views there must be a misconception somewhere; and of such misconception great must the amount be, to become more improbable than a national migration from Jutland to Italy.
Over and above, however, this particular question of evidence, there stands a second one; viz. the determination of the Ethnographical relations of the nations under consideration. This is the point as to whether the Cimbri conquered by Marius were Celts or Goths, akin to the Gauls, or akin to the Germans; a disputed point, and one which, for its own sake only, were worth discussing, even at the expense of raising a wholly independent question. Such however it is not. If the Cimbri were Celts, the improbability of their originating in the Cimbric Chersonese would be increased, and with it the amount of evidence required; since, laying aside other considerations, the natural unlikelihood of a large area being traversed by a mass of emigrants is greatly enhanced by the fact of any intermediate portion of that area being possessed by tribes as alien to each other as the Gauls and Germans. Hence therefore the fact of the Cimbri being Celts will (if proved) be considered as making against the probability of their origin in the Cimbric Chersonese; whilst if they be shown to be Goths, the difficulties of the supposition will be in some degree diminished. Whichever way this latter point is settled, something will be gained for the historian; since the supposed presence of Celts in the Cimbric Chersonese has complicated more than one question in ethnography.
Previous to proceeding in the inquiry it may be well to lay down once for all as a postulate, that whatever, in the way of ethnography, is proved concerning any one tribe of the Cimbro-Teutonic league, must be considered as proved concerning the remainder; since all explanations grounded upon the idea that one part was Gothic and another part Celtic have a certain amount of primâ facie improbability to set aside. The same conditions as to the burden of proof apply also to any hypotheses founded on the notion of retiring Cimbri posterior to the attempted invasion of Italy. On this point the list of authors quoted will not be brought below the time of Ptolemy. With the testimonies anterior to that writer, bearing upon the question of the ethnography, the attempt however will be made to be exhaustive. Furthermore, as the question in hand is not so much the absolute fact as to whether the Cimbri were Celts or Goths, but one as to the amount of evidence upon which we believe them to be either the one or the other, statements will be noticed under the head of evidence, not because they are really proofs, but simply because they have ever been looked upon as such. Beginning then with the Germanic origin of the Cimbro-Teutonic confederation, and dealing separately with such tribes as are separately mentioned, we first find the Ambrones.—In the Anglo-Saxon poem called the Traveller’s Song, there is a notice of a tribe called Ymbre, Ymbras, or Ymbran. Suhm, the historian of Denmark, has allowed himself to imagine that these represent the Ambrones, and that their name still exists in that of the island Amron of the coast of Sleswick, and perhaps in Amerland, a part of Oldenburg.—Thorpe’s note on the Traveller’s Song in the Codex Exoniensis.
Teutones.—In the way of evidence of there being Teutones amongst the Germans, over and above the associate mention of their names with that of the Cimbri, there is but little. They are not so mentioned either by Tacitus or Strabo. Ptolemy, however, mentions a) the Teutonarii, b) the Teutones: Τευτονοάριοι καὶ Ουίρουνοι—Φαραδεινῶν δὲ καὶ Συήβων, Τεύτονες καὶ Ἄμαρποι. Besides this, however, arguments have been taken from a) the meaning of the root teut=people (þiuda, M. G.; þeód, A. S.; diot, O. H. G.): b) the Saltus Teutobergius: c) the supposed connection of the present word Deut-sch=German with the classical word Teutones. These may briefly be disposed of.
a.) It is not unlikely for an invading nation to call themselves the nation, the nations, the people, &c. Neither, if the tribe in question had done so (presuming them to have been Germans or Goths), would the word employed be very unlike Teuton-es. Although the word þiud-a=nation or people, is generally strong in its declension (so making the plural þiud-ôs), it is found also in a weak form with its plural thiot-ûn=Teuton-. See Deutsche Grammatik, i. 630.
