c. Akin to this is the reasoning founded upon the connection (real or supposed) between the root Teut- in Teuton-, and the root deut- in Deut-sch. It runs thus. The syllable in question is common to the word Teut-ones, Teut-onicus, Theod-iscus, teud-iscus, teut-iscus, tût-iske, dût-iske, tiut-sche, deut-sch; whilst the word Deut-sch means German. As the Teut-ones were Germans, so were the Cimbri also. Now this line of argument is set aside by the circumstance that the syllable Teut- in Teut-ones and Teut-onicus, as the names of the confederates of the Cimbri, is wholly unconnected with the Teut- in theod-iscus, and Deut-sch. This is fully shown by Grimm in his dissertation on the words German and Dutch. In its oldest form the latter word meant popular, national, vernacular; it was an adjective applied to the vulgar tongue, or the vernacular German, in opposition to the Latin. In the tenth century the secondary form Teut-onicus came in vogue even with German writers. Whether this arose out of imitation of the Latin form Romanice, or out of the idea of an historical connection with the Teutones of the classics, is immaterial. It is clear that the present word deut-sch proves nothing respecting the Teutones. Perhaps, however, as early as the time of Martial the word Teutonicus was used in a general sense, denoting the Germans in general. Certain it is that before his time it meant the particular people conquered by Marius, irrespective of origin or locality.—See Grimm's Deutsche Grammatik, i. p. 17, 3rd edit. Martial, xiv. 26, Teutonici capilli. Claudian. in Eutrop. i. 406, Teutonicum hostem.
The Cimbri.—Evidence to the Gothic origin of the Cimbri (treated separately) begins with the writers under Augustus and Tiberius.
Vell. Paterculus.—The testimony of this writer as to the affinities of the nations in question is involved in his testimony as to their locality, and, consequently, subject to the same criticism. His mention of them (as Germans) is incidental.
Strabo.—Over and above the references already made, Strabo has certain specific statements concerning the Cimbri: a.) That according to a tradition (which he does not believe) they left their country on account of an inundation of the sea. This is applicable to Germany rather than to Gaul. This liability to inundations must not, however, be supposed to indicate a locality in the Cimbric Chersonese as well as a German origin, since the coast between the Scheldt and Elbe is as obnoxious to the ocean as the coasts of Holstein, Sleswick and Jutland. b.) That against the German Cimbri and Teutones the Belgæ alone kept their ground—[a]ὥστε μόνους (Βέλγας) ἀντέχειν πρὸς τὴν τῶν Γερμάνων ἔφοδον, Κίμβρων καὶ Τευτόνων.] (iv. 3.) This is merely a translation of Cæsar (see above) with the interpolation [a]Γερμάνων]. c.) That they inhabited their original country, and that they sent ambassadors to Augustus— [a]καὶ γὰρ νῦν ἔχουσι τὴν χώραν ἣν εἶχον πρότερον καὶ ἕπεμπσαν τῷ Σεβαστῷ ιἑρώτατον παρ' αὐτοῖς, λέβητα, αἰτούμενοι φιλίαν καὶ ἀμνηστίαν τῶν ὑπουργμένων· τυχόντες δὲ ὧν ἠξίουν ἀφῇραν]. (B. i.) Full weight must be given to the definite character of this statement.
Tacitus.—Tacitus coincides with Strabo, in giving to the Cimbri a specific locality, and in stating special circumstances of their history. Let full weight be given to the words of a writer like Tacitus; but let it also be remembered that he wrote from hearsay evidence, that he is anything rather than an independent witness, that his statement is scarcely reconcileable with those of Ptolemy and Cæsar, and that above all the locality which both he and Strabo give the Cimbri is also the locality of the Sicambri, of which latter tribe no mention is made by Tacitus, although their wars with the Romans were matters of comparatively recent history. For my own part, I think, that between a confusion of the Cimbri with the Cimmerii on the one hand, and of the Cimbri with the Sicambri on the other, we have the clue to the misconceptions assumed at the commencement of the paper. There is no proof that in the eyes of the writers under the Republic, the origin of the Cimbri was a matter of either doubt or speculation. Catulus, in the History of his Consulship, commended by Cicero (Brutus, xxxv.), and Sylla in his Commentaries, must have spoken of them in a straightforward manner as Gauls, otherwise Cicero and Sallust would have spoken of them less decidedly. (See Plutarch's Life of Marius, and note.) Confusion arose when Greek readers of Homer and Herodotus began to theorize, and this grew greater when formidable enemies under the name of Sicambri were found in Germany. It is highly probable that in both Strabo and Tacitus we have a commentary on the lines of Horace—
Te cæde gaudentes Sicambri
Compositis venerantur armis.
"Eumdem (with the Chauci, Catti, and Cherusci) Germaniæ sinum proximi Oceano Cimbri tenent, parva nunc civitas, sed gloria ingens: veterisque famæ lata vestigia manent, utrâque ripâ castra ac spatia, quorum ambitu nunc quoque metiaris molem manusque gentis, et tam magni exitus fidem—occasione discordiæ nostræ et civilium armorum, expugnatis legionum hibernis, etiam Gallias affectavêre; ac rursus pulsi, inde proximis temporibus triumphati magis quam victi sunt." (German. 38.)
Justin.—Justin writes—"Simul e Germaniâ Cimbros—inundâsse Italiam." Now this extract would be valuable if we were sure that the word Germania came from Justin's original, Trogus Pompeius; who was a Vocontian Gaul, living soon after the Cimbric defeat. To him, however, the term Germania must have been wholly unknown; since, besides general reasons, Tacitus says—"Germaniæ vocabulum recens et nuper additum: quoniam, qui primum Rhenum transgressi Gallos expulerint, ac nunc Tungri, tunc Germani vocati sint: ita nationis nomen, non gentis evaluisse paullatim, ut omnes, primum a victore ob metum, mox a seipsis invento nomine Germani vocarentur." Justin's interpolation of Germania corresponds with the similar one on the part of Strabo.
Such is the evidence for the Germanic origin of the Cimbri and Teutones, against which may now be set the following testimonies as to their affinity with the Celts, each tribe being dealt with separately.
The Ambrones.—Strabo mentions them along with the Tigurini, an undoubted Celtic tribe—[a]Κατὰ τὸν πρὸς Ἄμβρωνας καὶ Τωϋγενοὺς πόλεμον].