TheGeidumni were a smallBelgic tribe living inGallia Belgica during theIron Age. They were clients of the most powerfulNervii.
They are attested asGeidumni byCaesar (mid-1st c. BC).[1][2]
Jozef Van Loon has proposed emending the name toGeldumni, noting that confusion between ⟨i⟩ and ⟨l⟩ occurs elsewhere in the manuscript tradition of Caesar'sDe Bello Gallico.[3] On this basis, the nameGeidumni has be compared with the toponymJodoigne (DutchGeldenaken), attested asGeldonia in 1167 AD, and possibly deriving from an earlier Romance form *Geldumnia, borrowed from either Celtic or Germanic.[4]
If of Germanic origin, the nameGeldumni may combine the stemgeld- with the Indo-European participial suffix -menos, yielding interpretations such as 'those who make themselves count' or 'those to whom payment is due'. However, since both elements also occur in Celtic, a Celtic derivation remains possible.[5]
Based on Caesar's account, their territory was located somewhere in the vicinity ofNervian territory.[2] On the basis of Van Loon's linguistic comparison withJodoigne, they may have been located in this area.[4]
During theGallic Wars (58–50 BC), they are cited byCaesar as clients of theNervii in the context of theEburonian revolt led byAmbiorix in 54 BC, when the Nervii summoned their dependent peoples, including the Geidumni, to support an attack on another Roman winter camp after the destruction of the Fourteenth Legion nearAtuatuca.[5]
They therefore immediately sent messengers to the Ceutrones, Grudii, Levaci, Pleumoxii, Geidumni, all of whom were held under their control, then collected the largest contingents they could and swooped unexpectedly on Cicero’s winter quarters
— Caesar,Gallic Wars, V 39
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