The -in suffix is not exclusively Suavic. And yet one might think that it’s most common employers are Suavs. Not so. If you look at the map of France it appears everywhere but is concentrated in very specific locations. Note that the map below is hardly scientific. For example, the -in suffix is a common suffix in French names and so you have a number of Saints that bear this name which then translates to various Saint Bertins, Audins, etc. The below does not exclude those.
Nevertheless, it is interesting to see that the -in names are concentrated in three parts, the first of which is impressive:
- central portion of Gallia Belgica
- northwest Bretagne
- south of Lyon around Vienne
On this topic Caesar says the following:
“Gaul is a whole divided into three parts, one of which is inhabited by the Belgae, another by the Aquitani, and a third by a people called in their own tongue Celtae, in the Latin Galli. All these are different one from another in language, institutions, and laws.”
“The Galli (Gauls) are separated from the Aquitani by the river Garonne, from the Belgae by the Marne and the Seine.”
“Of all these peoples the Belgae are the most courageous, because they are farthest removed from the culture and civilization of the Province, and least often visited by merchants introducing the commodities that make for effeminacy; and also because they are nearest to the Germans dwelling beyond the Rhine, with whom they are continually at war.”
“For this cause the Helvetii also excel the rest of the Gauls in valour, because they are struggling in almost daily fights with the Germans, either endeavouring to keep them out of Gallic territory or waging an aggressive warfare in German territory. The separate part of the country which, as has been said, is occupied by the Gauls, starts from the river Rhone, and is bounded by the river Garonne, the Ocean, and the territory of the Belgae; moreover, on the side of the Sequani and the Helvetii, it touches on the river Rhine; and its general trend is northward.”
“The Belgae, beginning from the edge of the Gallic territory, reach to the lower part of the river Rhine, bearing towards the north and east.’
“Aquitania, starting from the Garonne, reaches to the Pyrenees and to that part of the Ocean which is by Spain: its bearing is between west and north.”
All these internet maps of ancient Gaul are based on that passage.
Interestingly, Cassius Dio says the following (53, 12): “For some of the Celts, whom we call Germans, had occupied all the Belgic territory along the Rhine and caused it to be called Germany.”
Thayer, the translator had this to say: “whether he means there that all Celts are Germans, or merely that all Germans are a sub-group of Celts, is unclear.” Further he notes that Dio “regularly uses the word ‘Celts’ in place of ‘Germans’; to avoid confusion, however, the usual term has been adopted in the translation.”
“For some of the Celts, whom we call Germans, had occupied all the Belgic territory along the Rhine and caused it to be called Germany.”
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