Among the easternmost Celtic tribes
in Germania, the Lugii lived in the area which today roughly forms the meeting point
between eastern Slovakia,
southern Poland and western
Ukraine (an area which was later
known as Galicia). The Lugii may
also have resided farther north, in
Pomerania, prior to moving south
(but should not be confused with the
Rugii who resided in the region by
the first century AD). Southwards migration was common, even normal, among tribes
of the Baltic Sea region. The Lugii were bordered by the Gaulish
Cotini to the south, the
Venedi and the
Vandali to the north, and
tribes such as the Boii,
Harii,
Hermunduri,
Naharvali, and
Osi to the west.
Controversy
exists as to whether particular tribes were
Germanic or Gaulish (Celtic),
and the Lugii are one of those tribes which may straddle both definitions because
they were a tribal confederation rather than a single tribe. The subject is
discussed in greater detail in the accompanying feature. As well as forming
a federation of their own, the Lugii seem to have been viewed as being part
of the great confederation of the Suevi.
The Lugii name, also used by an insular Gaulish
(British/Pictish)
tribe in Scotland, appears to have been based on the name of the Celtic god,
Lugus (correctly in common Gaulish this should have an '-os' suffix, 'Lugos').
He is more commonly known as the
Irish
Lugh or Lug (probably cognate to the Latin 'lux', meaning 'light'
- it is possible that this god shows up in the Nordendorf fibula as Logathore,
probably also cognate with the Norse
fire giant, Logi). In northern Iberia a sub-tribe of the Astures carried the name
Luggones, and nearby were the similarly named Louguei sub-tribe of the Gallaeci.
These should probably not be regarded as branches of the central European Lugii,
but instead as either fellow adherents of the cult of the god Lugus, or followers
of a tribal leader named after Lugus. Confusingly, the easternmost Lugii also
seem to have been known as Luggones, while there were several named
subdivisions of Lugi (see AD 140s, below).
With the Mugilones tribal name, the suffixes can be removed straight away to
leave 'Mugil'. Even the surviving '-il' could also be a suffix, one that is often
seen as being Celtic. In Latin it is 'mugio', meaning 'to groan', or bellow,
roar, low. Could that make this tribe 'the shouters'? The proto-Celtic word
list provides *glagmā- (?), meaning 'shout', which looks like an inversion
of sequence, something that was not uncommon.
Breaking down the Sibini name requires using Irish Gaelic for cognates.
A possible origin is 'seabhag', meaning 'hawk, with the Irish version being
'seabhac', Early Irish 'sebac', and Old Irish 'sebocc', but the end 'g' or 'k'
sound is missing. Another option is with the loss of the 'r': 'siabhrach',
meaning a fairy, in Irish 'siabhra'. Early Irish has it as 'siabrae' or 'siabur',
meaning a fairy or ghost, in
Welsh this
is the 'hwyfar' in Gwenhwyfar (Guinevere, meaning 'white fairy'): *seibro-.
This has a parallel in the Picts of Fife being called the cusidhe (fairy
hounds). So were the Sibini 'the faeries' (to use the more traditional spelling
of the word)? The pure, unadorned word makes no sense: Irish 'sibh', meaning
'you', Old Irish 'sib': *sves, for 's-ves'. The 'ves' is allied to the Latin
'vos'. The form 'sibh' is for *svi-svi. A guess based on all of this is that
these people were 'the faeries' in the traditional sense (not the Hollywood
sense!); flighty, hard to pin down, semi-spectral.
The Zumi tribal name is particularly fascinating because it does not look
either Celtic (which would hardly use a 'z') or Germanic. If it does turn
out to be Celtic (which seems dubious) then it looks like slang in the form
of 'tzu' (the modern 'tu' which means 'you') plus 'me' or 'mi' (which equals
the personal pronoun 'I'), in other words, 'you and I', a particularly odd
way of saying 'us' or 'we'. Of course, this is highly speculative.
(Information by Edward Dawson, with additional information from The
La Tene Celtic Belgae Tribes in England: Y-Chromosome Haplogroup R-U152 -
Hypothesis C, David K Faux, from Geography, Ptolemy, from the
Complete Works of Tacitus, Alfred John Church, William Jackson Brodribb,
& Lisa Cerrato, from Germania, Tacitus, from Roman Soldier versus
Germanic Warrior: 1st Century AD, Lindsay Powell, from The Horse, the
Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped
the Modern World, David W Anthony, and from External Link:
Geography, Strabo (H C Hamilton & W Falconer, London, 1903,
Perseus Online Edition).)
