The Daukiones (Greek) or Dauciones (Latinization) were a Germanic tribe mentioned only by the Roman scholar

Claudius Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine, Islamic, and ...

in his ''Geographia'' (2nd century AD). Ptolemy lists the Daukiones along with five or six other tribes inhabiting the "island of Scandia''"'', which he mistakenly identified as an island off the eastern coast of the Cimbrian peninsula (

Jutland Jutland (; , ''Jyske Halvø'' or ''Cimbriske Halvø''; , ''Kimbrische Halbinsel'' or ''Jütische Halbinsel'') is a peninsula of Northern Europe that forms the continental portion of Denmark and part of northern Germany (Schleswig-Holstein). It ...

), rather than the southern part of the

Scandinavian peninsula The Scandinavian Peninsula is located in Northern Europe, and roughly comprises the mainlands of Sweden, Norway and the northwestern area of Finland. The name of the peninsula is derived from the term Scandinavia, the cultural region of Denm ...

. While it is generally accepted that ''Scandia'' refers to present-day southern

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, particularly

Scania Scania ( ), also known by its native name of Skåne (), is the southernmost of the historical provinces of Sweden, provinces () of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous w ...

(Skåne), there is little agreement on the identification of the Daukiones. Several scholars have offered various interpretations. Johann Kaspar Zeuss suggested that the name is a misspelling or distortion of ''skandiones'', the inhabitants of Skåne. Gudmund Schütte suggested that the name is related to ''daneiones'' or ''dankiones'', referring to the

Danes Danes (, ), or Danish people, are an ethnic group and nationality native to Denmark and a modern nation identified with the country of Denmark. This connection may be ancestral, legal, historical, or cultural. History Early history Denmark ...

, although the Danes do not appear in other sources before the 6th century AD. Other theories link the tribe to names such as '' aviones'', a Scandinavian tribe mentioned by

Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. Tacitus’ two major historical works, ''Annals'' ( ...

, or ''dapriones'', the inhabitants of ''Daprae''a medieval

hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numerals, Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 (number), 99 and preceding 101 (number), 101. In mathematics 100 is the square of 10 (number), 10 (in scientific notation it is written as 102). The standar ...

in Scania''.'' However, none of the theories has been generally accepted. The difficulties in identifying the ''Daukiones'' stem from the fact that the name appears only in Ptolemy’s text and no other historical sources mention a tribe with a similar name. Scholars have speculated that Ptolemy's naming could involve transcription errors or misinterpretations. Some researchers, like

Adolf Noreen Adolf Gotthard Noreen (13 March 1854 in Östra Ämtervik, Sunne Municipality – 13 June 1925 in Uppsala) was a Sweden, Swedish Linguistics, linguist who served as a member of the Swedish Academy from 1919 until his death. Noreen studied at Upps ...

, Karl Müllenhoff and Lauritz Weibull, have suggested that the name remains too obscure to be linked with any known group, and any attempts on identification are necessarily based on pure conjecture.

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* {{Germanic peoples Early Germanic peoples

See also

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