Diodorus Siculus (Diodorus of Sicily) was an ancient Greek historian who lived about 60-30 BC.  He wrote several interesting works among them, quite naturally, a history (more precisely, a work called the “Historical Library”).

Book V of that history contains interesting descriptions of northern Europe (including of Britain).  You can view the whole write up here.  For our purposes, however, we will be content to present only three fragments that relate to Gaul:

26 “Furthermore, since temperateness of climate is destroyed by the excessive cold, the land produces neither wine nor oil, and as a consequence those Gauls who are deprived of these fruits make a drink out of barley which they call zythos or beer, and they also drink the water with which they cleanse their honeycombs.”

29 “Certain of them despise death to such a degree that they enter the perils of battle without protective armour and with no more than a girdle about their loins.”

32 “And now it will be useful to draw a distinction which is unknown to many: The peoples who dwell in the interior above Massalia, those on the slopes of the Alps, and those on this side the Pyrenees mountains are called Celts, whereas the peoples who are established above this land of Celtica in the parts which stretch to the north, both along the ocean and along the Hercynian Mountain, and all the peoples who come after these, as far as Scythia, are known as Gauls; the Romans, however, include all these nations together under a single name, calling them one and all Gauls.”

The three interesting points are as follows:

Beer

First, the barley drink, i.e., beer is mentioned here as a Gallic drink named zythos.

Now, zythos is supposed to be an Egyptian type of beer not Gallic.  It is certainly true that in Book I of the same work Diodorus says the following:

34 “The Egyptians also make a drink out of barley which they call zythos, the bouquet of which is not much inferior to that of wine.”

Similarly, the Talmud notes (42b) as follows:

“What is Egyptian Zithom? —  Rabbi Joseph learned that it is a concoction made of a third part barley, a third part safflower, and a third part salt.  Rabbi Papa omitted barley and substituted wheat.  And your token is ‘sisane.’ They soaked these ingredients, then roasted them, ground them and then drank them.  From the Passover sacrifice until Pentecost, they who are constipated are relieved, while they who are diarrhoeic are bound.  But for an invalid and a pregnant woman it is dangerous.”

However, the earlier source is Diodorus by far (the Babylonian Talmud was not completed, at the earliest, until around 500 AD). And he also says that the Galls use the same term as we saw above.  In neither place does Diodorus say whether the word is originally Gallic or Egyptian or of some other origin.  However, the Greek ζύθος may have cognates in both Greek versions of “leaven” and in “yeast”.  If this is the case then it is also possible that the word is northern in origin – perhaps brought to Egypt with the armies of Alexander the Great.  (The Egyptians by all accounts did know beer – what they called it, however, is an entirely different matter).  Thus, perhaps, zythos was a Gallic or otherwise northern European name.

Moreover, as the above quotation notes it may not have been just a barley drink.  A much earlier source,  Theophrastos (circa 371 – about 287 BC) in his History of Plants apparently says that the term covers “those beverages, which were prepared, like those made of barley and wheat, of rotting fruits.”  Consequently, it seems that the term encompassed more than just barley drinks.

It is curious then that the Slavic word for “secale” – e.g., żyto (Po) or žito (Czech) – should sound so similar.  Aleksander Brueckner has very little to say about the etymology of this rather important word referring only to “life”, i.e., život/życie).

(Incidentally 1, the Greeks also knew kamon which was Dalmatian beer.  Whether that has anything to do with kamos of the Huns we leave to you but Priscus did say when visiting Attila’s camp: “In the villages we were supplied with food – millet instead of corn – and medos as the natives call it. The attendants who followed us received millet and a drink of barley, which the barbarians call kamos.”)

(Incidentally 2, sources relate that the consumption of zythos won’t result in “punishment” of karat[h] or “cutting off” – כרת – why Slavic – an IndoEuropean language – should have the same word for punishment – kara – as Hebrew, we leave to speculation noting only that other “weighty” words may also be similar such as the word for “good” – dobri).

Loins & Loincloths

Barbarian warriors, no doubt, often fought without armour and with pitiful protections.  Nevertheless, the above description of the Galls cannot help but bring to mind the later description of the Slavs by Procopius:

“Indeed, some of them do not wear even a shirt or a cloak, but gathering their trews up as far as to their private parts they enter into battle with their opponents.”

Galls & Celts

Diodorus’ division of the “Galls” into “Galls proper” and the more southern Celts should be of great interest to us as should the remark that the Romans have ignored such differences calling all these barbarians by the same name “Galls.”  See here for possible connections.

