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{{short description|Belgic-Germanic tribe}}
The '''Caerosi''' (or '''Caeroesi''') were a small [[Belgae|Belgic]]-[[Germanic peoples|Germanic]] tribe that lived in [[Gallia Belgica]] during the [[Iron Age Europe|Iron Age]] and the [[Roman period]]. Their ethnic identity remains uncertain. [[Julius Caesar|Caesar]] described them as part of the [[Germani Cisrhenani]], but their tribal name is probably of Celtic origin.{{sfn|Sergent|1991|pp=10–11}}{{sfn|Neumann|1999|pp=110–111}}{{sfn|Delamarre|2003|p=97}} Like other Germani Cisrhenani tribes, it is possible that their old Germanic [[Endonym and exonym|endonym]] came to be abandoned after a tribal reorganization, that they received their names from their Celtic neighbours, or else that they were fully or partially assimilated into Celtic culture at the time of the Roman invasion of the region in 57 BC.{{sfn|Neumann|1999|pp=110–111}}
== Name ==
They are mentioned as ''Caerosos'' (<small>var.</small> ''ceroesos'', ''caeroesos'', ''cerosos'') by [[Julius Caesar|Caesar]] (mid-1st c. BC),<ref>[[Julius Caesar|Caesar]]. ''Commentarii de Bello Gallico'', 2:4:10.</ref> and as ''Caerosi'' by [[Orosius]] (early 5th c. AD).<ref>[[Orosius]]. ''Historiae Adversus Paganos'', 6:7:14.</ref><ref name=":0">{{Harvnb|Falileyev|2010}}, s.v. ''Caerosi''.</ref>{{sfn|Neumann|1999|pp=110–111}}
The [[ethnonyms|ethnonym]] ''Caerosi'' probably derives from a [[Proto-Celtic language|Proto-Celtic]] stem reconstructed as ''*caer-'' ('sheep'; cf. [[Old Irish]] ''caera''), itself from an earlier ''*caper-'' (cf. [[Latin]] ''caper'', [[Old Norse]] ''hafr'', 'billy goat', Greek ''kápros'' 'boar'). The variant ''Caeroesi'' has an unexplained suffix ({{lang|ang|-oeso-}}), which is not found in either Celtic or Germanic languages, although ''-oso-'' is a known suffix in Gaulish (e.g. ''Laudosa'', ''Iboso''). It may be translated as 'the sheep', 'the rams', or else 'rich in sheep', although its exact meaning remains unclear.<ref>{{harvnb|Sergent|1991|pp=10–11}}; {{harvnb|Neumann|1999|pp=110–111}}; {{harvnb|Delamarre|2003|p=97}}; {{harvnb|Busse|2006|p=199}}</ref> It is linguistically related to other Celtic ethnonyms such as ''[[Caeracates]]'', ''[[Caereni]]'', and ''Kairènoi'' (Καιρηνοί).{{sfn|Sergent|1991|pp=10–11}}{{sfn|Delamarre|2003|p=97}}[[image:CIL-XIII-4143-Hettner.jpg|180px|thumb|Boundary marker of the ''Pagus Carucum''.]]Alternative comparisons with the Old Irish ''cáera'' ('berry'),{{sfn|Neumann|1981|p=309}}{{sfn|Busse|2006|p=199}} the [[Middle Irish]] ''céar'' ('dark brown'),{{sfn|Neumann|1999|pp=110–111}} or the [[Proto-Germanic]] *''haira''- ('worthy, exalted, *grey-haired’; cf. Mod. High German ''hehr'' 'noble') have also been proposed by some scholars.{{sfn|Busse|2006|p=199}}
The region of ''pagus Carucum'', a Roman-era subdivision of the [[Treveri]] later known under the [[Franks]] as ''Pagus Coroascus'', may be named after the tribe,{{sfn|Wightman|1985|p=31}} although the linguistic connection remains uncertain.{{sfn|von Petrikovits|1999|p=93}} The name has been discovered on a Roman era boundary marker carved with the inscription 'FINIS PAGI CARV CVM' ('boundary or end of the [[pagus]] Carucum'), located in a wooded area near [[Neidenbach]] and [[Kyllburg]].<ref>[[Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum]] 13, 4143.</ref>
== Geography ==
The Caerosi lived in the [[Ardennes and Eifel]] region, between the [[Rhine]] and [[Meuse]] rivers, near the [[Treverii]] in the south, the [[Condrusi]] in the west, the [[Paemani]] and [[Eburones]] in the north, and the [[Ubii]] on the opposite bank of the Rhine in the east.<ref>{{Harvnb|Talbert|2000}}, Map 11: Sequana-Rhenus.</ref>
To the east of Neidenbach, the [[Vinxtbach]], a small river flowing eastwards to the Rhine, marked the boundary between the [[Roman provinces]] of [[Germania Superior]] and [[Germania Inferior]]. The name ''Vinxtbach'' is in fact thought to derive from the Latin word ''finis'', meaning an end or boundary.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Matijević|first=Krešimir|title=Römische und frühchristliche Zeugnisse im Norden Obergermaniens: epigraphische Studien zu unterer Mosel und östlicher Eifel|publisher=Verlag Marie Leidorf|year=2010|isbn=978-3-86757-255-2|pages=237–239}}</ref> Today, the place is still a boundary between modern German dialects, with [[Ripuarian language|Ripuarian]] to the north, and [[Moselle Frankish]] to the south. Also located nearby is the modern boundary of the modern German ''[[States of Germany|Länder]]'' of [[Rheinland-Pfalz]] and [[Nordrhein-Westfalen]].{{Citation needed|date=May 2020}}