b.) The Saltus Teutobergius mentioned by Tacitus (Ann. i. 60) can scarcely have taken its name from a tribe, or, on the other hand, have given it to one. It means either the hill of the people, or the city of the people; according as the syllable -berg- is derived from báirgs=a hill, or from baúrgs=a city. In either case the compound is allowable, e. g. diot-wëc, public way, O. H. G.; thiod-scatho, robber of the people, O. S.; þëód-cyning, þeod-mearc, boundary of the nation, A. S.; þiód-land, þiód-vëgr, people’s way, Icelandic;—Theud-e-mirus, Theud-e-linda, Theud-i-gotha, proper names (from þiud-): himil-bërac, velt-përac; friðu-përac, O. H. G.; himinbiörg, valbiörg, Icelandic (from báirgs=hill)—ascipurc, hasalpurc, saltzpurc, &c., O. H. G. (from baúrgs=city). The particular word diot-puruc=civitas magna occurs in O. H. G.—See Deutsche Grammatik, iii. p. 478.
c. Akin to this is the reasoning founded upon the connection (real or supposed) between the root Teut- in Teuton-, and the root deut- in Deut-sch. It runs thus. The syllable in question is common to the word Teut-ones, Teut-onicus, Theod-iscus, teud-iscus, teut-iscus, tût-iske, dût-iske, tiut-sche, deut-sch; whilst the word Deut-sch means German. As the Teut-ones were Germans, so were the Cimbri also. Now this line of argument is set aside by the circumstance that the syllable Teut- in Teut-ones and Teut-onicus, as the names of the confederates of the Cimbri, is wholly unconnected with the Teut- in theod-iscus, and Deut-sch. This is fully shown by Grimm in his dissertation on the words German and Dutch. In its oldest form the latter word meant popular, national, vernacular; it was an adjective applied to the vulgar tongue, or the vernacular German, in opposition to the Latin. In the tenth century the secondary form Teut-onicus came in vogue even with German writers. Whether this arose out of imitation of the Latin form Romanice, or out of the idea of an historical connection with the Teutones of the classics, is immaterial. It is clear that the present word deut-sch proves nothing respecting the Teutones. Perhaps, however, as early as the time of Martial the word Teutonicus was used in a general sense, denoting the Germans in general. Certain it is that before his time it meant the particular people conquered by Marius, irrespective of origin or locality.—See Grimm’s Deutsche Grammatik, i. p. 17, 3rd edit. Martial, xiv. 26, Teutonici capilli. Claudian. in Eutrop. i. 406, Teutonicum hostem.
The Cimbri.—Evidence to the Gothic origin of the Cimbri (treated separately) begins with the writers under Augustus and Tiberius.
Vell. Paterculus.—The testimony of this writer as to the affinities of the nations in question is involved in his testimony as to their locality, and, consequently, subject to the same criticism. His mention of them (as Germans) is incidental.
Strabo.—Over and above the references already made, Strabo has certain specific statements concerning the Cimbri: a.) That according to a tradition (which he does not believe) they left their country on account of an inundation of the sea. This is applicable to Germany rather than to Gaul. This liability to inundations must not, however, be supposed to indicate a locality in the Cimbric Chersonese as well as a German origin, since the coast between the Scheldt and Elbe is as obnoxious to the ocean as the coasts of Holstein, Sleswick and Jutland. b.) That against the German Cimbri and Teutones the Belgæ alone kept their ground—ὥστε μόνους (Βέλγας) ἀντέχειν πρὸς τὴν τῶν Γερμάνων ἔφοδον, Κίμβρων καὶ Τευτόνων. (iv. 3.) This is merely a translation of Cæsar (see above) with the interpolation Γερμάνων. c.) That they inhabited their original country, and that they sent ambassadors to Augustus— καὶ γὰρ νῦν ἔχουσι τὴν χώραν ἣν εἶχον πρότερον καὶ ἕπεμπσαν τῷ Σεβαστῷ ιἑρώτατον παρ’ αὐτοῖς, λέβητα, αἰτούμενοι φιλίαν καὶ ἀμνηστίαν τῶν ὑπουργμένων· τυχόντες δὲ ὧν ἠξίουν ἀφῇραν. (B. i.) Full weight must be given to the definite character of this statement.
