The Corionototae were a group of Ancient

Britons British people or Britons, also known colloquially as Brits, are the citizens of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the British Overseas Territories, and the Crown dependencies.: British nationality law governs mod ...

apparently inhabiting what is now

Northern England Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North Country, or simply the North, is the northern area of England. It broadly corresponds to the former borders of Angles, Angle Northumbria, the Anglo-Scandinavian Scandinavian York, K ...

about whom very little is known. They were recorded in one Roman votary inscription (now lost) from

Corbridge Corbridge is a village in Northumberland, England, west of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle and east of Hexham. Villages nearby include Halton, Northumberland, Halton, Acomb, Northumberland, Acomb, Aydon and Sandhoe. Etymology Corbridge was kno ...

, of uncertain date, which commemorated the victory of a

prefect Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area. A prefect's ...

of cavalry, Quintus Calpurnius Concessinius, over them. Scholars tend to categorise them as a sub-group of the

Brigantes The Brigantes were Ancient Britons who in pre-Roman times controlled the largest section of what would become Northern England. Their territory, often referred to as Brigantia, was centred in what was later known as Yorkshire. The Greek geog ...

in the absence of any information.

Name

The name ''Coriono-totae'' is formed from two roots; either *''korio''- or *''koriono''-. from Indo-European *''koryo''- 'army' and *''touta'' 'tribe, people' ultimately derived from PIE *''teutéh₁''- ('people', perhaps 'people under arms'; cf.

Old Irish Old Irish, also called Old Gaelic ( sga, Goídelc, Ogham script: ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; ga, Sean-Ghaeilge; gd, Seann-Ghàidhlig; gv, Shenn Yernish or ), is the oldest form of the Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive writte ...

''túath'' 'tribe, people', Lithuanian ''tautà'' 'people',

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

''þiuda'' 'folk') Delamarre suggests a root *''koriono''- 'army-leader'; (cf. Greek ''koíranos'', Old Norse ''herjann'') so that the name would mean ''people of the chief, people of chiefs'' .. T.M. Charles-Edwards instead has proposed a tribal name based on an hypothetical deity *''Corionos''. On the basis of the similarity of the names, writers such as Charles-Edwards, Waldman and Mason have suggested a link with the Irish ethnonym

Coriondi The Coriondi (Κοριονδοί) were a people of early Ireland, referred to in Ptolemy's 2nd century '' Geography'' as living in southern Leinster. T. F. O'Rahilly, ''Early Irish History and Mythology'', Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1 ...

, while other earlier writers, erroneously linking the name to the Gaelic

Cruthin The Cruthin (; mga, Cruithnig or ; ga, label= Modern Irish, Cruithne ) were a people of early medieval Ireland. Their heartland was in Ulster and included parts of the present-day counties of Antrim, Down and Londonderry. They are also said ...

, thought it could refer to the

Picts The Picts were a group of peoples who lived in what is now northern and eastern Scotland (north of the Firth of Forth) during Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. Where they lived and what their culture was like can be inferred from ea ...

.David Mattingly, ''An Imperial Possession: Britain in the Roman Empire'', Penguin (2007) Derivation from simply Brittonic *''korion-toutas'' would mean ''people's army'' or ''tribal army'' and might suggest rather a military or political formation of several clans opposed to Rome rather than a tribal group.

References

Bibliography

* * * {{Iron Age tribes in Britain Celtic Britons History of Northumberland Iron Age Europe Historical Celtic peoples