The Silvanectes (or Sulbanectes) were a small Belgic tribe dwelling around present-day Senlis (Oise) during the Roman period.
Name
Attestations
They are mentioned as Ulmanectes by Pliny (1st c. AD),1 as Soubánektoi (Greek: Σουβάνεκτοι) by Ptolemy (2nd c. AD),2 and as Siluanectas in the Notitia Dignitatum (5th c. AD).34
The Silvanectes are also attested under the name Sulbanectes in an inscription,5 and their capital was mentioned as civitas Sulbanectium in 48 AD.6
Etymology
The etymology of the ethnonym remains unclear. It could be a Latinized form of Gaulish *Seluanecti (from seluā- 'possession, property' > 'herd'; cf. Old Irish selb 'property, possession', Welsh ar helw 'in possession of'), corrupted under the influence of Latin silva ('forest').7 A comparison with Old Irish sulbair ('eloquent') has also been proposed.6
The city of Senlis, attested ca. 400 AD as civitas Silvanectum ('civitas of the Silvanectes', Sinleti in the 6th c., Senliz in 1211) is named after the Gallic tribe.6
Geography
The Silvanectes dwelled southwest of the Suessionnes, near the Meldi and the Bellovaci.5 Their small territory, a depression surrounded by wooded heights, could be easily dominated by the more powerful Bellovaci, to which they were probably tributary.5
References
References
- Pliny. Naturalis Historia, 4:106.
- Ptolemy. Geōgraphikḕ Hyphḗgēsis, 2:9:6.
- Notitia Dignitatum, oc 42:42.
- Falileyev 2010, s.v. Silvanectes.
- Wightman 1985, p. 27.
- Nègre 1990, p. 157.
- Delamarre 2003, p. 270.
- 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.
- Nègre, Ernest (1990). Toponymie générale de la France. Librairie Droz. ISBN 978-2-600-02883-7.
- Popineau, Jean-Marc (2020). "Les Sulbanectes, une approche archéogéographique (Vᵉ s. avant notre ère - Ier s. après)". Compte-rendus et Mémoires de la Société d'Histoire et d'Archéologie de Senlis 2016-2017. p. 11–41.
- Wightman, Edith M. (1985). Gallia Belgica. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-05297-0.