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Zeeuwen or Seeland is a region of the Netherlands.  We were previously debating the possibility of it being yet another candidate (along with Seeland in Denmark) for the Selencia of Gallus Anonymous.  What’s interesting is that the name Zeeuwen may have come from the name Suevi.  Or at least one researcher suggested that as a possibility.  That researcher was Maurits Gysseling, a name we came across already in the past.  He is the man who thought that BC the language of Gallia Belgica was neither Germanic nor Celtic but rather some “other” Indo-European language (the so-called “Northwest Block” theory).

Here are his musings from the “Toponymisch Woordenboek van België, Nederland, Luxemburg, Noord-Frankrijk en West-Duitsland”:

As you can see, Gysseling does not make up his mind on this point, nor, in fairness, would it be easy to do so.  Nevertheless, intrigued, we took a look at the passage he refers to in Annales Vedastini (Annals of Saint Vaast).  These annals are of interest also because of the location of the Abbey of Saint Vaast in Arras which is in Pas-de-Calais in the north of France – an area which has a number of interesting town names.

Annales Vedastini 880

Anno DCCCLXXX

Anno Domini *DCCCLXXX. Nortmanni vero Tornacam civitatem et omnia monasteria supra Scaldum ferro et igne devastant, interfectis accolis terrae atque captivatis. Gozlinus vero et Chuonradus eorumque complices aegre ferentes de amicitia Hugonis abbatis suorumque dominorum cum Hludowico iterum eum faciunt venire in Franciam. Contra quem Hugo abba cum sociis ac dominis et copioso exercitu venire non distulit, apudque monasterium sancti Quintini resederunt, Hludowicus vero rex et eius exercitus supra fluvium Hisam, et nuntiis intercurrentibus praedicti reges in unum conveniunt et pacis foedera inter se procurante Hugone abbate firmant, regratiatis his qui a se disciverant. Actum est hoc mense Februario.

Post haec Hludowicus parat redire in regnum suum, occurritque Nortmannis a praeda revertentibus. Et facta congressione apud Timiomum nobiliter eos vicisset, nisi contigisset Hugonem filium suum ibi ruere. Nam Godefridus rex Danorum illum interfecit. Quo mortuo omisit rex illos insequi. Multi quoque nobiles illius gentis ibi corruerunt, caeteri, qui evasere, rediere ad castra sua. Hugo quoque abbas fuit in illo proelio.

Hoc modo Hludowico ad sua reverso, Hludowicus et Karlomannus reges Ambianis cum suis fidelibus veniunt, ibique Franci inter eos dividunt, dataque est pars Franciae et omnis Neustria Hludowico, Karlomanno vero Aquitania atque pars Burgundiae necnon et Gothtia; et inde unusquisque ivit in sua.

Post haec Hludowicus rex dirigit Heinricum quendam e suis principibus, qui pergeret cum Hludowico et Karlomanno contra Bosonem tyrannum. In ipso etiam itinere Heinricus Teutbaldum filium Hucberti gravi devicit proelio. Hludowicus vero Gauzlinum cum aliis multis ad tuitionem regni contra Nortmannos dirigit. Ipse vero et frater eius cum reliquo exercitu Burgundiam petentes civitates, quas tyrannus invaserat, receperunt. Sociatoque sibi Karolo rege, fratre Hludowici, Bosonem in Vienna civitate incluserunt, pacemque ei obtulerunt, quam ille rennuit suscipere. Circumdata itaque urbe ille se firmissime intus munivit. Unde episcopi cum consilio regum et principum eum perpetuo damnavere anathemate. Karolus vero rex de nocte consurgens, ignorantibus Hludowico et Karlomanno, igne sua castra concremavit, atque ita revertitur in sua. Hoc etiam tempore obiit Karlomannus rex, frater Karoli et Hludowici. Hi vero qui Viennam obsederant videntes nil inimicis posse . ., accepto consilio, rediere in sua.

Gozlinus vero abba et exercitus qui cum eo erat statuunt Nortmannos bellum inferre. Mittuntque ad eos qui trans Scaldum erant, ut die statuta venientes, hi ex una parte fluminis hique ex alia eosque delerent. Sed non provenit ita ut voluerunt. Nam non solum nil prospere egerunt, verum turpiter fugiendo vix evasere, captis suorum plurimis atque occisis. Timor quoque et tremor eorum cecidit super inhabitantes terram, et hac elati victoria die noctuque non cessant aecclesias igne cremari populumque Christianum iugulari. Tunc omnes intra Scaldum et Sumnam atque trans Scaldum monachi, canonici, sanctimoniales cum corporibus sanctorum et omnis aetas et conditio fugam ineunt. Ipsi enim Dani nemini nec etiam aetati parcebant, sed omnia ferro et igne devastant. Gozlinus vero et hi qui cum eo erant videntes non posse eos resistere, mense Octobrio intrante dimisso exercitu, rediit unusquisque in sua. Nortmanni vero seu Dani sedem sibi mutaverunt et mense Novembris Curtriaco sibi castrum ad hiemandum construunt.  Indeque Menapios atque Suevos usque ad internitionem delevere, quia valde illis infesti erant.  Omnemque terram vorax flamma consumpsit. Hludowicus vero rex rediit in Franciam diemque nativitatis Domini egit celebrem in Compendio palatio.

