Belgae in Britain | |
Belgae and neighbours in Britain |
|
Geography | |
Capital | Venta Belgarum (Winchester) |
---|---|
Location | Southern England |
Rulers | Diviciacus(?) |
The Belgae (/ˈbɛldʒiː/ or /ˈbɛlɡaɪ/) were a large confederation of tribes living in northern Gaul, between the English Channel, the west bank of the Rhine, and northern bank of the river Seine, from at least the third century BC. They were discussed in depth by Julius Caesar in his account of his wars in Gaul. Some peoples in Britain were also called Belgae and O'Rahilly equated them with the Fir Bolg in Ireland. The Belgae gave their name to the Roman province of Gallia Belgica and, much later, to the modern country of Belgium.
The consensus among linguists is that the ethnic name Belgae comes from the Proto-Celtic root *belg- or *bolg- meaning "to swell (particularly with anger/battle fury/etc.)", cognate with the Dutch adjective gebelgd, "to be very angry" and verbolgen, "being angry", and the Old English verb belgan, "to be angry" (from Proto-Germanic *balgiz), derived ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root *bhelgh- ("to swell, bulge, billow"). Thus, a Proto-Celtic ethnic name *Bolgī could be interpreted as "The People who Swell (particularly with anger/battle fury)".