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 ...
: ''Latobicoi'') were a
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
*Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Foo ...
tribe dwelling in
Pannonia Superior
Pannonia Superior, lit. Upper Pannonia, was a province of the Roman Empire. Its capital was Carnuntum. It was one on the border provinces on the Danube. It was formed in the year 103 AD by Emperor Trajan who divided the former province of P ...
, around present-day
Drnovo
Drnovo ( or ; german: DernowoSlovenia
Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, and ...
), during the
Roman period
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...
.
Name
They are mentioned as ''Latovici'' by Pliny (1st c. AD), as Λατόβικοι (''Latóbikoi'') 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), and as ''Latobici'' on an inscription from Neviodunum (modern
Drnovo
Drnovo ( or ; german: DernowoCIL 03:10804., s.v. ''Latobici''.
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 ...
''Latobici'' is a Latinized form of the
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 ...
''Latobicoi'', which derives from the stem *''lāto''-, meaning 'furor, ardour' (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 ...
''láth'', Welsh ''lawd''), probably after the name of the Celtic god '' Latobios'' (*''Lātu-biyos'' 'Furious Striker').
Pierre-Yves Lambert Pierre-Yves Lambert (born 30 May 1949) is a French linguist and scholar of Celtic studies. He is a researcher at the CNRS and a lecturer at the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Celtic linguistics and philology. Lambert is the director of the ...
has proposed to translate ''Latobici'' as 'the lineage of Latobios'.
A homonym tribe, the
Latobrigi
The Latobrigi (or Latovici) were a Celtic tribe mentioned in Julius Caesar's ''Commentarii''. According to Caesar, 14.000 Latobrigi joined the Helvetii in their attempted migration to southwestern France in 58 BC, together with several larger cont ...
(or Latobici), dwelled further northwest near the
Helvetii
The Helvetii ( , Gaulish: *''Heluētī''), anglicized as Helvetians, were a Celtic tribe or tribal confederation occupying most of the Swiss plateau at the time of their contact with the Roman Republic in the 1st century BC. According to Juliu ...
. Whether they were actually related or even identical remains debated.
Geography
The Latobici dwelled near the Krka river, around modern
Groblje pri Prekopi
Groblje pri Prekopi () is a settlement northeast of Šentjernej in southeastern Slovenia. The area is part of the traditional region of Lower Carniola. It is now included in the Southeast Slovenia Statistical Region.
Name
The name of the settle ...
. Their territory was located north of the Golapiani, west of the Varciani, south of the
Taurisci
The Taurisci were a federation of Celtic tribes who dwelt in today's Carinthia and northern Slovenia (Carniola) before the coming of the Romans (c. 200 BC). According to Pliny the Elder, they are the same as the people known as the Norici.
Etym ...
, east of the Rundictes., Map 20: Pannonia-Dalmatia. Inscriptions and shrines dedicated to the god Mars Latobius found in the catchment area of the Lavant river and the ridge of the
Koralpe
The Koralpe ( en, Kor Alps, sl, Golica or ), also referred to as ''Koralm'', is a mountain range in southern Austria which separates eastern Carinthia from southern Styria. The southern parts of the range extend into Slovenia. Running from north ...
mountains may suggest that the Latobici originally lived around
Virunum
Claudium Virunum was a Roman city in the province of Noricum, on today's Zollfeld in the Austrian State of Carinthia. Virunum may also have been the name of the older Celtic-Roman settlement on the hilltop of Magdalensberg nearby.
Virunum (''Vir ...
and
Flavia Solva Flavia Solva was a municipium in the ancient Roman province of Noricum. It was situated on the western banks of the Mur river, close to the modern cities of Wagna and Leibnitz in the southern parts of the Austrian province of Styria. It is the on ...
as late as the 1st century BC, from which they either extended their territory southward or emigrated to the region of Drnovo in Roman times.
During the reign of
Augustus
Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pr ...
(27 BC–14 AD), a city-like settlement known as ''municipium Latobicorum'' (''tribus Quirina'') arose as a centre of the tribal area at the site of present-day
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 ...
: 'new fortress') from the time of
Vespasian
Vespasian (; la, Vespasianus ; 17 November AD 9 – 23/24 June 79) was a Roman emperor who reigned from AD 69 to 79. The fourth and last emperor who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors, he founded the Flavian dynasty that ruled the Emp ...
(69–79 AD). Other settlements are known at Praetorium Latobicorum (modern Trebnje) and at Crucium (
Groblje pri Prekopi
Groblje pri Prekopi () is a settlement northeast of Šentjernej in southeastern Slovenia. The area is part of the traditional region of Lower Carniola. It is now included in the Southeast Slovenia Statistical Region.
Name
The name of the settle ...