The Petrocorii were a Gallic tribe dwelling in the present-day

Périgord Périgord ( , ; ; oc, Peiregòrd / ) is a natural region and former province of France, which corresponds roughly to the current Dordogne department, now forming the northern part of the administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. It is div ...

region, between the

Dordogne Dordogne ( , or ; ; oc, Dordonha ) is a large rural department in Southwestern France, with its prefecture in Périgueux. Located in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region roughly half-way between the Loire Valley and the Pyrenees, it is name ...

and

Vézère The Vézère (; oc, Vesera) is a 211-km-long river in southwestern France. It is an important tributary to the Dordogne. Its source is in the northwestern part of the elevated plateau known as the Massif Central. It flows into the Dordogne near ...

rivers, 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 mostl ...

and the Roman period.

Etymology

They are mentioned as ''Petrocoriis'' by

Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, an ...

(mid-1st c. BC), ''Petrokórioi'' (Πετροκόριοι) by Strabo (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 importance ...

(2nd c. AD), ''Petrocori'' by

Pliny Pliny may refer to: People * Pliny the Elder (23–79 CE), ancient Roman nobleman, scientist, historian, and author of ''Naturalis Historia'' (''Pliny's Natural History'') * Pliny the Younger (died 113), ancient Roman statesman, orator, w ...

(1st c. AD), and as ''Petrogorii'' by

Sidonius Apollinaris Gaius Sollius Modestus Apollinaris Sidonius, better known as Sidonius Apollinaris (5 November of an unknown year, 430 – 481/490 AD), was a poet, diplomat, and bishop. Sidonius is "the single most important surviving author from 5th-century Gaul ...

(5th c. AD)., s.v. ''Petrocori'' and ''Vesunna''. 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 ...

ethnonym ''Petrocorii'' means 'four armies', or 'four troops'. It derives from the Gaulish stem ''petru-'' ('four') attached to ''corios'' ('army'), after a Gallic custom of including numbers in tribal names (e.g. '' Vo-contii'', '' Vo-corii'', '' Tri-corii'', '' Suess-iones''). Their name may indicate a relatively recent formation emerging from the union of fragmented small ethnic groups. The word ''corios'' derives from

Proto-Celtic Proto-Celtic, or Common Celtic, is the ancestral proto-language of all known Celtic languages, and a descendant of Proto-Indo-European. It is not attested in writing but has been partly reconstructed through the comparative method. Proto-Celti ...

''*koryos'' ('troop, tribe'; cf.

Middle Welsh Middle Welsh ( cy, Cymraeg Canol, wlm, Kymraec) is the label attached to the Welsh language of the 12th to 15th centuries, of which much more remains than for any earlier period. This form of Welsh developed directly from Old Welsh ( cy, Hen G ...

'tribe, clan'; Mid. Ir. ''cuire''), itself from

Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo- ...

*''

kóryos The ''kóryos'' (Proto-Indo-European: "army, people under arms" or "detachment, war party") refers to the theoretical Proto-Indo-European brotherhood of warriors in which unmarried young males served for several years, as a rite of passage into ma ...

'', meaning 'army, people under arms'. The root is also found in other Gaulish tribal names such as the ''Tri-corii'' or the ''Corio-solites''. The root ''petru-'' stems from Proto-Celtic ''*kʷetwór-'' ('four'; cf. OIr. ''cetheoir'', OW. and OBret. ''petguar''). The city of

Périgueux Périgueux (, ; oc, Peireguers or ) is a commune in the Dordogne department, in the administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwestern France. Périgueux is the prefecture of Dordogne, and the capital city of Périgord. It is al ...

, attested ca. 400 AD as ''civitas Petrocoriorum'' (' civitas of the Petrocorii'; ''Petrecors'' in the 8th c., ''Periguhès'' in 1466), and the

region, attested in the 7th c. AD as ''pagum Petrocorecum'' ('

pagus In ancient Rome, the Latin word (plural ) was an administrative term designating a rural subdivision of a tribal territory, which included individual farms, villages (), and strongholds () serving as refuges, as well as an early medieval geogra ...

of the Petrocorii'; ''Petragoricus'' in 781, ''Peiregore'' in the 12th c.), are named after the Gallic tribe.

Geography

Drachme_“au_style_flamboyant_frappé_par_les_Pétrocores

The Petrocorii lived in the present-day

region, between the

and

rivers. Their territory was located south of the

Lemovices The Lemovīcēs (Gaulish: *''Lēmouīcēs'', 'those who vanquish by the elm') were a Gallic tribe dwelling in the modern Limousin region during the Iron Age and the Roman period. Name They are mentioned as ''Lemovices'' by Caesar (mid-1st c. ...

and

Santones The Santoni or Santones ( grc, Σαντόνων, Σάντονες) were a Gallic tribe dwelling in the later region of Saintonge during the Iron Age and the Roman period. Name These people are noted as ''Santonum'', ''Santonos'' and ''Santoni ...

, east of the Bituriges Vivisci, west of the Arverni, and north of the Nitiobroges and Cadurci., Map 14: Caesarodunum-Burdigala. During the Roman period, their chief town was ''Vesunna'', corresponding to the modern town of

History

In 52 BC, they supplied around 5,000 warriors to

Vercingetorix Vercingetorix (; Greek: Οὐερκιγγετόριξ; – 46 BC) was a Gallic king and chieftain of the Arverni tribe who united the Gauls in a failed revolt against Roman forces during the last phase of Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars. Despite ha ...

, to aid him to fight the Roman legions of

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, ...

. Strabo mentions their excellence working with

iron Iron () is a chemical element with Symbol (chemistry), symbol Fe (from la, Wikt:ferrum, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 element, group 8 of the periodic table. It is, Abundanc ...

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * {{Gallic peoples Historical Celtic peoples Gauls