Suffice it to translate only the last part:

“The Northmen or Danes moved their camp in the month of November and they built a fort in Kortrijk to spend the winter there.  And then they [that is the Northmen] razed the land of the Menapii and the Suevi for they were very hostile to them.  And the eager flames devoured the entire country.”

Since we know where Kortrijk is we also know where, approximately, the Menapii (a Belgic tribe – whatever that means) and Suevi must have been:

At the very least this was rather interesting.  As previously discussed here some of the names in the area with the -in ending seemed similar to the -in endings in the east but they were hardly conclusive of a Slavic presence in the area (even if suggestive).

That the Suevi must have in part lived in this area alongside the Frisians we also know from Tacitus’ Agricola (28):

“The same summer a Usipian cohort, which had been levied in Germany and transported into Britain, ventured on a great and memorable exploit. Having killed a centurion and some soldiers, who, to impart military discipline, had been incorporated with their ranks and were employed at once to instruct and command them, they embarked on board three swift galleys with pilots pressed into their service. Under the direction of one of them—for two of the three they suspected and consequently put to death—they sailed past the coast in the strangest way before any rumour about them was in circulation. After a while, dispersing in search of water and provisions, they encountered many of the Britons, who sought to defend their property. Often victorious, though now and then beaten, they were at last reduced to such an extremity of want as to be compelled to eat, at first the feeblest of their number, and then victims selected by lot. Having sailed around Britain and lost their vessels from not knowing how to manage them, they were looked upon as pirates and were intercepted, first by the Suevi and then by the Frisii. Some who were sold as slaves in the way of trade and were brought through the process of barter as far as our side of the Rhine, gained notoriety by the disclosure of this extraordinary adventure.”

(A reference to the Suevi appears also in the curious story of “Indian” sailors.  Here they are Boii (in Pomponius Mela’s description) and Suevi (in Pliny’s).  That the Boii too may have been Suevi seems to have occurred to no one.  The similarity of these nautical stories also seems to have been hardly explored).

So we started poking around a little bit more but, notwithstanding some nearby place names (e.g., Lessines) and some river names), there were no major breakthroughs.

But then we came across the following:

And further down this:

Now, again, this was the area (or close enough to the area) of the various -ins such as these (shown in red, see, e.g., Wavrin) so we were intrigued that this was where these various Perunnes were appearing (in blue):

Consequently, we were eager to get an explanation for the Peronnes. Picking one of these the Péronne in the Somme department, we tried to see how old this place was.  Strangely, it seems it is quite ancient with the first mention being already in the 6th century as Peronam urbem regiam by the poet Venantius Fortunatus (c. 530–c. 600/609).  This was easy to confirm in the MGH where we have the full “Life of Radegunde” including the aforementioned reference in the form “in Perunna villa”:

About the same time we have the mention of the town in a November 10, 585 edict of the Burgundian king Guntram:

So the town is quite old and the name is quite old.  In fact, the town is so old that in 1880 it even got to have a book written about it:

In that book the author begins, of course, with discussing the etymology of the name and, right from the start, there are snags!

But there were other Perunian names in France.  Here they are along with the original Kortrijk location:Certainly, many of these have nothing to do with Slavs. Perhaps they refer to the fibula, the leg bone that was earlier referred to as the perone.  In fact, that continues to exist and be used in Italian, Spanish and other Romance languages (and Basque apparently).

Of course, one can ask whether the fibula looks like a thunderbolt but we leave that to you (or thunderbolt like a fibula):

For the Dutch Veleti see here and here.  If you want to get really “far out” check out the fibula description in Basque:

Sorburua means source meaning seemingly in other instances too “original” – so now we have the Sorbs – the original people…

To come full circle, note that Safarik thought that Venantius Fortunatus in one of his poems meant Veleti (in the Netherlands) when he talked about Vascos (i.e., Basques).  Was there a difference back then?  Note too that the below poem, again, mentions together the Suevi and Frisians suggesting that Suevi (also) lived in northwest Germany.  Perhaps in the neighborhood of the River Leda or the River Lippa.

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