The Cadurci were a
Gallic tribe dwelling in the later region of
Quercy during the
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly ...
and the
Roman period.
Name
They are mentioned as ''Cadurcus'' by
Caesar (mid-1st c. BC), ''Kadou͂rkoi'' (Καδοῦρκοι) by
Strabo
Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called " Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-sighted that he could s ...
(early 1st c. AD) and
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...
(2nd c. AD), and as ''Cadurci'' by
Pliny (1st c. AD).
[, s.v. ''Cadurci''.]
The etymology of the
ethnonym ''Cadurci'' remains uncertain.
Pierre-Yves Lambert Pierre-Yves Lambert (born 30 May 1949) is a French linguist and scholar of Celtic studies. He is a researcher at the CNRS and a lecturer at the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Celtic linguistics and philology. Lambert is the director of the ...
has proposed to interpret it as a
haplology (loss of syllabe) for the
Gaulish
Gaulish was an ancient Celtic language spoken in parts of Continental Europe before and during the period of the Roman Empire. In the narrow sense, Gaulish was the language of the Celts of Gaul (now France, Luxembourg, Belgium, most of Switze ...
compound ''Catu-turci'' ('battle-boars'), formed with the root ''catu-'' ('combat, battle') attached to the plural of ''turcos'' ('
wild boar').
The city of
Cahors, attested ca. 400 AD as ''civitas Cadurcorum'' ('
civitas of the Cadurci', ''Cauricio'' in 1200, ''Caurs'' 1279), and the region of
Quercy, attested in 565 AD as ''Cadurcinus'' (''pagus Catorcinus'' in 628, ''Caercino'' in 1095, with Latin suffix ''-inus''), are named after the Gallic tribe.
Geography
The Cadurci dwelled in the region of
Quercy. Their chief town was originally named Divona (present-day
Cahors).
References
Bibliography
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{{Gallic peoples
Gauls