View source for Suarines

The '''Suarines''' or '''Suardones''' were one of the [[Nerthus]]-worshipping [[Germanic peoples|Germanic tribe]]s mentioned by [[Tacitus]] in ''[[Germania (book)|Germania]]''. They have otherwise been lost to history, but [[Gudmund Schütte|Schütte]]<ref>''[https://www.scribd.com/document/28580242/The-Cult-of-Nerthus The Cult of Nerthus]'', pag. 8</ref> suggests that their name lives on in the name of the town [[Schwerin]].
==Literary attestation==
===Tacitus===
Tacitus mentions them amongst a group of tribes defended by rivers and forests, that worshipped [[Nerthus]]:
<blockquote>''(Original Latin)'' "[[Reudigni]] deinde et [[Aviones]] et [[Anglii]] et [[Varini]] et [[Eudoses]] et '''Suardones''' et [[Nuithones]] fluminibus aut silvis muniuntur. Nec quicquam notabile in singulis, nisi quod in commune Nerthum, id est Terram matrem, colunt eamque intervenire rebus hominum, invehi populis arbitrantur. ..."  --Tacitus, ''[[Germania (book)|Germania]]'', [[wikisource:Germania#XL|40]].<ref>Tacitus', ''Germania'', [[wikisource:Germania#XL|40]], Medieval Source Book. Code and format by Northvegr.[http://www.northvegr.org/lore/tacitus/009.php]</ref></blockquote>
<blockquote>''(English translation)'' "There follow in order the [[Reudigni]]ans, and [[Aviones]], and [[Angles (tribe)|Angles]], and Varinians, and [[Eudoses]], and '''Suardones''' and [[Nuithones]]; all defended by rivers or forests. Nor in one of these nations does aught remarkable occur, only that they universally join in the worship of ''Herthum ([[Nerthus]])''; that is to say, the Mother Earth."--Tacitus, ''[[Germania (book)|Germania]], [[wikisource:Germania#XL|40]], translated 1877 by Church and Brodribb.<ref>Tacitus', ''Germania'', [[wikisource:Germania#XL|40]]; translation from ''The Agricola and Germania'', A. J. Church and W. J. Brodribb, trans., (London: Macmillan, 1877), pp. 87- 10, as recorded in the ''Medieval Sourcebook''[http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/tacitus1.html]</ref></blockquote>
===Widsith===
[[Leonard Neidorf|Neidorf]] suggests that the tribal name ”'''sweordwerum'''” in line 61 of [[Widsith#Tribes_of_Widsith|Widsith]] might be a corrupted form of this name.<ref>[[Leonard Neidorf|Neidorf, Leonard]]. [https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11061-012-9308-2 "The Dating of ''Widsith'' and the Study of Germanic Antiquity."] ''Neophilologus'' 97 (2013): p. 168.</ref>
==Modern theories==
According to some Italian scholars, there is trace of this tribe in a modern Lombard surname (''[[Suardi (dynasty)|Suardi]]'') as well in the surname Lusuardi. Both surnames belong to the same genetic family - Haplogroup U152 Z36.
==References==
{{reflist|2}}
==See also==
*[[List of Germanic peoples]]
{{Germanic peoples}}
[[Category:Early Germanic peoples]]
[[Category:Vendel Period]]
{{europe-ethno-group-stub}}