Bormani
The Bormani or Bormanici were an ancient tribe living near modern Bormes-les-Mimosas (Var, Southeastern France) during the Roman period.
Name
[edit]They are mentioned as Bormani by Pliny (1st c. AD), and probably as Bormanici on an inscription.[1][2]
The ethnic name Bormani may be formed with the suffix -ano- attached to the Celtic god of healing springs Bormanus, itself from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerw- ('boil, brew').[3]
They have been identified with the Bormanici, mentioned on a dedication to Caligula (37–41 AD) found at Solliès-Toucas (Var). The suffix -ici is the Latinized form of -ii, and was a commonly used ending in the formation of ethnonyms in southeastern Gaul and the Alps.[2]
The toponym Bormes-les-Mimosas, attested as Borma in 1056 AD, derives from the tribal name.[4][5] It has further been compared to the toponym Lucus Bormani (Antonine Itinerary), located in Liguria between Albingaunum (now Albenga) and Albintimilium (now Ventimiglia).[3][4]
Geography
[edit]Pliny cites the Bormani as living between Aetea and the Comani.[5] Their territory was located in the region lying between the Toulonnais Mountains and the western part of the Massif des Maures, north of the Gulf of Saint-Tropez.[6]
It remains uncertain whether their oppidum was located within the territory of Bormes-les-Mimosas. Although two Iron Age settlements occupied into the Roman period are known there (at Notre-Dame-de-Constance and at a coastal site between Cap de Léoube and L'Estagnol), neither has produced archaeological evidence allowing identification as an oppidum latinum.[7]
References
[edit]- ↑ Pliny. Naturalis Historia, 3:36.
- 1 2 Leveau, Reynaud & Barthès 2023, pp. 449–550.
- 1 2 Petracco Sicardi & Caprini 1981, p. 40.
- 1 2 Barruol 1969, p. 208 n. 7.
- 1 2 Leveau, Reynaud & Barthès 2023, p. 550.
- ↑ Leveau, Reynaud & Barthès 2023.
- ↑ Delcourt 2021, p. 26.
Primary sources
[edit]- Pliny (1938). Natural History. Loeb Classical Library. Translated by Rackham, H. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674993648.
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Bibliography
[edit]- Barruol, Guy (1969). Les Peuples préromains du Sud-Est de la Gaule: étude de géographie historique. E. de Boccard. OCLC 3279201.
- Delcourt, Pierre-Yves (2021). Bormes avant les Mimosas : L'effacement d'un terroir traditionnel sur la côte varoise de la protohistoire à 1945. Institut de géographie et durabilité, Université de Lausanne.
- Leveau, Philippe; Reynaud, Patrick; Barthès, Pascale (2023). "Le territoire des Bormani à la lumière d'une inscription dédiée à Caligula découverte à Solliès-Toucas (Var)". Revue archéologique de Narbonnaise. 2021–2022 (54–55): 547–558. eISSN 2117-5683. ISSN 0557-7705.
- Petracco Sicardi, Giulia; Caprini, Rita (1981). Toponomastica storica della Liguria (in Italian). Genoa: Sagep. ISBN 88-7058-023-7.
