The Lemovīcēs (

Gaulish Gaulish was an ancient 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, most of Switze ...

: *''Lēmouīcēs'', 'those who vanquish by the elm') were a Gallic tribe dwelling in the modern

Limousin Limousin (; oc, Lemosin ) is a former administrative region of southwest-central France. On 1 January 2016, it became part of the new administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. It comprised three departments: Corrèze, Creuse, and Haute-Vienn ...

region during the Iron Age and the Roman period.

Name

They are mentioned as ''Lemovices'' by

Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, an ...

(mid-1st c. BC) and Pliny (1st c. AD), ''Lemoouíkes'' (Λεμοουίκες) by

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called " Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-sighted that he could s ...

(early 1st c. AD), and as ''Limouikoí'' (Λιμουικοί) by

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...

(2nd c. AD). The

ethnonym An ethnonym () is a name applied to a given ethnic group. Ethnonyms can be divided into two categories: exonyms (whose name of the ethnic group has been created by another group of people) and autonyms, or endonyms (whose name is created and us ...

*''Lemouīcēs'' literally means 'those who vanquish by the elm', probably in reference to the wood from which were made their spears or bows. It derives from the stem ''lēmo-'' ('elm'; cf. OIr. ''lem'',

Middle Welsh Middle Welsh ( cy, Cymraeg Canol, wlm, Kymraec) is the label attached to the Welsh language of the 12th to 15th centuries, of which much more remains than for any earlier period. This form of Welsh developed directly from Old Welsh ( cy, Hen G ...

''liwyfen'') attached to the suffix ''-uices'' ('victors'). The

Proto-Celtic Proto-Celtic, or Common Celtic, is the 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 reconstructed through the comparative method. Proto-Celt ...

stem ''*lēmo-'' or ''*limo-'' ultimately derives from

Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo ...

''*h₁élem'' or ''*h₁leym-'' ('elm'; cf.

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

''ulmus'' 'elm',

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlement ...

''almr'' 'elm, bow', Russian ''il'm'' 'mountain elm'). The city of

Limoges Limoges (, , ; oc, Lemòtges, locally ) is a city and Communes of France, commune, and the prefecture of the Haute-Vienne Departments of France, department in west-central France. It was the administrative capital of the former Limousin region ...

, attested ca. 400 AD as ''civitas Lemovicum'' ('

civitas In Ancient Rome, the Latin term (; plural ), according to Cicero in the time of the late Roman Republic, was the social body of the , or citizens, united by law (). It is the law that binds them together, giving them responsibilities () on th ...

of the Lemovices', ''Lemovicas'' in 844, ''Lemotges'' in 1208), and the

region, attested in the 6th c. AD as ''Lemovicinum'' (''pago Lemovicino'' in 860, ''Lemozi'' in 1071–1127), are named after the Gallic tribe.

History

They established themselves in

and

Poitou Poitou (, , ; ; Poitevin: ''Poetou'') was a province of west-central France whose capital city was Poitiers. Both Poitou and Poitiers are named after the Pictones Gallic tribe. Geography The main historical cities are Poitiers (historical c ...

between 700 and 400 BC. In 52 BC, some 10,000 Lemovician combatants fought against

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, an ...

at the

Battle of Alesia The Battle of Alesia or Siege of Alesia (September 52 BC) was a military engagement in the Gallic Wars around the Gallic '' oppidum'' (fortified settlement) of Alesia in modern France, a major centre of the Mandubii tribe. It was fought b ...

as allies to the Arverni under Vercingetorix. Their chief, Sedullos, was killed during the battle.

Geography

Settlements

Their pre-Roman chief town was ''Durotincum'', probably corresponding to the oppidum of

Villejoubert Villejoubert () is a commune in the Charente department in southwestern France. Population See also *Communes of the Charente department The following is a list of the 364 communes of the Charente department of France. The communes coopera ...

. After their incorporation into the Roman province of

Aquitania Gallia Aquitania ( , ), also known as Aquitaine or Aquitaine Gaul, was a province of the Roman Empire. It lies in present-day southwest France, where it gives its name to the modern region of Aquitaine. It was bordered by the provinces of Gal ...

, Augustoritum (

) was the capital of the ''civitas Lemovicum''. In the 1st c. AD, it was administered by the ''vergobretus'', and later by a ''

duumviri The duumviri ( Latin for "two men"), originally duoviri and also known in English as the duumvirs, were any of various joint magistrates of ancient Rome. Such pairs of magistrates were appointed at various periods of Roman history both in Rome i ...

''. Briva Curretia (

Brive Brive-la-Gaillarde (; Limousin dialect of oc, Briva la Galharda) is a commune of France. It is a sub-prefecture and the largest city of the Corrèze department. It has around 46,000 inhabitants, while the population of the agglomeration was ...

; from

''briua'' 'bridge'), Blatomago (

Blond Blond (male) or blonde (female), also referred to as fair hair, is a hair color characterized by low levels of the dark pigment eumelanin. The resultant visible hue depends on various factors, but always has some yellowish color. The color ...

) and Carovicus ( Château-Chervix) are known ''vici'' ('villages') of the Lemovician territory. Other locations associated with them were Acitodunum ( Ahun), Argentate (

Argentat Argentat () is a former commune in the Corrèze department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of central France. On 1 January 2017, it was merged into the new commune Argentat-sur-Dordogne. The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Argentacoi ...

), Cassinomagus (

Chassenon Chassenon (; oc, Chassanom) is a commune in the Charente department in southwestern France. History The ancient name of the village was ''Cassinomagus''. Situated on the Agrippan Way (Lyon - Saintes), Cassinomagus was, in the Roman times, ...

), Roncomagus (

Rancon Rancon (; oc, Rancom) is a commune in the Haute-Vienne department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in southwestern France. History The earliest known name for Rancon is Roncomagus; which comes from the Gallic and means 'market at the rock'. ...

), Excingidiacum ( Yssandon) et Uxellum ( Ussel). One of their main sanctuaries was recently found in Tintignac including several unique objects in the world such as "

carnyx The ancient carnyx was a wind instrument of the Iron Age Celts, used between c. 200 BC and c. AD 200. It was a type of bronze trumpet with an elongated S shape, held so that the long straight central portion was vertical and the short mouthpiec ...

".http://tintignac.wix.com/tintignac-naves#!english/c11e3Official website of Tintignac-Naves

Economy

Their territory was a region rich in gold, tin and iron. Archaeologists during the latter part of the 19th century found gold mines in the Lemovician settlement in Limousin, particularly in the south-western region of the Massif Central in west-central France. This discovery allowed the identification of techniques and the chronology of the mining activity because the Lemovices did not mention their mining heritage and their gold.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * *

External links

Who Was Who in Roman Times
* Lemovices at the Galician Wikipedia {{Gallic peoples Gauls Tribes of pre-Roman Gaul Historical Celtic peoples