Tacitus.—Tacitus coincides with Strabo, in giving to the Cimbri a specific locality, and in stating special circumstances of their history. Let full weight be given to the words of a writer like Tacitus; but let it also be remembered that he wrote from hearsay evidence, that he is anything rather than an independent witness, that his statement is scarcely reconcileable with those of Ptolemy and Cæsar, and that above all the locality which both he and Strabo give the Cimbri is also the locality of the Sicambri, of which latter tribe no mention is made by Tacitus, although their wars with the Romans were matters of comparatively recent history. For my own part, I think, that between a confusion of the Cimbri with the Cimmerii on the one hand, and of the Cimbri with the Sicambri on the other, we have the clue to the misconceptions assumed at the commencement of the paper. There is no proof that in the eyes of the writers under the Republic, the origin of the Cimbri was a matter of either doubt or speculation. Catulus, in the History of his Consulship, commended by Cicero (Brutus, xxxv.), and Sylla in his Commentaries, must have spoken of them in a straightforward manner as Gauls, otherwise Cicero and Sallust would have spoken of them less decidedly. (See Plutarch’s Life of Marius, and note.) Confusion arose when Greek readers of Homer and Herodotus began to theorize, and this grew greater when formidable enemies under the name of Sicambri were found in Germany. It is highly probable that in both Strabo and Tacitus we have a commentary on the lines of Horace—
Te cæde gaudentes Sicambri
Compositis venerantur armis.
“Eumdem (with the Chauci, Catti, and Cherusci) Germaniæ sinum proximi Oceano Cimbri tenent, parva nunc civitas, sed gloria ingens: veterisque famæ lata vestigia manent, utrâque ripâ castra ac spatia, quorum ambitu nunc quoque metiaris molem manusque gentis, et tam magni exitus fidem—occasione discordiæ nostræ et civilium armorum, expugnatis legionum hibernis, etiam Gallias affectavêre; ac rursus pulsi, inde proximis temporibus triumphati magis quam victi sunt.” (German. 38.)
Justin.—Justin writes—“Simul e Germaniâ Cimbros—inundâsse Italiam.” Now this extract would be valuable if we were sure that the word Germania came from Justin’s original, Trogus Pompeius; who was a Vocontian Gaul, living soon after the Cimbric defeat. To him, however, the term Germania must have been wholly unknown; since, besides general reasons, Tacitus says—“Germaniæ vocabulum recens et nuper additum: quoniam, qui primum Rhenum transgressi Gallos expulerint, ac nunc Tungri, tunc Germani vocati sint: ita nationis nomen, non gentis evaluisse paullatim, ut omnes, primum a victore ob metum, mox a seipsis invento nomine Germani vocarentur.” Justin’s interpolation of Germania corresponds with the similar one on the part of Strabo.
Such is the evidence for the Germanic origin of the Cimbri and Teutones, against which may now be set the following testimonies as to their affinity with the Celts, each tribe being dealt with separately.
The Ambrones.—Strabo mentions them along with the Tigurini, an undoubted Celtic tribe—Κατὰ τὸν πρὸς Ἄμβρωνας καὶ Τωϋγενοὺς πόλεμον.
Suetonius places them with the Transpadani—“per Ambronas et Transpadanos.” (Cæsar, § 9.)
Plutarch mentions that their war-cries were understood and answered by the Ligurians. Now it is possible that the Ligurians were Celts, whilst it is certain that they were not Goths.
The Teutones.—Appian speaks of the Teutones having invaded Noricum, and this under the head Κέλτικα.
Florus calls one of the kings of the Teutones Teutobocchus, a name Celtic rather than Gothic.
Virgil has the following lines:—
... late jam tum ditione premebat
Sarrastes populos, et quæ rigat æquora Sarnus;
Quique Rufas, Batulumque tenent, atque arva Celennæ;
Et quos maliferæ despectant mœnia Abellæ:
Teutonico ritu soliti torquere cateias.
Tegmina queis capitum raptus de subere cortex,
Æratæque micant peltæ, micat æreus ensis.—Æn. vii. 737-743.
Now this word cateia may be a provincialism from the neighbourhood of Sarraste. It may also (amongst other things) be a true Teutonic word. From what follows it will appear that this latter view is at least as likely as any other. The commentators state that it is vox Celtica. That this is true may be seen from the following forms—Irish: ga, spear, javelin; gaoth, ditto, a dart; goth, a spear (O’Reilly); gaothadh, a javelin; gadh, spear; gai, ditto; crann gaidh, spear-shaft (Begly)—Cornish: geu, gew, gu, gui=lance, spear, javelin, shaft (Pryce)—Breton: goas, goaff (Rostremer).
