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TheAulerci Cenomani (or Aulerci Cenomanni) were a Gallic tribe dwelling in the modernSarthedepartment during the Iron Age and the Roman period. The Cenomani were the most powerful of theAulerci tribes.[1]
They are mentioned asAulercos andAulercis, Cenomanis totidem[all the same] byCaesar (mid-1st c. BC),[2]Aulerci .... Cenomani byPliny (1st c. AD),[3] asAu̓lírkioioi̔ oi̔ Kenománnoi (Αὐλίρκιοιοἱ οἱ Κενομάννοι) byPtolemy (2nd c. AD),[4] and asCeromannos in theNotitia Dignitatum (5th c. AD).[5][6]
Other peoples namedAulerci are also mentioned by ancient sources: theAulerci Brannovices,Aulerci Diablintes, andAulerci Eburovices. The relationship that linked them together remains uncertain. According to historianVenceslas Kruta, they could have beenpagi that got separated from a larger ethnic group during the pre-Roman period.[1]
An unrelated tribe living nearMassalia, in southern Gaul, was also namedCenomani.[7] A part of the Cenomani or anotherhomonym tribe settled inCisalpine Gaul after the Celtic invasion of the Italian Peninsula in the early 4th century BC.[1][7]
The meaning of theGaulishethnonymCenomani remains uncertain. The prefix probably stems from the rootceno-, which could have meant 'far, long'. The second element may derive frommanos ('good'), or else from the root*menH- ('to go'), withCenomani as 'the far-going one'.[8]Pierre-Yves Lambert has also proposed a connection to a verbal stem *cene/o- (cf.OIr.cinid 'to spring from, to descend from',Welshcenedl 'family'). The general meaning would be 'the begotten ones'.[9]
The city ofLe Mans, attested c. 400 AD asCeromannos (Cenomannis in 1101,*Cemans, thenLe Mans from the 12th c.), and theMaine region, attested in the 6th c. AD asin Cinomanico (inpago Celmanico in 765,*Cemaine, thenLe Maine from the 12th c.), are named after the Gallic tribe.[10]
The tribe lived west of theCarnutes between theSeine and theLoire.
Their chief town wasVindinum orSuindinum (corrupted into 'Subdinnum'), afterwardsCivitas Cenomanorum (whenceLe Mans, and much later theCenomanian geological age) and laterCenomani as in theNotitia Dignitatum, the original name of the town, as usual in the case of Gallic cities, being replaced by that of the people.[11]
According toCaesar (Bell. Gall. vii.75.3), they assistedVercingetorix in the great rising (52 BC) with a force of 5000 men. UnderAugustus they formed acivitas stipendiaria (Romantributary town) ofGallia Lugdunensis, and in the 4th century part ofGallia Lugdunensis III.[11]
There was another people calledCenomani that held extensive territory inCisalpine Gaul; however, there is disagreement whether they are one and the same people. The orthography and the quantity of the penultimate vowel of Cenomani have given rise to discussion. According toArbois de Jubainville, the Cenomni of Italy are not identical with theCehomni (or Cenomanni) ofGaul. In the case of the latter, the survival of the syllableman in "Le Mans" is due to the stress laid on the vowel; had the vowel been short and unaccented, it would have disappeared. In Italy, Cenomani is the name of a people; in Gaul, merely a surname of the Aulerci.[11]William Smith adopts the difference, placing the peoples in two separate articles in hisDictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. On the other hand, if the tradition recorded byCato (inPliny,Nat. Hist. iii. 19. s. 23) is true, that the Cenomani formed a settlement near Massilia (modernMarseille), among theVolcae, this could indicate a route that the Cenomani took to Cisalpine Gaul inItaly. According to Livy, the Cenomani of Cisalpine Gaul arrived after the expedition ofBellovesus, led byHelitovius, and are credited with the foundation of Brixia, orBrescia, andVerona.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Cenomani".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 5 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 661.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Smith, William, ed. (1854–1857). "Cenomani".Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. London: John Murray.| National | |
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