Silvanectes

The Silvanectes (or Sulbanectes) were a small Belgic tribe dwelling around present-day Senlis, Oise.[1]

Name

Attestations

They are mentioned as Ulmanectes by Pliny (1st c. AD),[2] as Soubánektoi (Σουβάνεκτοι) by Ptolemy (2nd c. AD),[3] and as Siluanectas in the Notitia Dignitatum (5th c. AD).[4][5]

The Silvanectes are also attested under the name Sulbanectes in an inscription,[6] and their capital was mentioned as civitas Sulbanectium in 48 BC.[1]

Etymology

The etymology of the name is unclear. It could be a Latinized form of Gaulish *Seluanecti (from Gaulish seluā- 'possession, property' > 'herd'; compare with Old Irish selb 'property, possession', Welsh ar helw 'in possession of'), corrupted under the influence of Latin silva ('forest').[7] A comparison with Old Irish sulbair ('eloquent') has also been proposed.[1]

The city of Senlis, attested as civitas Silvanectum ca. 400 AD ('civitas of the Silvanectes', Sinleti in the 6th c., Senliz in 1211) is named after the Gallic tribe.[1]

Geography

The Silvanectes dwelled southwest of the Suessionnes, near the Meldi and the Bellovaci.[6] Their small territory, a depression surrounded by wooded heights, could be easily dominated by more powerful Bellovaci, to which they were probably tributary.[6]

References
  1. Nègre 1990, p. 157.
  2. Pliny. Naturalis Historia, 4:106
  3. Ptolemy. Geōgraphikḕ Hyphḗgēsis, 2:9:6
  4. Notitia Dignitatum. oc 42:42
  5. Falileyev 2010, p. entry 2346.
  6. Wightman 1985, p. 27.
  7. Delamarre 2003, p. 270.

Bibliography
  • Delamarre, Xavier (2003). Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise: Une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental (in French). Errance. ISBN 9782877723695.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • 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.
  • Nègre, Ernest (1990). Toponymie générale de la France (in French). Librairie Droz. ISBN 978-2-600-02883-7.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Wightman, Edith M. (1985). Gallia Belgica. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-05297-0.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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