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{{Short description|A division of the Germanic peoples of mainland Europe}}
{{Infobox language family
{{see also|Elbe Germanic peoples}}
|name=Irminones
[[File:1st century Germani.png|thumb|300px|The approximate positions of some [[Germanic peoples]] reported by Graeco-Roman authors, [[Suebi|Suevian peoples]] in red, and other Irminones in purple]]
|region=Originally the [[North Sea]] coast from [[Friesland]] to [[Jutland]]
The '''Irminones''', also referred to as '''Herminones''' or '''Hermiones''' ({{langx|grc|Ἑρμίονες}}), were a large group of early [[Germanic tribes]] settling in the [[Elbe]] watershed and by the first century AD expanding into [[Bavaria]], [[Swabia]], and [[Bohemia]]. Notably this included the large sub-group of the [[Suevi]], that itself contained many different tribal groups, but the Irminones also included for example the [[Chatti]].
|familycolor=Indo-European
|fam2=[[Germanic languages|Germanic]]
|fam3=[[West Germanic languages|West Germanic]]
|child1=[[German language]]
|child2=[[High German]]
|glotto=high1286
|glottoname=High German
|glotto2=high1287
|glottoname2=High Franconian
|map=Germanic dialects ca. AD 1.png
|mapcaption=The distribution of the primary [[Germanic languages|Germanic]] dialect groups in Europe in around AD 1:
{{legend|Blue|[[North Germanic languages|North Germanic]]}}
{{legend|Red|[[North Sea Germanic]], or Ingvaeonic}}
{{legend|Orange|[[Weser-Rhine Germanic]], or Istvaeonic}}
{{legend|Yellow|'''Elbe Germanic''', or '''Irminonic'''}}
{{legend|Green|[[East Germanic languages|East Germanic]]}}
}}


The term Irminonic therefore is also used as a term for [[Elbe Germanic]], which is one of the proposed (but unattested) dialect groups ancestral to the [[West Germanic languages|West Germanic]] language family, especially the [[High German languages]], which include modern [[Standard German]].<ref>[[Friedrich Maurer (linguist)|Friedrich Maurer]] (1942), ''Nordgermanen und Alemannen: Studien zur Sprachgeschichte, Stammes- und Volkskunde'', Strasbourg: Hünenburg.</ref>
The '''Irminones''', also referred to as '''Herminones''' or '''Hermiones''' ({{lang-grc|Ἑρμίονες}}), were a large group of early [[Germanic tribes]] settling in the [[Elbe]] watershed and by the 1st century AD expanding into [[Bavaria]], [[Swabia]] and [[Bohemia]]. Notably this included the large sub-group of the [[Suevi]], that itself contained many different tribal groups, but the Irminones also for example included the [[Chatti]].


== History of use ==
'''Irminonic''' or '''[[Elbe Germanic]]''' is also therefore a term for one of the unattested dialect groups ancestral to the [[West Germanic languages|West Germanic]] language family, especially the [[High German languages|High German]] languages,<ref>[[Friedrich Maurer (linguist)|Friedrich Maurer]] (1942), ''Nordgermanen und Alemannen: Studien zur Sprachgeschichte, Stammes- und Volkskunde'', Strasbourg: Hünenburg.</ref> which include modern [[Standard German]].
=== Classical ===
The name Irminones or Hermiones comes from [[Tacitus]]'s ''[[Germania (book)|Germania]]'' (AD 98), where he categorized them as one of the tribes that some people say were descended from [[Mannus]], and noted that they lived in the interior of [[Germania]]. Other [[Germanic peoples|Germanic]] groups of tribes were the [[Ingaevones|Ingvaeones]], living on the coast, and [[Istvaeones]], who accounted for the rest.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0083:chapter=2 |title=Cornelius Tacitus, Germany and its Tribes, chapter 2 |editor1=Alfred John Church |editor2=William Jackson Brodribb |website=perseus.tufts.edu |access-date=16 April 2018}}</ref> Tacitus also mentioned the [[Suebi]] as a large grouping who included the [[Semnones]], the [[Quadi]], and the [[Marcomanni]], but he did not say precisely to which (if any) of the three nations they belonged.


