Aquitani tribes at both sides of the Pyrenees.

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

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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