Petrocorii

The Petrocorii were a Gallic tribe dwelling in the present-day Périgord region, between the Dordogne and Vézère rivers, during the Iron Age and the Roman period.

Map showing the different Gaulish tribes. The Petrocorii are located in the centre-west of what is now France.

Etymology

They are mentioned as Petrocoriis by Caesar (mid-1st c. BC),[1] Petrokórioi (Πετροκόριοι) by Strabo (early 1st c. AD) and Ptolemy (2nd c. AD),[2] Petrocori by Pliny (1st c. AD),[3] and as Petrogorii by Sidonius Apollinaris (5th c. AD).[4][5]

The Gaulish ethnonym Petrocorii means 'four armies', or 'four troops'. It stems from the Gaulish root petru- ('four') attached to corios ('army'), after a Gallic custom of including numbers in tribal names (e.g. Vo-contii, Vo-corii, Tri-corii, Suess-iones).[6][7] Their name may indicate a relatively recent formation emerging from of the union of fragmented small ethnic groups.[8]

The word corios derives from Proto-Celtic *koryos ('troop, tribe'; cf. Middle Welsh cordd 'tribe, clan'; Mid. Ir. cuire), itself from Proto-Indo-European *kóryos, meaning 'army, people under arms'. The root is also found in other Gaulish tribal names such as the Tri-corii or the Corio-solites.[9] The root petru- stems from Proto-Celtic *kʷetwór- ('four'; cf. OIr. cetheoir, OW. and OBret. petguar).[10]

The city of Périgueux, attested ca. 400 AD as civitas Petrocoriorum ('civitas of the Petrocorii'; Petrecors in the 8th c., Periguhès in 1466), and the Périgord region, attested in the 7th c. AD as pagum Petrocorecum ('pagus of the Petrocorii'; Petragoricus in 781, Peiregore in the 12th c.), are named after the Gallic tribe.[11]

Geography
Stylobate indirectly mentionning the Petrocorii who erected this pedestal in Lyon. CIL XIII 1704.
Drachma "in a flamboyant style" struck by the Petrocorii

The Petrocorii lived in the present-day Périgord region, between the Dordogne and Vézère rivers.[12][13] Their territory was located south of the Lemovices and Santones, east of the Bituriges Vivisci, west of the Arverni, and north of the Nitiobroges and Cadurci.[14][13]

During the Roman period, their chief town was Vesunna, corresponding to the modern town of Périgueux.[5]

History

In 52 BC, they supplied around 5,000 warriors to Vercingetorix, to aid him to fight the Roman legions of Julius Caesar. Strabo mentions their excellence working with iron.[12]

References
  1. Caesar. Commentarii de Bello Gallico, 7:75:3.
  2. Strabo. Geōgraphiká, 4:2:2; Ptolemy. Geōgraphikḕ Hyphḗgēsis, 2:7:9.
  3. Pliny. Naturalis Historia, 4:109.
  4. Sidonius Apollinaris. Epistles, 7:6:7.
  5. Falileyev 2010, s.v. Petrocori and Vesunna.
  6. Lambert 1994, p. 35.
  7. Delamarre 2003, pp. 125, 250, 326.
  8. Kruta 2000, p. 71: "Il semble s'agir dans tous les cas de petites cités, issues peut-être de l'éclatement d'ensembles ethniques plus importants."
  9. Matasović 2009, p. 218.
  10. Matasović 2009, p. 179.
  11. Nègre 1990, p. 155.
  12. Kruta 2000, p. 776.
  13. Lafond & Olshausen 2006.
  14. Talbert 2000, Map 14: Caesarodunum-Burdigala.

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.
  • Kruta, Venceslas (2000). Les Celtes, histoire et dictionnaire : des origines à la romanisation et au christianisme. Robert Laffont. ISBN 2-221-05690-6.
  • Lafond, Yves; Olshausen, Eckart (2006). "Petrocorii". Brill’s New Pauly. doi:10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e916400.
  • Lambert, Pierre-Yves (1994). La langue gauloise: description linguistique, commentaire d'inscriptions choisies. Errance. ISBN 978-2-87772-089-2.
  • Matasović, Ranko (2009). Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic. Brill. ISBN 9789004173361.
  • 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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