[[Pomponius Mela]], in his ''Description of the World'' (III.3.31) described the Hermiones as the farthest people of [[Germania]], beyond both the [[Cimbri]] and [[Teutones]] who lived on the [[Codanus sinus]], which is understood today to have been his name for the [[Baltic Sea]] and [[Kattegat]], although it was described by him as a very large bay filled with islands, east of the [[Elbe]] river. Still farther east Mela describes the [[Sarmatians]] whom he places west of the [[Vistula]], and then the [[Scythians]] whom he places east of the Vistula.<ref>{{citation|title=Pomponius Mela's description of the world |translator-first=F.E. |translator-last=Romer|url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015042048507?urlappend=%3Bseq=121|author=Pomponius Mela|pages=109–117|hdl=2027/mdp.39015042048507?urlappend=%3Bseq=121 }}. Comments: {{harvnb|Christensen|2002|p=256}}. Latin text: https://www.thelatinlibrary.com/pomponius3.html</ref>
==History==

The name Irminones or Hermiones comes from [[Tacitus]]'s ''[[Germania (book)|Germania]]'' (AD 98), where he categorized them as one of the tribes of descended from [[Mannus]], and noted that they lived in the interior of Germany. Other [[Germanic peoples|Germanic]] groups of tribes were the [[Ingaevones|Ingvaeones]], living on the coast, and [[Istvaeones]], who accounted for the rest.<ref>http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0083:chapter=2&highlight=</ref> Tacitus also mentioned the [[Suebi]] as a large grouping who included the [[Semnones]], the [[Quadi]] and the [[Marcomanni]], but he did not say precisely to which (if any) of the three nations they belonged.

[[Pomponius Mela]] wrote in his ''Description of the World'' (III.3.31) in reference to the [[Kattegat]] and the waters surrounding the Danish isles (see the [[Codanus sinus]]): "On the bay are the [[Cimbri]] and the [[Teutons|Teutoni]]; farther on, the farthest people of [[Germania]], the '''Hermiones'''." Mela then begins to speak of the [[Scythia]]ns.


[[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]]'s ''Natural History'' (4.100) claimed that the Irminones included the [[Suebi]], [[Hermunduri]], [[Chatti]], and [[Cherusci]].
[[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]]'s ''Natural History'' (4.100) claimed that the Irminones included the [[Suebi]], [[Hermunduri]], [[Chatti]], and [[Cherusci]].


=== Medieval ===
In [[Nennius]], the name ''Mannus'' and his three sons appear in corrupted form, the ancestor of the Irminones appearing as Armenon. His sons here are [[Gothus]], [[Valagoths|Valagothus/Balagothus]], Cibidus, [[Burgundus]], and [[Lombards|Longobardus]], whence come the [[Goths]] (and [[Ostrogoths]], [[Visigoths]], [[Crimean Goths]]), [[Valagoths|Valagoths/Balagoths]], Cibidi, [[Burgundians]], and [[Lombards|Langobards]].
In the so-called [[Frankish Table of Nations]] (c. 520), probably a Byzantine creation, the son of Mannus, who was the ancestor of the Irminones, is named Erminus (or Armen, Ermenius, Ermenus, Armenon, Ermeno, as it appears in various manuscripts). He is said to have fathered the [[Ostrogoths]], [[Visigoths]], [[Vandals]], [[Gepids]], and [[Saxons]]. In a variation on the table that appears in the ''[[Historia Brittonum]]'', the Vandals and Saxons have been replaced by the [[Burgundians]] and [[Lombards|Langobards]].<ref>{{citation |author=Walter Goffart |author-link=Walter Goffart |title=The Supposedly 'Frankish' Table of Nations: An Edition and Study |journal=Frühmittelalterliche Studien |volume=17 |issue=1 |doi=10.1515/9783110242164.98 |pages=98–130 |year=1983|s2cid=201734002 }}.</ref>


They may have differentiated into the tribes [[Alamanni]], [[Hermunduri]], [[Marcomanni]], [[Quadi]], [[Suebi]] by the first century AD. By that time the Suebi, Marcomanni and Quadi had moved southwest into the area of modern-day [[Bavaria]] and [[Swabia]]. In 8 BC, the Marcomanni and Quadi drove the [[Boii]] out of [[Bohemia]].
They may have differentiated into the tribes [[Alamanni]], [[Hermunduri]], [[Marcomanni]], [[Quadi]], and [[Suebi]] by the first century AD. By that time the Suebi, Marcomanni, and Quadi had moved southwest into the area of modern-day [[Bavaria]] and [[Swabia]]. In 8 BC, the Marcomanni and Quadi drove the [[Boii]] out of [[Bohemia]].


