The Parisii (

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 ...

: ''Parisioi'') were a Gallic tribe that dwelt on the banks of the river

Seine ) , mouth_location = Le Havre/ Honfleur , mouth_coordinates = , mouth_elevation = , progression = , river_system = Seine basin , basin_size = , tributaries_left = Yonne, Loing, Eure, Risle , tributa ...

during the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly ...

and the

Roman era In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...

. They lived on lands now occupied by the modern city of

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

, whose name is derived from 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 ...

Name

They are mentioned as ''Parisii'' by Caesar (mid-1st c. BC), ''Parísioi'' (Παρίσιοι; var. Παρήσιοι) 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

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), ''Parisi'' by Pliny (mid-1st c. AD), and as ''Parisius'' and ''Parisios'' in the ''

Notitia Dignitatum The ''Notitia Dignitatum'' (Latin for "The List of Offices") 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 few surviving documents o ...

'' (5th c. AD)., s.v. ''Parisii'' and ''Lutetia''. Another tribe named Parisii is also documented in Britain. The ethnic name ''Parisii'' is a latinized form of

''Parisioi'' (sing. ''Parisios''). Its meaning has been debated. According to

Xavier Delamarre Xavier Delamarre (; born 5 June 1954) is a French linguist, lexicographer, and diplomat. He is regarded as one of the world's foremost authorities on the Gaulish language. Since 2019, he has been an associate researcher for the CNRS- PSL AOrOc ...

, it may derive from the stem ''pario-'' ('cauldron'). Alfred Holder interpreted the name as 'the makers' or 'the commanders', by comparing it to the

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...

''peryff'' ('lord, commander'), both possibly descending from a

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 ...

form reconstructed as *''kwar-is-io''-. Alternatively,

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 ...

proposed to translate ''Parisii'' as the 'spear people', by connecting the first element to the

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 ...

''carr'' 'spear', derived from an earlier *''kwar-sā''. The city of

, attested as ''Lutetiam Oppidum Parisiorum'' by Caesar (''Parision'' in the 5th c. AD, ''Paris'' in 1265), is named after the Gallic tribe.

History

The Parisii settled in the territory surrounding their chief town (or '' oppidum'') about 250 BC, as first mentioned in

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 ...

's ''

Commentarii de Bello Gallico ''Commentarii de Bello Gallico'' (; en, Commentaries on the Gallic War, italic=yes), also ''Bellum Gallicum'' ( en, Gallic War, italic=yes), is Julius Caesar's firsthand account of the Gallic Wars, written as a third-person narrative. In it C ...

''. According to the ''Commentarii de Bello Gallico'', when the Romans under Caesar entered this territory, the Parisii started burning down their own towns for they were willing to give up these possessions rather than have them taken by the Romans. In 52 BC, in concert with the

Suessiones The Suessiones were a Belgic tribe, dwelling in the modern Aisne and Oise regions during the La Tène and Roman periods. During the Gallic Wars (58–50 BC), their oppidum Noviodunum ( Pommiers) was besieged and conquered by Caesar. Followin ...

, the Parisii participated in the general rising of Vercingetorix against

. Before the Roman period, the Parisii had their own gold coinage. Once part of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...

the Parisii ''oppidum'' later became the site of Lutetia, an important city in the Roman province of Gallia Lugdunensis, and ultimately the modern city of

, whose name is derived from the name of the tribe. An ancient trade route between

Germania Germania ( ; ), also called Magna Germania (English: ''Great Germania''), Germania Libera (English: ''Free Germania''), or Germanic Barbaricum to distinguish it from the Roman province of the same name, was a large historical region in north-c ...

and

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: Hi ...

existed at the area, by way of the meeting of the Oise and Marne rivers with the

.H. Sauval
''Histoire et recherches des antiquités de la ville de Paris, Volume 1''
chés C. Moette, 1724
1st return
Retrieved 23 April 2017

References

Bibliography

* * * *

External links

* {{Authority control Historical Celtic peoples Gauls History of Paris Tribes of pre-Roman Gaul Tribes involved in the Gallic Wars

Name

History

See also

References

Bibliography

Further reading

External links