Silvanectes

The Silvanectes (or Sulbanectes) were a small Belgic tribe dwelling around present-day Senlis (Oise) during the Roman period.

Name

Attestations

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

The Silvanectes are also attested under the name Sulbanectes in an inscription,[5] and their capital was mentioned as civitas Sulbanectium in 48 AD.[6]

Etymology

The etymology of the ethnonym remains unclear. It could be a Latinized form of Gaulish *Seluanecti (from seluā- 'possession, property' > 'herd'; cf. 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.[6]

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

Geography

The Silvanectes dwelled southwest of the Suessionnes, near the Meldi and the Bellovaci.[5] Their small territory, a depression surrounded by wooded heights, could be easily dominated by the more powerful Bellovaci, to which they were probably tributary.[5]

References
  1. Pliny. Naturalis Historia, 4:106.
  2. Ptolemy. Geōgraphikḕ Hyphḗgēsis, 2:9:6.
  3. Notitia Dignitatum, oc 42:42.
  4. Falileyev 2010, s.v. Silvanectes.
  5. Wightman 1985, p. 27.
  6. Nègre 1990, p. 157.
  7. Delamarre 2003, p. 270.
Bibliography
  • Delamarre, Xavier (2003). Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise: Une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental. Errance. ISBN 9782877723695.
  • 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.
  • Wightman, Edith M. (1985). Gallia Belgica. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-05297-0.
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