The term Suebi is usually applied to all the groups that moved into this area, though later in history (around 200 AD) the term Alamanni (meaning "all-men") became more commonly applied to the group.
The term Suebi is usually applied to all the groups who moved into this area, although later in history (around 200 AD) the term Alamanni (meaning "all-men") became more commonly applied to the group.


''Jǫrmun'', the Viking Age Norse form of the name ''[[wikt:Irmin|Irmin]]'', can be found in a number of places in the ''[[Poetic Edda]]'' as a by-name for [[Odin]]. Some aspects of the Irminones' culture and beliefs may be inferred from their relationships with the Roman Empire, from Widukind's confusion over whether Irmin [[Interpretatio romana|was comparable]] to [[Mars (mythology)|Mars]] or [[Hermes]], and from [[Snorri Sturluson]]'s allusions, at the beginning of the ''Prose Edda'', to Odin's cult having appeared first in Germany, and then having spread up into the Ingvaeonic North.
''[[List of names of Odin|Jǫrmunr]]'', the Viking Age Norse form of the name ''[[wikt:Irmin|Irmin]]'', can be found in a number of places in the ''[[Poetic Edda]]'' as a [[by-name]] for [[Odin]]. Some aspects of the Irminones culture and beliefs may be inferred from their relationships with the Roman Empire, from Widukind's confusion over whether Irmin [[Interpretatio romana|was comparable]] to [[Mars (mythology)|Mars]] or [[Hermes]], and from [[Snorri Sturluson]]'s allusions, at the beginning of the ''Prose Edda'', to Odin's cult having appeared first in Germany before spreading up into the Ingvaeonic North.


== Notes ==
{{Portal|Ancient Germanic culture}}
{{Reflist}}


==Notes==
== References ==
* {{cite book|last=Christensen |first=Arne Søby|author-link=Arne Søby Christensen|title=Cassiodorus, Jordanes and the History of the Goths: Studies in a Migration Myth |year=2002| location=Copenhagen|publisher=Museum Tusculanum Press |isbn=9788772897103|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AcLDHOqOt4cC }}
<references/>
* Grimm, Jacob (1835). ''Deutsche Mythologie'' (German Mythology); From English released version ''Grimm's Teutonic Mythology'' (1888); Available online by Northvegr © 2004-2007:[https://web.archive.org/web/20080601032444/http://www.northvegr.org/lore/grimmst/015_02.php Chapter 15, page 2]-; [https://web.archive.org/web/20080601032140/http://www.northvegr.org/lore/grimmst/015_03.php 3]. File retrieved 09-26-2007.

* [[Friedrich Maurer (linguist)|Friedrich Maurer]] (1942) ''Nordgermanen und Alemannen: Studien zur germanischen und frühdeutschen Sprachgeschichte, Stammes- und Volkskunde'', Strasbourg: Hünenburg.
==References==
* Grimm, Jacob (1835). ''Deutsche Mythologie'' (German Mythology); From English released version ''Grimm's Teutonic Mythology'' (1888); Available online by Northvegr © 2004-2007:[http://www.northvegr.org/lore/grimmst/015_02.php Chapter 15, page 2]-; [http://www.northvegr.org/lore/grimmst/015_03.php 3]. File retrieved 09-26-2007.
* Tacitus, ''[[wikisource:Germania|Germania]]'' (1st century AD). (in Latin)
* Tacitus, ''[[wikisource:Germania|Germania]]'' (1st century AD). (in Latin)


* [[Friedrich Maurer (linguist)|Friedrich Maurer]] (1942) ''Nordgermanen und Alemannen: Studien zur germanischen und frühdeutschen Sprachgeschichte, Stammes- und Volkskunde'', Strasbourg: Hünenburg.

