The Vidivarii are described by

Jordanes Jordanes (), also written as Jordanis or Jornandes, was a 6th-century Eastern Roman bureaucrat widely believed to be of Gothic descent who became a historian later in life. Late in life he wrote two works, one on Roman history ('' Romana'') an ...

in his

Getica ''De origine actibusque Getarum'' (''The Origin and Deeds of the Getae oths'), commonly abbreviated ''Getica'', written in Late Latin by Jordanes in or shortly after 551 AD, claims to be a summary of a voluminous account by Cassiodorus of th ...

as a

melting pot The melting pot is a monocultural metaphor for a heterogeneous society becoming more homogeneous, the different elements "melting together" with a common culture; an alternative being a homogeneous society becoming more heterogeneous throu ...

of tribes who in the mid-6th century lived at the lower

Vistula The Vistula (; pl, Wisła, ) is the longest river in Poland and the ninth-longest river in Europe, at in length. The drainage basin, reaching into three other nations, covers , of which is in Poland. The Vistula rises at Barania Góra in ...

Mayke de Jong Mayke de Jong (13 October 1950, Amsterdam) is a Dutch historian and Professor Emerita of Medieval History at Utrecht University. Her research focuses on the political and religious history of the early Middle Ages. Career De Jong received her ...

, Frans Theuws, Carine van Rhijn, ''Topographies of Power in the Early Middle Ages'', BRILL, 2001, p.524,

''Ad litus oceani, ubi tribus faucibus fluenta Vistulae fluminibus ebibuntur, Vidivarii resident ex diversis nationibus aggregati.''Jordanes, Getica, chapter 5, as cited by Jacob Grimm et al, ''Werke'', 2nd edition, Georg Olms Verlag, 1999, p.500,

Though differing from the earlier

Willenberg culture The Wielbark culture (german: Wielbark-Willenberg-Kultur; pl, Kultura wielbarska) or East Pomeranian-Mazovian is an Iron Age archaeological complex which flourished on the territory of today's Poland from the 1st century AD to the 5th century AD ...

, some traditions were continued, thus the corresponding archaeological culture is sometimes described as the Vidivarian or ''widiwar'' stage of the Willenberg culture. The bearers of the Willenberg culture have been associated with a heterogeneous people comprising Vistula Veneti,

Goths The Goths ( got, 𐌲𐌿𐍄𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌰, translit=''Gutþiuda''; la, Gothi, grc-gre, Γότθοι, Gótthoi) were a Germanic people who played a major role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the emergence of medieval Euro ...

, Rugii, and

Gepids The Gepids, ( la, Gepidae, Gipedae, grc, Γήπαιδες) were an East Germanic tribe who lived in the area of modern Romania, Hungary and Serbia, roughly between the Tisza, Sava and Carpathian Mountains. They were said to share the relig ...

.Jan M Piskorski, ''Pommern im Wandel der Zeit'', 1999, p.25, One hypothesis, based on the sudden appearance of large amounts of Roman solidi and migrations of other groups after the breakdown of the

Hun The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe between the 4th and 6th century AD. According to European tradition, they were first reported living east of the Volga River, in an area that was part ...

empire in 453, suggest a partial re-migration of earlier emigrants to their former northern homelands.

Etymology

The first element ''vid''/''wid'' means "wood" (

sacred grove Sacred groves or sacred woods are groves of trees and have special religious importance within a particular culture. Sacred groves feature in various cultures throughout the world. They were important features of the mythological landscape and ...

?), from

Proto-Germanic Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. Proto-Germanic eventually developed from pre-Proto-Germanic into three Germanic br ...

*''widuz''. The second element ''-varii'' is most prolific among Germanic tribal names (Ampsivarii, Angrivarii, Raetovarii, Falchovarii, Baiuvarii, ...), commonly taken to mean "inhabitants of", "dwellers in". Its precise etymology remains unclear.

References

Early Germanic peoples History of Pomerania {{europe-ethno-group-stub

Etymology

See also

References