TheSuarines orSuardones were one of theNerthus-worshippingGermanic tribes mentioned byTacitus inGermania. They have otherwise been lost to history, butSchütte[1] suggests that their name lives on in the name of the townSchwerin.
Tacitus mentions them amongst a group of tribes defended by rivers and forests, that worshippedNerthus:
(Original Latin) "Reudigni deinde etAviones etAnglii etVarini etEudoses etSuardones etNuithones fluminibus aut silvis muniuntur. Nec quicquam notabile in singulis, nisi quod in commune Nerthum, id est Terram matrem, colunt eamque intervenire rebus hominum, invehi populis arbitrantur. ..." --Tacitus,Germania,40.[2]
(English translation) "There follow in order theReudignians, andAviones, andAngles, and Varinians, andEudoses, andSuardones andNuithones; all defended by rivers or forests. Nor in one of these nations does aught remarkable occur, only that they universally join in the worship ofHerthum (Nerthus); that is to say, the Mother Earth."--Tacitus,Germania,40, translated 1877 by Church and Brodribb.[3]
Neidorf suggests that the tribal name ”sweordwerum” in line 61 ofWidsith might be a corrupted form of this name.[4]
According to some Italian scholars, there is trace of this tribe in a modern Lombard surname (Suardi) as well in the surname Lusuardi. Both surnames belong to the same genetic family - Haplogroup U152 Z36.
.svg) | This article about anethnic group in Europe is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it. |