The Cimbri—The Teutones.—Of either the Cimbri separately or of the Cimbri and Teutones collectively, being of Gallic origin, we have, in the way of direct evidence, the testimonies exhibited above, viz. of Sallust, Cicero, Cæsar, Diodorus. To this may be added that of Dion Cassius, who not only had access to the contemporary accounts which spoke of them as Gauls, but also was enabled to use them critically, being possessed of information concerning Germany as well as France.
Of Appian the whole evidence goes one way, viz. that the tribes in question were Gauls. His expressions are: πλεῖστον τι καὶ μαχιμώτατον—χρῆμα Κελτῶν εἰς τὴν Ἰταλίαν καὶ τὴν Γαλατίαν εἰσέβαλε. (iv. 2.) In his book on Illyria he states that the Celts and Cimbri, along with the Illyrian tribe of the Autariæ, had, previous to the battle against Marius, attacked Delphi and suffered for their impiety. (Ἰλλυρ. δ. 4.)
Quintilian may be considered to give us upon the subject the notions of two writers—Virgil, and either Cæsar or Crassus. In dealing, however, with the words of Quintilian, it will be seen that there are two assumptions. That either Cæsar or Crassus considered the Cimbri to be Gauls we infer from the following passage:—“Rarum est autem, ut oculis subjicere contingat (sc. vituperationem), ut fecit C. Julius, qui cum Helvio Manciæ sæpius obstrepenti sibi diceret, jam ostendam, qualis sis: isque plane instaret interrogatione, qualem se tandem ostensurus esset, digito demonstravit imaginem Galli in scuto Mariano Cimbrico pictam, cui Mancia tum simillimus est visus. Tabernæ autem erant circum Forum, ac scutum illud signi gratiâ positum.” Inst. Orat. vi. 3. 38. Pliny tells the story of Crassus (39. 4.). Although in this passage the word upon which the argument turns has been written galli, and translated cock, the current interpretation is the one given above.—Vid. not. ed. Gesner.
In the same author is preserved the epigram of Virgil’s called Catalecta, and commented on by Ausonius of Bordeaux. Here we learn that T. Annius Cimber was a Gaul; whilst it is assumed that there was no other reason to believe that he was called Cimber than that of his being descended from some slave or freedman of that nation:—“Non appareat affectatio, in quam mirifice Virgilius,
Corinthiorum amator iste verborum,
Ille iste rhetor: namque quatenus totus
Thucydides Britannus, Atticæ febres,
Tau-Gallicum, min-, al- spinæ male illisit.
Ita omnia ista verba miscuit fratri.
Cimber hic fuit a quo fratrem necatum hoc Ciceronis dictum notatum est; Germanum Cimber occidit.”—Inst. Orat. viii. 3. cum not.
Dic, quid significent Catalecta Maronis? in his al-
Celtarum posuit, sequitur non lucidius tau-,
Et quod germano mistum male letiferum min-.
—Auson.
Undoubtedly the pronunciation here ridiculed is that of the Gauls, and it is just possible that in it is foreshadowed the curtailed form that the Latin tongue in general puts on in the present French. Again, the slave whose courage failed him when ordered to slay Caius Marius is called both a Gaul and a Cimbrian by Plutarch, as well as by Lucan. In the latter writer we have probably but a piece of rhetoric (Pharsalia. lib. ii.)
Amongst tribes undoubtedly Gallic the Nervii claimed descent from the Teutones and Cimbri. The passage of Tacitus that connects the Nervii with the Germans connects them also with the Treveri. Now a well-known passage in St. Jerome tells us that the Treveri were Gauls:—Νέρβιοι ἠσαν δὲ Κίμβρων καὶ Τευτόνων ἀπόγονοι.—Appian, iv. 1. 4. “Treveri et Nervii circa adfectationem Germanicæ originis ultrò ambitiosi sunt, tamquam, per hanc gloriam sanguinis, a similitudine et inertiâ Gallorum separentur.” German. 28. Finally, in the Life of Marius by Plutarch we have dialogues between the Cimbri and the Romans. Now a Gallic interpreter was probable, but not so a German one.