6th century BC
At least some early elements of the Lugii probably belong to
the Hallstatt culture of
Celts,
along with the
Bebryces,
Boii,
Cotini,
Harii,
Helisii,
Helveconae,
Manimi,
Naharvali, and
Osi. They
are to be found around the central German lands, and in
Bohemia,
Moravia, Slovakia, and the edges of
Poland
and
Ukraine. Around this time a large-scale expansion begins that sees many
Hallstatt Celts migrate outwards, towards northern
Italy,
Gaul, or Iberia. Many others remain, and control the region until pressure
from newly-arriving Germanic
tribes begins to erode their hold in the second and first centuries BC.
8 - 6 BC
Migrations of Marcomanni from the region of northern
Bavaria
and the River Main lead them to the homeland of the
Boii in
Bohemia.
The Marcomanni leader, Marbod, forms a confederation of tribes which includes
Langobards, Lugii, Marcomanni,
and Semnones, and the Boii themselves. Possibly this also incorporates remnants of the alliances of
Ariovistus of the
Suevi in 58 BC. At this time
the Lugii are probably contributing to the
Przeworsk culture of
central and southern Poland.
AD 23
The first historical mention of the Lugii is by Strabo, who seems to place
them as members of a tribal federation which includes the Butones (a questionable name,
perhaps a misspelling of
Gutones),
Mugilones, Semnones,
Sibini and Zumi. Of those, the Mugilones, Sibini, and Zumi are otherwise entirely
unknown, with this perhaps being the last gasp of any separate identity for
them before they are entirely subsumed within the Lugii confederation.
The three-headed representation of the Celtic god Lugus,
discovered in Paris - Lugus was widely followed, by the
Lugii tribe, and by Gauls in Scotland, Ireland, Iberia
c.81 - 96
The Lugii are mentioned by Cassius Dio in his Roman
History. During the reign of
Roman Emperor Domitian
the 'Lygians' in Moesia, having become involved in war with some of the
Suevi, send
envoys asking Domitian for aid. He grants them a force of a hundred
warriors, 'a force that was strong,
not in numbers, but in dignity'. The Suevi, indignant at this help, attach
members of the Iazyges to their number make preparations to cross the Ister
with them. What happens next remains unrecorded.
98
At this time, the
Roman
writer Tacitus mentions the Lugii. He is of the opinion that they
are a federation of the smaller Gaulish tribes, the
Harii,
Helisii,
Helveconae,
Manimi
(perhaps a division of the Lugii themselves based on Ptolemy's comments
of around the year AD 140),
and Naharvali.
Tacitus also mentions the
Buri but not as members of the Lugii.
The Vandali,
who neighbour the Lugii to the north-west, may also be allied to the Lugii
in some way, either as part of the same people or as part of their
federation.
c.140s
Ptolemy breaks the Lugii down into Lugi
Buri, Lugi Diduni, and
Lugi Omani. It seems plausible that the
Manimi of AD 98 have some
relationship to the Omani, based on the similar names. The Diduni have an
especially intriguing name because Ptolemy names a town in the area called
Lugidunum. This name breaks down into Lugi (the
Celtic god) plus 'dun' (fort)
and '-um', which is a superfluous Latin suffix that can be ignored. Diduni breaks
down into the prefix 'di-' (which seems to be cognate to a related Latin prefix
of 'de-', and means 'of', 'from', 'down from', or 'originating from') plus 'dun' (fort)
plus the added Latin plural suffix '-i'. So the Diduni would be 'from the fort'.
Ptolemy also lists the tribe mentioned above called the
Lugi along the Moray Firth in what is now northern Scotland. While it is
possible they are related to the Lugii of central Europe, this is unlikely,
and they are more likely to be a tribe of adherents to the cult of Lugus.
The Byzantine historian, Zosimus writes his Historia Nova (New
History) in this period, which contains the last certain mention of the
Lugii. The Eastern Roman emperor terminates several other wars relatively
easy and fights some fierce battles, first against the Logiones (Lugii),
whom Zosimus calls
Germanic. The Logiones are defeated in the field, with their leader, Semno, and his son
being taken prisoner. They are all pardoned once they submit, but all their captives and plunder
are confiscated and both they and their warriors are sent home on
the emperor's terms.
fl c.500
Semno
Possibly the only chief or king of the Lugii to be recorded.
?
Unnamed son. Probably succeeded Semno.
c.500s
The final fate of the Lugii is unknown. Given their location it seems
possible that they are absorbed by Slavs migrating west into central Europe.
As is often the case when a population is subsumed within a new group, they
probably adopt the language and tribal affiliations of their new overlords
in order to blend in and be accepted (there are various instances of this in
Britain). The existence of Celts in southern
Poland and western
Ukraine after their heyday is
proven by the emergence of a region known as
Galicia, which bears a version
of the original name for the Celts.
