The Alauni (

Gaulish Gaulish is an extinct Celtic languages, Celtic language spoken in parts of Continental Europe before and during the period of the Roman Empire. In the narrow sense, Gaulish was the language of the Celts of Gaul (now France, Luxembourg, Belgium, ...

: ''Alaunoi'', earlier *''Alamnoi'', 'the nomads, wanderers') were a Gallic tribe dwelling around the lake

Chiemsee Chiemsee () is a freshwater lake in Bavaria, Germany, near Rosenheim. It is often called "the Bavarian Sea". The rivers Tiroler Achen and Prien (river), Prien flow into the lake from the south, and the river Alz flows out towards the north. The ...

(in present-day Germany) during the

Roman period The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

Name

They are mentioned as ''Alaunoí'' (Ἀλαυνοί) by

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...

(2nd c. AD), and as ''Alaunorum'' in the ''

Notitia Dignitatum The (Latin for 'List of all dignities and administrations both civil and military') is a document of the Late Roman Empire that details the administrative organization of the Western and the Eastern Roman Empire. It is unique as one of very ...

'' (5th c. AD)., s.v. ''Alaunoi''. The ethnic name ''Alauni'' is a latinized form of the

''Alaunoi'', which can be translated as 'the errants, wanderers, or nomads', in contrast to the names of the '' Anauni'' ('the staying ones') and ''

Genauni The Genauni (Gaulish: ''*Genaunoi'', earlier *''Gēnomnoi'', 'the natives') or Genaunes were a Gallic tribe dwelling in the eastern valley of the Inn river, in Tyrol, during the Iron Age and the Roman period. Name They are mentioned as ''Genaun ...

'' ('the natives'). It derives from an earlier *''Alamnoi'' (sing. *''Alamnos''), which is close to the

Proto-Celtic Proto-Celtic, or Common Celtic, is the hypothetical ancestral proto-language of all known Celtic languages, and a descendant of Proto-Indo-European. It is not attested in writing but has been partly Linguistic reconstruction, reconstructed throu ...

stem *''alamo''- ('herd'; cf. OIr. ''alam'',

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, of or about Wales * Welsh language, spoken in Wales * Welsh people, an ethnic group native to Wales Places * Welsh, Arkansas, U.S. * Welsh, Louisiana, U.S. * Welsh, Ohio, U.S. * Welsh Basin, during t ...

''alaf''), built on a root *''alǝ''- ('to wander'). The name of the Gallic deity '' Alaunos'' is related. According to scholar Lionel S. Joseph, the semantic opposition between the ''Alauni'' and ''Anauni'' recalls the later opposition between the wandering '' fían'' and the settled ''

túath ''Túath'' (plural ''túatha'') is the Old Irish term for the basic political and jurisdictional unit of Gaelic Ireland. ''Túath'' can refer to both a geographical territory as well the people who lived in that territory. The smallest ''túath ...

'' in early Ireland.

Geography

The Alauni lived near

, a lake in present-day

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

. Their territory was located east of the Cosuanetes, north of the Ambisontes, south of the Baiovarii., Map 19: Raetia.

References

Bibliography

* * * * {{Authority control Historical Celtic peoples History of Bavaria Gauls