The Ligauni were a Celto-Ligurian tribe dwelling near the Mediterranean coast during the Iron Age and the Roman period.
Name
They are mentioned as Ligaunorumque by Pliny (1st c. AD). A (colonia) in Liga in also attested in the Early Middle Ages (814 AD).
The ethnic name Ligauni is probably Celtic, stemming from an earlier *Ligamnī. It has been derived from the root līg- ('to strike'), with Ligauni as 'the beating ones', or from liga- ('mud, sediment, silt'). According to Patrizia de Bernardo Stempel, such linguistically Celtic tribal names suggest that a Celto-Ligurian dialect played an important role among the languages spoken in ancient Ligury.
Geography
Their territory was located east of the Deciates, west of the Verucini, south of the Suetrii, and north of the Oxybii. According to historian Guy Barruol, they were part of the Saluvian confederation.
References
- Pliny. Naturalis Historia, 3:35.
- ^ Falileyev 2010, s.v. Ligauni.
- Barruol 1969, p. 215.
- ^ de Bernardo Stempel 2006, p. 46.
- Talbert 2000, Map 16: Col. Forum Iulii-Albingaunum.
- Barruol 1969, p. 188.
- Rivet 1988, p. 16.
Bibliography
- Barruol, Guy (1969). Les Peuples préromains du Sud-Est de la Gaule: étude de géographie historique. E. de Boccard. OCLC 3279201.
- de Bernardo Stempel, Patrizia (2006). "From Ligury to Spain: Unaccented *yo > (y)e in Narbonensic votives ('gaulish' DEKANTEM), Hispanic coins ('iberian' -(sk)en) and some theonyms". Palaeohispanica. 6: 45–58. ISSN 1578-5386.
- Falileyev, Alexander (2010). Dictionary of Continental Celtic Place-names: A Celtic Companion to the Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. CMCS. ISBN 978-0955718236.
- Rivet, A. L. F. (1988). Gallia Narbonensis: With a Chapter on Alpes Maritimae : Southern France in Roman Times. Batsford. ISBN 978-0-7134-5860-2.
- Talbert, Richard J. A. (2000). Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0691031699.
