Auscii

The Auscii or Ausci were an Aquitani tribe dwelling around present-day Auch during the Iron Age.

Aquitani tribes at both sides of the Pyrenees.

Alongside the Tarbelli, they were one of the most powerful peoples of Aquitania.[1]

Name

They are mentioned as Ausci by Caesar (mid-1st c. BC), Pliny (1st c. AD) and Pomponius Mela (mid-1st c. AD),[2][3][4] and as Au̓skíois (Αὐσκίοις) by Strabo (early 1st c. AD).[5][6]

The ethnonym Auscii may be related to the prefix eusk-, meaning 'Basque' in the Basque language (euskara).[7]

The city of Auch, attested as civitas Auscius in the early 4th century AD, is named after the tribe.[8]

Geography

Their territory was located north of the Onobrisates, west of the Cambolectri and Volcae Tectosages, south of the Lactorates, west of the Atures.[9]

The chief town of the Auscii was known as Elimberrum (modern Auch), whose name can be compared to the Basque ili-berri ('new town').[10]

Culture

It is believed that the Auscii spoke a form or dialect of the Aquitanian language, a precursor of the Basque language.[11]

See also

References
  1. Duval 1989, p. 739.
  2. Caesar. Commentarii de Bello Gallico, 3:27:1.
  3. Pliny. Naturalis Historia, 4:108.
  4. Pomponius Mela. De situ orbis, 3:2:20.
  5. Strabo. Geōgraphiká, 4:2:2.
  6. Falileyev 2010, s.v. Auscii.
  7. Allières, Jacques (1977). Les Basques. Presses Universitaires de France. p. 15.
  8. Nègre 1990, p. 1202.
  9. Talbert 2000, Map 25: Hispania Tarraconensis.
  10. Rostaing, Charles (1948). Les noms de lieux. Presses Universitaires de France. p. 34.
  11. Jacques Lemoine, Toponymie du Pays Basque Français et des Pays de l'Adour, Picard 1977, ISBN 2-7084-0003-7

Bibliography
  • Duval, Paul-Marie (1989). "Les peuples de l'Aquitaine d'après la liste de Pline". Travaux sur la Gaule (1946-1986). Vol. 116. École Française de Rome. pp. 721–737. ISBN 9782728301676.
  • 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. Librairie Droz. ISBN 978-2-600-02883-7.
  • Talbert, Richard J. A. (2000). Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0691031699.
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