Such are the notices bearing upon the ethnography of the Cimbri. Others occur, especially amongst the poets; of these little or no use can be made, for a reason indicated above. Justin speaks of embassies between Mithridates and the Cimbri. Suetonius connects the Cimbri with the Gallic Senones; he is writing however about Germany, so that his evidence, slight as it is, is neutralized. Theories grounded upon the national name may be raised on both sides; Cimbri may coincide with either the Germanic kempa=a warrior or champion, or with the Celtic Cymry=Cambrians. Equally equivocal seem the arguments drawn from the descriptions either of their physical conformation or their manners. The silence of the Gothic traditions as to the Cimbri being Germanic, proves more in the way of negative evidence than the similar silence of the Celtic ones, since the Gothic legends are the most numerous and the most ancient. Besides this, they deal very especially with genealogies, national and individual. The name of Bojorix, a Cimbric king mentioned in Epitome Liviana (lxvii.), is Celtic rather than Gothic, although in the latter dialects proper names ending in -ric, (Alaric, Genseric) frequently occur.
Measuring the evidence, which is in its character essentially cumulative, consisting of a number of details unimportant in themselves, but of value when taken in the mass, the balance seems to be in favour of the Cimbri, Teutones and Ambrones being Gauls rather than Germans, Celts rather than Goths.
An argument now forthcoming stands alone, inasmuch as it seems to prove two things at once, viz. not only the Celtic origin of the Cimbri, but, at the same time, their locality in the Chersonese. It is brought forward by Dr. Pritchard in his ‘Physical History of Mankind,’ and runs as follows:—(a.) It is a statement of Pliny that the sea in their neighbourhood was called by the Cimbri Morimarusa, or the dead sea=mare mortuum. (b.) It is a fact that in Celtic Welsh mor marwth=mare mortuum, morimarusa, dead sea. Hence the language of the Cimbric coast is to be considered as Celtic. Now the following facts invalidate this conclusion:—(1.) Putting aside the contradictions in Pliny’s statement, the epithet dead is inapplicable to either the German Ocean or the Baltic. (2.) Pliny’s authority was a writer named Philemon: out of the numerous Philemons enumerated by Fabricius, it is likely that the one here adduced was a contemporary of Alexander the Great; and it is not probable that at that time glosses from the Baltic were known in the Mediterranean. (3.) The subject upon which this Philemon wrote was the Homeric Poems. This, taken along with the geography of the time, makes it highly probable that the original Greek was not Κίμβροι, but Κιμμέριοι; indeed we are not absolutely sure of Pliny having written Cimbri. (4.) As applied to Cimmerian sea the epithet dead was applicable. (5.) The term Morimarusa=mare mortuum, although good Celtic, is better Slavonic, since throughout that stock of languages, as in many other of the Indo-European tongues (the Celtic and Latin included), the roots mor and mori mean sea and dead respectively:—“Septemtrionalis Oceanus, Amalchium eum Hecatæus appellat, a Paropamiso amne, qua Scythiam alluit, quod nomen ejus gentis linguâ significat congelatum, Philemon Morimarusam a Cimbris (qu. Cimmeriis) vocari scribit: hoc est mare mortuum usque ad promontorium Rubeas, ultra deinde Cronium.” (13.)
One point, however, still remains: it may be dealt with briefly, but it should not be wholly overlooked, viz. the question, whether over and above the theories as to the location of the Cimbri in the Cimbric Chersonese, there is reason to believe, on independent grounds, that Celtic tribes were the early inhabitants of the peninsula in question? If such were actually the case, all that has preceded would, up to a certain point, be invalidated. Now I know no sufficient reasons for believing such to be the case, although there are current in ethnography many insufficient ones.
1. In the way of Philology, it is undoubtedly true that words common to the Celtic tribes occur in the Danish of Jutland, and in the Frisian and Low German of Sleswick and Holstein; but there is no reason to consider that they belong to an aboriginal Celtic tribe. The à priori probability of Celts in the peninsula involves hypotheses in ethnography which are, to say the least, far from being generally recognized. The evidence as to the language of aborigines derived from the significance of the names of old geographical localities is wanting for the Cimbric Chersonese.
2. No traditions, either Scandinavian or German, point towards an aboriginal Celtic population for the localities in question.
3. There are no satisfactory proofs of such in either Archæology or Natural History. A paper noticed by Dr. Pritchard of Professor Eschricht’s upon certain Tumuli in Jutland states, that the earliest specimens of art (anterior to the discovery of metals), as well as the character of the tumuli themselves, have a Celtic character. He adds, however, that the character of the tumuli is as much Siberian as Celtic. The early specimens of art are undoubtedly like similar specimens found in England. It happens, however, that such things are in all countries more or less alike. In Professor Siebold’s museum at Leyden, stone-axes from tumuli in Japan and Jutland are laid side by side, for the sake of comparison, and between them there is no perceptible difference. The oldest skulls in these tumuli are said to be other than Gothic. They are, however, Finnic rather than Celtic.