{{Germanic tribes}}
{{Germanic peoples}}
{{Germanic peoples}}
{{Authority control}}


[[Category:Elbe Germanic peoples|!]]
[[Category:Irminones| ]]
[[Category:Early Germanic peoples]]
[[Category:Pre-Roman Iron Age]]
[[Category:Pre-Roman Iron Age]]

Latest revision as of 13:34, 29 October 2024

The approximate positions of some Germanic peoples reported by Graeco-Roman authors, Suevian peoples in red, and other Irminones in purple

The Irminones, also referred to as Herminones or Hermiones (Ancient Greek: Ἑρμίονες), were a large group of early Germanic tribes settling in the Elbe watershed and by the first century AD expanding into Bavaria, Swabia, and Bohemia. Notably this included the large sub-group of the Suevi, that itself contained many different tribal groups, but the Irminones also included for example the Chatti.

The term Irminonic therefore is also used as a term for Elbe Germanic, which is one of the proposed (but unattested) dialect groups ancestral to the West Germanic language family, especially the High German languages, which include modern Standard German.[1]

History of use

[edit]

Classical

[edit]

The name Irminones or Hermiones comes from Tacitus's Germania (AD 98), where he categorized them as one of the tribes that some people say were descended from Mannus, and noted that they lived in the interior of Germania. Other Germanic groups of tribes were the Ingvaeones, living on the coast, and Istvaeones, who accounted for the rest.[2] Tacitus also mentioned the Suebi as a large grouping who included the Semnones, the Quadi, and the Marcomanni, but he did not say precisely to which (if any) of the three nations they belonged.

Pomponius Mela, in his Description of the World (III.3.31) described the Hermiones as the farthest people of Germania, beyond both the Cimbri and Teutones who lived on the Codanus sinus, which is understood today to have been his name for the Baltic Sea and Kattegat, although it was described by him as a very large bay filled with islands, east of the Elbe river. Still farther east Mela describes the Sarmatians whom he places west of the Vistula, and then the Scythians whom he places east of the Vistula.[3]

Pliny's Natural History (4.100) claimed that the Irminones included the Suebi, Hermunduri, Chatti, and Cherusci.

Medieval

[edit]

In the so-called Frankish Table of Nations (c. 520), probably a Byzantine creation, the son of Mannus, who was the ancestor of the Irminones, is named Erminus (or Armen, Ermenius, Ermenus, Armenon, Ermeno, as it appears in various manuscripts). He is said to have fathered the Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Vandals, Gepids, and Saxons. In a variation on the table that appears in the Historia Brittonum, the Vandals and Saxons have been replaced by the Burgundians and Langobards.[4]

They may have differentiated into the tribes Alamanni, Hermunduri, Marcomanni, Quadi, and Suebi by the first century AD. By that time the Suebi, Marcomanni, and Quadi had moved southwest into the area of modern-day Bavaria and Swabia. In 8 BC, the Marcomanni and Quadi drove the Boii out of Bohemia.

The term Suebi is usually applied to all the groups who moved into this area, although later in history (around 200 AD) the term Alamanni (meaning "all-men") became more commonly applied to the group.

Jǫrmunr, the Viking Age Norse form of the name Irmin, can be found in a number of places in the Poetic Edda as a by-name for Odin. Some aspects of the Irminones culture and beliefs may be inferred from their relationships with the Roman Empire, from Widukind's confusion over whether Irmin was comparable to Mars or Hermes, and from Snorri Sturluson's allusions, at the beginning of the Prose Edda, to Odin's cult having appeared first in Germany before spreading up into the Ingvaeonic North.

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ Friedrich Maurer (1942), Nordgermanen und Alemannen: Studien zur Sprachgeschichte, Stammes- und Volkskunde, Strasbourg: Hünenburg.
  2. ^ Alfred John Church; William Jackson Brodribb (eds.). "Cornelius Tacitus, Germany and its Tribes, chapter 2". perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
  3. ^ Pomponius Mela, Pomponius Mela's description of the world, translated by Romer, F.E., pp. 109–117, hdl:2027/mdp.39015042048507. Comments: Christensen 2002, p. 256. Latin text: https://www.thelatinlibrary.com/pomponius3.html
  4. ^ Walter Goffart (1983), "The Supposedly 'Frankish' Table of Nations: An Edition and Study", Frühmittelalterliche Studien, 17 (1): 98–130, doi:10.1515/9783110242164.98, S2CID 201734002.

References

[edit]