Caeroesi

The Caerosi (or Caeroesi) were a small Belgic- Germanic tribe dwelling in Gallia Belgica during the Iron Age and the Roman period. Their ethnic identity remains uncertain. Caesar described them as part of the Germani Cisrhenani, but their tribal name is probably of Celtic origin. Like other Germani Cisrhenani tribes, it is possible that their old Germanic endonym came to be abandoned after a tribal reorganization, that they received their names from their Celtic neighbours, or else that they were fully or partially assimilated into Celtic culture at the time of the Roman invasion of the region in 57 BC.

Name

They are mentioned as ''Caerosos'' (var. ''ceroesos'', ''caeroesos'', ''cerosos'') by Caesar (mid-1st c. BC), and as ''Caerosi'' by Orosius (early 5th c. AD)., s.v. ''Caerosi''.

The ethnonym ''Caerosi'' probably derives from a Proto-Celtic root reconstructed as ''*caer-'' ('sheep'; cf. Old Irish ''caera''), itself from an earlier ''*caper-'' (cf. Latin ''caper'', Old Norse ''hafr'', 'billy goat', Greek ''kápros'' 'boar'). The variant ''Caeroesi'' has an unexplained suffix (), which is not found in either Celtic or Germanic languages, although ''-oso-'' is a known suffix in Gaulish (e.g. ''Laudosa'', ''Iboso''). It may be translated as 'the sheep', 'the rams', or else 'rich in sheep', although its exact meaning remains uncertain. It is linguistically related to other Celtic ethnonyms such as ''Caeracates'', '' Caereni'' or ''Kairènoi'' (Καιρηνοί). 180px, Boundary marker of the ''Pagus Carucum''.Alternative relations with the Old Irish ''cáera'' ('berry'), the Middle Irish ''céar'' ('dark brown'), or else to the Proto-Germanic *''haira''- ('worthy, exalted, *grey-haired’; cf. Mod. High German ''hehr'' 'noble') have also been proposed by some scholars.

Geography

The Caerosi dwelled in the Ardennes and Eifel region, between the Rhône and the Meuse river, near the Treverii in the south, the Condrusi in the west, the Paemani and Eburones in the north, and the Ubii on the opposite bank of the Rhône in the east.

The region of ''pagus Carucum'', a Roman-era subdivision of the Treveri later known under the Franks as ''Pagus Coroascus'', may be named after the tribe, although the linguistic connection remains uncertain. The name has been discovered on a Roman era boundary marker carved with the inscription 'FINIS PAGI CARV CVM' ('boundary or end of the pagus Carucum'), located in a wooded area near Neidenbach and Kyllburg.

To the east of Neidenbach, the Vinxtbach, a small river flowing eastwards to the Rhine, marked the boundary between the Roman provinces of Germania Superior and Germania Inferior. The name ''Vinxtbach'' is in fact thought to derive from the Latin word ''finis'', meaning an end or boundary. Today, the place is still a boundary between modern German dialects, with Ripuarian to the north, and Moselle Frankish to the south. Also located nearby is the modern boundary of the modern German ''Länder'' of Rheinland-Pfalz and Nordrhein-Westfalen.

References

Primary sources

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External links

Ad fines (Vinxtbach)

{{Germanic peoples

Early Germanic peoples
Tribes of pre-Roman Gaul
Tribes involved in the Gallic Wars
Belgae
Historical Celtic peoples
Gauls