The Paemani (also Poemani or Caemani) were a small Belgic- Germanic tribe dwelling in

Gallia Belgica Gallia Belgica ("Belgic Gaul") was a province of the Roman Empire located in the north-eastern part of Roman Gaul, in what is today primarily northern France, Belgium, and Luxembourg, along with parts of the Netherlands and Germany. In 50 BC, a ...

during the Iron Age. Their ethnic identity remains uncertain.

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 ...

described them as part of the

Germani Cisrhenani The ''Germani cisrhenani'' (Latin '' cis- rhenanus'' "on this side of the Rhine", referring to the Roman or western side), or "Left bank ''Germani''", were a group of Germanic peoples who lived west of the Lower Rhine at the time of the Gallic W ...

, but a number of scholars have argued that their name may be of Celtic origin. Like other Germani Cisrhenani tribes, it is possible that their old Germanic endonym came to be abandoned after a tribal reorganization, that they received their names from their Celtic neighbours, or else that they were fully or partially assimilated to Celtic culture at the time of the Roman invasion of the region in 57 BC.

Name

Attestations

The name appears as ''Caemani'' in Caesar's accounts (mid-1st c. BC), along with the variant ''Paemani'' or ''Paemanes''. One of the two variants may be a scribal error. Alternatively, scholar Peter E. Busse has proposed to interpret the forms as Q-Celtic/P-Celtic equivalents: "that Caesar wrote Q-Celtic ''Caemanes'', with ''C-'' rather than expected ''Qu-'', is easily explained either as a mishearing or as the result of learning the name from P-Celtic intermediaries who had no ''kw'' in their own language.

Etymology

The variant ''Paemani'' is possibly of Celtic origin, for it appears closely related to the names ''Poemaneni'' ( Galatia) and ''Poemana'' (Gallaecia, Celtic

Hispania Hispania ( la, Hispānia , ; nearly identically pronounced in Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, and Italian) was the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula and its provinces. Under the Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into two provinces: Hisp ...

), which all occur in Celtic milieus, but a convincing etymology has not yet been found. The name may possibly be interpreted as 'the herdsmen', by comparison with the Greek ''poimḗn''. It appears to be an archaic formation since it has preserved the initial ''p''-, which has normally been lost in 'Q-Celtic languages' such as

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 ...

and Old Brittonic. Alternatively, a Germanic etymology from ''*haima-'' ('home') has also been proposed for ''Caemani'', although it cannot explain the spelling ''Paemanes'', and Germanic sound laws rather predict a ''**Haemanes'' or ''**Chaemanes'' form. The hypothesis that the name of the

Famenne Famenne (; wa, Fåmene, ) is a natural region in Wallonia (southern Belgium). Together with The Fagne or la Fagne, west of the river Meuse, it is part of the Fagne-Famenne natural region. The two regions are often grouped together because they ...

region may derive from ''Paemani'', following the influence of the Germanic sound shift from ''p-'' to ''f-'', is now considered doubtful by most scholars, which, according to Edith Wightman, "does not prove that they did not inhabit the region".

Geography

The Paemani dwelled in the northern part of the

Ardennes and Eifel {{Infobox mountain range , name=Ardennes and Eifel , photo=Weiswampach.jpg , photo_caption=A view at the Luxembourg commune of Weiswampach , country_type= Countries , country= {{enum, Belgium (east), France (north), Germany (west), Luxembourg ...

region, between the

Rhône The Rhône ( , ; wae, Rotten ; frp, Rôno ; oc, Ròse ) is a major river in France and Switzerland, rising in the Alps and flowing west and south through Lake Geneva and southeastern France before discharging into the Mediterranean Sea. At Ar ...

and the

Meuse The Meuse ( , , , ; wa, Moûze ) or Maas ( , ; li, Maos or ) is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a t ...

river, near the

Caerosi The Caerosi (or Caeroesi) were a small Belgic- Germanic tribe dwelling in Gallia Belgica during the Iron Age and the Roman period. Their ethnic identity remains uncertain. Caesar described them as part of the Germani Cisrhenani, but their tribal n ...

in the south, the

Eburones The Eburones (Greek: ) were a Gallic- Germanic tribe dwelling in the northeast of Gaul, in what is now the southern Netherlands, eastern Belgium and the German Rhineland, in the period immediately preceding the Roman conquest of the region. Thou ...

in the north, and the

Tungri The Tungri (or Tongri, or Tungrians) were a tribe, or group of tribes, who lived in the Belgic part of Gaul, during the times of the Roman Empire. Within the Roman Empire, their territory was called the ''Civitas Tungrorum''. They were described b ...

and

Atuatuci The Atuatuci (or Aduatuci) were a Gauls, Gallic-Germanic peoples, Germanic tribe, dwelling in the eastern part of modern-day Belgium during the Iron Age Europe, Iron Age. They fought the Roman armies of Julius Caesar during the Gallic Wars (58– ...

in the west., Map 11: Sequana-Rhenus.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * {{Germanic peoples Early Germanic peoples Tribes of pre-Roman Gaul Tribes involved in the Gallic Wars Belgae