Elbe Germanii
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The Elbe Germans (german: Elbgermanen) or Elbe Germanic peoples were Germanic tribes whose settlement area, based on archaeological finds, lay either side of the Elbe estuary on both sides of the river and which extended as far as
Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...
and Moravia, clearly the result of a migration up the Elbe river from the northwest in advance of the main
Migration Period The Migration Period was a period in European history marked by large-scale migrations that saw the fall of the Western Roman Empire and subsequent settlement of its former territories by various tribes, and the establishment of the post-Roman ...
until the individual groups ran into the Roman
Danube Limes The Danubian Limes (german: Donaulimes), or Danube Limes, refers to the Roman military frontier or ''limes'' which lies along the River Danube in the present-day German state of Bavaria, in Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria and ...
around 200 AD.


Tribal affiliation

The Elbe Germans included the tribes of the
Semnones The Semnones were a Germanic and specifically a Suevian people, who were settled between the Elbe and the Oder in the 1st century when they were described by Tacitus in ''Germania'': "The Semnones give themselves out to be the most ancient and r ...
,
Hermunduri The Hermunduri, Hermanduri, Hermunduli, Hermonduri, or Hermonduli were an ancient Germanic tribe, who occupied an inland area near the source of the Elbe river, around what is now Bohemia from the first to the third century, though they have also ...
,
Quadi The Quadi were a Germanic * * * people who lived approximately in the area of modern Moravia in the time of the Roman Empire. The only surviving contemporary reports about the Germanic tribe are those of the Romans, whose empire had its bord ...
, Marcomanni and the Lombards. Historically they are possibly the same as the
Irminones The Irminones, also referred to as Herminones or Hermiones ( grc, Ἑρμίονες), were a large group of early Germanic tribes settling in the Elbe watershed and by the first century AD expanding into Bavaria, Swabia and Bohemia. Notably this ...
or Herminones mentioned by classical authors such as Tacitus, Pliny the Elder and Pomponius Mela. The most notable of these were the
Suebic The Suebi (or Suebians, also spelled Suevi, Suavi) were a large group of Germanic peoples originally from the Elbe river region in what is now Germany and the Czech Republic. In the early Roman era they included many peoples with their own names ...
tribes. All or most of the modern languages thought to derive from the languages of these historical peoples are in the High German group of the West Germanic language family. By contrast with the settlement areas of the North Sea, Oder-Vistula and Rhine-Weser Germans (from which the Franks descended), there was a relatively uniform development in the economic and social spheres. This can be seen, for example, in the clear consistencies of material and intellectual culture (ceramics, appliances, weapons, jewellery, religious customs, etc.). This was due to the intensive contact between the Elbe Germanic tribes, as well as contact with other, more distant, Germanic tribes. Links with the Jastorf culture have been made. Based on the Roman sources, this cultural area was briefly united under
Maroboduus Maroboduus (d. AD 37) was a king of the Marcomanni, who were a Germanic Suebian people. He spent part of his youth in Rome, and returning, found his people under pressure from invasions by the Roman empire between the Rhine and Elbe. He led th ...
(c. 30 BC -- AD 37), a Romanized king of the Germanic Suebi.


History of research

The term 'Elbe Germanic' (German: ''Elbgermanen'') was first used in 1868 by Paul Gustav Wislicenus (1847-1917), but it was especially popularized by the German prehistorian :de:Walther Matthes in 1931. The term was based initially on partially speculative derivations from ancient Roman sources. For example, numerous Roman authors mentioned the tribes such as the
Suebi The Suebi (or Suebians, also spelled Suevi, Suavi) were a large group of Germanic peoples originally from the Elbe river region in what is now Germany and the Czech Republic. In the early Roman era they included many peoples with their own names ...
and the
Irminones The Irminones, also referred to as Herminones or Hermiones ( grc, Ἑρμίονες), were a large group of early Germanic tribes settling in the Elbe watershed and by the first century AD expanding into Bavaria, Swabia and Bohemia. Notably this ...
, and some other Germanic tribes of the late antiquity on the Danube limes of the Roman Empire. In the second half of the 20th century, more archeological evidence has emerged. In 1963, the Czech archaeologist Bedřich Svoboda took up the term and postulated an Elbe Germanic connection with the finds in Bohemia and Bavaria, which was later confirmed. Archaeological finds make it possible to differentiate between the different settlement areas of the Elbe Germanic tribes. There is a northern group around the mouth of the Elbe and in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, a middle group in central Germany that reaches as far as the Oder, and a southern group in Bohemia, an area that was entirely Elbe-Germanic during the time of the Roman Empire. Based on the linguistic and archaeological evidence, it is believed that the major Germanic tribes of the
Alemanni The Alemanni or Alamanni, were a confederation of Germanic tribes * * * on the Upper Rhine River. First mentioned by Cassius Dio in the context of the campaign of Caracalla of 213, the Alemanni captured the in 260, and later expanded into pres ...
,
Thuringii The Thuringii, Toringi or Teuriochaimai, were an early Germanic people that appeared during the late Migration Period in the Harz Mountains of central Germania, a region still known today as Thuringia. It became a kingdom, which came into confl ...
, and the
Bavarii The Baiuvarii or Bavarians (german: Bajuwaren) were a Germanic people. The Baiuvarii had settled modern-day Bavaria (which is named after them), Austria, and South Tyrol by the 6th century AD, and are considered the ancestors of modern-day Bava ...
mainly developed from the smaller Suebic groups that were part of the Elbe Germanic peoples.Heinrich Beck
Germanenprobleme in heutiger Sicht
Walter de Gruyter, Berlin/New York, 1999,


Elbe Germanic protolanguage

"Elbe Germanic", also called ''Irminonic'', is a term introduced by the German linguist Friedrich Maurer in his 1942 book, ''Nordgermanen und Alemanen'', to describe the unattested proto-language, or dialectal grouping, ancestral to the later
Alemannic Alemannic (''Alamannic'') or Alamanni may refer to: * Alemannic German, a dialect family in the Upper German branch of the German languages and its speakers * Alemanni, a confederation of Suebian Germanic tribes in the Roman period * Alamanni (surna ...
, Lombardic, Thuringian and Bavarian dialects.


See also

*
Irminones The Irminones, also referred to as Herminones or Hermiones ( grc, Ἑρμίονες), were a large group of early Germanic tribes settling in the Elbe watershed and by the first century AD expanding into Bavaria, Swabia and Bohemia. Notably this ...
*
South Germanic South Germanic is a term used for a number of proposed groupings of the Germanic tribes or dialects. However, it is not widely used and has no agreed definition. Uses The following uses of the term "South Germanic" are found: * As a straightforwar ...
* Germanic peoples


References


Literature

* {{Authority control Elbe