4. The statement in Tacitus (German. 44.), that a nation on the Baltic called the Æstii spoke a language somewhat akin to the British, cannot be considered as conclusive to the existence of Celts in the North of Germany. Any language, not German, would probably so be denoted. Such might exist in the mother-tongue of either the Lithuanic or the Esthonian.
It is considered that in the foregoing pages the following propositions are either proved or involved:—1. That the Cimbri conquered by Marius came from either Gaul or Switzerland, and that they were Celts. 2. That the Teutones and Ambrones were equally Celtic with the Cimbri. 3. That no nation north of the Elbe was known to Republican Rome. 4. That there is no evidence of Celtic tribes ever having existed north of the Elbe. 5. That the epithet Cimbrica applied to the Chersonesus proves nothing more in respect to the inhabitants of that locality than is proved by words like West Indian and North-American Indian. 6. That in the word cateia we are in possession of a new Celtic gloss. 7. That in the term Morimarusa we are in possession of a gloss at once Cimmerian and Slavonic. 8. That for any positive theory as to the Cimbro-Teutonic league we have at present no data, but that the hypothesis that would reconcile the greatest variety of statements would run thus: viz. that an organized Celtic confederation conterminous with the Belgæ, the Ligurians, and the Helvetians descended with its eastern divisions upon Noricum, and with its western ones upon Provence.
Addenda
JANUARY 1859.
(1)
In this paper the notice of the Monumentum Ancyranum is omitted. It is CIMBRIQVE ET CHRIIDES ET SEMNONES ET EJVSDEM TRACTVS ALII GERMANORVM POPVLI PER LEGATOS AMICITIAM MEAM ET POPVLI ROMANI PETIERVNT. This seems to connect itself with Strabo’s notice. It may also connect itself with that of Tacitus. Assuming the CHARIIDES to be the Harudes, and the Harudes to be the Cherusci (a doctrine for which I have given reasons in my edition of the Germania) the position of the Cimbri in the text of Tacitus is very nearly that of them in the Inscription. In the inscription, the order is Cimbri, Harudes, Semnones; in Tacitus, Cherusci, Cimbri, Semnones. In both cases the 3 names are associated.
(2)
I would now modify the proposition with which the preceding dissertation concludes, continuing, however, to hold the main doctrine of the text, viz. the fact of the Cimbri having been unknown in respect to their name and locality and, so, having been pushed northwards, and more northwards still, as fresh areas were explored without supplying an undoubted and unequivocal origin for them.
I think that the Ambrones, the Tigurini, and the Teutones were Gauls of Helvetia, and South Eastern Gallia, and that the alliance between them and the Cimbri (assuming it to be real) is primâ facie evidence of the latter being Galli also. But it is no more.
That the Cimbri were the Eastern members of the confederation seems certain. More than one notice connects them with Noricum. Here they may have been native. They may also have been intrusive.
Holding that the greater part of Noricum was Slavonic, and that almost all the country along its northern and eastern frontier was the same, I see my way to the Cimbri having been Slavonic also. That they were Germans is out of the question. Gauls could hardly have been so unknown and mysterious to the Romans. Gaul they knew well, and Germany sufficiently—yet no where did they find Cimbri.
The evidence of Posidonius favours this view. “He” writes Strabo “does not unreasonably conceive that these Cimbri being predatory and wandering might carry their expeditions as far as the Mæotis, and that the Bosporus might, from them, take its name of Cimmerian, i. e. Cimbrian, the Greeks calling the Cimbri Cimmerii. He says that the Boii originally inhabited the Hercynian Forest, that the Cimbri attacked them, that they were repulsed, that they then descended on the Danube, and the country of the Scordisci who are Galatæ; thence upon the Taurisci,” who “are also Galatæ, then upon the Helvetians &c.”—Strabo. 7, p. 293.
For a fuller explanation of the doctrine which makes the Cimbri possible Slavonians see my Edition of Prichard’s origin of the Celtic nations—Supplementary Chapter—Ambrones, Tigurini, Teutones, Boii, Slavonic hypothesis &c.