== References ==
{{reflist}}
=== Primary sources ===
{{refbegin}}
* {{Cite book|last=Caesar|url=https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL072/1917/volume.xml|title=The Gallic War|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=1917|isbn=978-0-674-99080-7|series=Loeb Classical Library|translator-last=Edwards|translator-first=H. J.|author-link=Julius Caesar}}
{{refend}}
===Bibliography===
{{refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}
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*{{Cite book|last=Busse|first=Peter E.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f899xH_quaMC|title=Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia|date=2006|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-85109-440-0|editor-last=Koch|editor-first=John T.|pages=195–200|language=en|chapter=Belgae}}
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*{{Cite book|title=Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise: Une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental|last=Delamarre|first=Xavier|date=2003|publisher=Errance|isbn=9782877723695|author-link=Xavier Delamarre}}
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*{{Cite book|last=Falileyev|first=Alexander|title=Dictionary of Continental Celtic Place-names: A Celtic Companion to the Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World|publisher=CMCS|year=2010|isbn=978-0955718236}}
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*{{citation|first=Günter |last=Neumann| chapter=Caeroesi |title=Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA) |edition=2 |volume= 4 |publisher= Walter de Gruyter |location= Berlin/New York |year=1981 |isbn=3-11-006513-4 |pages=309–310 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0loRGqHp2pMC&pg=PA309}}
*{{Citation|last=Neumann|first=Günter|title=Germanenprobleme in heutiger Sicht|year=1999|editor-last=Beck|editor-first=H.|chapter=Germani cisrhenani — die Aussage der Namen|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=te3fDzkb3uAC&pg=PA107|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|isbn=978-3110164381|editor2-last=Geuenich|editor2-first=D.|editor3-last=Steuer|editor3-first=H.}}
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*{{Cite journal|last=Sergent|first=Bernard|author-link=Bernard Sergent|date=1991|title=Ethnozoonymes indo-européens|journal=Dialogues d'Histoire Ancienne|volume=17|issue=2|pages=9–55|doi=10.3406/dha.1991.1932}}
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*{{Cite book|last=Talbert|first=Richard J. A.|title=Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=2000|isbn=978-0691031699|author-link=Richard Talbert}}
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*{{Citation|last=von Petrikovits|first=Harald|title=Germanenprobleme in heutiger Sicht|year=1999|editor-last=Beck|editor-first=H.|chapter=Germani Cisrhenani|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=te3fDzkb3uAC&pg=PA88|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|isbn=978-3110164381|editor2-last=Geuenich|editor2-first=D.|editor3-last=Steuer|editor3-first=H.}}
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*{{Cite book|title=Gallia Belgica|last=Wightman|first =Edith M.|publisher= University of California Press| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aEyS54uSj88C|date=1985|isbn=978-0-520-05297-0|language=en|author-link=Edith Wightman}}
{{refend}}
==External links==
*[https://www.livius.org/vi-vr/vinxtbach/vinxtbach.html Ad fines (Vinxtbach)]
{{Gallic peoples}}
{{Germanic peoples}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Early Germanic peoples]]
[[Category:Tribes in pre-Roman Gaul]]
[[Category:Tribes involved in the Gallic Wars]]
[[Category:Belgae]]
[[Category:Historical Celtic peoples]]
[[Category:Gauls]]