Segni (tribe)

The Segni were an ancient tribe dwelling in the Ardennes and Eifel region during the Iron Age. In the winter of 54–53 BC, the Segni assured Julius Caesar, by means of an embassy, that they would not make common cause with the other Germani Cisrhenani (the Germani on the left bank of the river Rhine).

Name

The etymology of the ethnonym ''Segni'' remains unclear. It may derive from the Celtic stem ''*sego-'' ('victory, force') or from the root ''*seg-'' ('sowing'), or else be related to the Old Irish ''sén'' ('net'). However, an alternative Germanic origin is also possible since the Germanic ''-ng-'' consonantal cluster was often transcribed to ''-gn-'' in Latin (e.g. ''Reudigni'', ''Marsigni''). An etymology from ''*sengjōz'' ('those who live in a dried region'; cf. MHG ''singe'' 'dryness, drought'), itself a derivative of ''*setig'' ('burning, drying'), has thus be posited by some scholars.

Culture

Their ethnic identity remains uncertain. The Segni were listed among the Germani Cisrhenani by Caesar, but their tribal name may be of Celtic origin. However, the formulation "who are of the nation and number of the Germans" (''ex gente et numero Germanorum'') suggests that the Segni were not only considered of Germanic origin (like the Aduatuci), but also still counted among Germanic peoples at the time of Caesar.

Geography

The Segni are generally presumed to have dwelled in the Luxemburgish and Belgian Ardennes. Their territory was located between that of the Treveri and the Eburones, indicating that they settled not far from the Condrusi, which themselves lived in the Condroz foothill region northwest of the Ardennes.

Connections between the ethnonym ''Segni'' and the toponyms ''Ciney'', ''Sègne'' and ''Sugny'' have been rejected by contemporary scholars on linguistic grounds. In the 19th century, it was sometimes claimed in scholarship that the name of the Segni had been preserved in a modern town supposedly called "Sinei or Signei", located on the Meuse river in the Belgian province of Namur.For example: . There is a place named Ciney in that area, but the earliest known form of the name is ''de Ceunaco'', recorded in 1006 AD., s.v. ''Ciney''.

History

In the winter of 54–53 BC, Caesar learned that the Nervii, Aduatuci and Menapii took the arms against Rome and were joined by "all" Germani Cisrhenani. In the aftermath of the Roman victory, the Segni and Condrusi sent Caesar envoys to ask him not to treat them as his enemies, for they had given no help to the Eburonean king Ambiorix:

The Segni are not listed by Caesar among the tribes that took part in the Belgic coalition against Rome in 57 BC. Rather than an oversight, it is more probable that they did not participate in this alliance as it was the case in 54–53.

Theories

It has occasionally been claimed in 19th-century scholarship that the Segni later appeared as "Sunuci" in later Roman records, such as the ''Naturalis Historia'' of Pliny the Elder. Pliny described them between the Tungri and the Frisiavones. Tacitus, for example, also mentioned the Sunuci, as a people of this region during the Batavian revolt. They probably lived between the Tungri and the Ubii in Roman imperial times.

The Sunuci are thought to have lived in what is now the area of Germany where it touches eastern Belgium, and the southern Netherlands. One proposal would place the Sunuci in Kornelimünster in the region of modern Aachen.

References

Primary sources

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Bibliography

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{{Germanic peoples

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