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Piotr : If the name of the Volcae (home address: Gallia Narbonensis) is
now found on the map from Walachia (southern Romania) to Wales,
I wouldn't be surprised if some other names proved equally
mobile. Caesar's Veneti were a Celtic tribe, but their name may well
have
been inherited from the Veneti proper. At any rate both derive
from the same IE root *wen- 'wish, desire, love' (Skt vanati 'desire,
gain', vanas- 'desire (n.)', L venus). This root had so many
secondary meanings (e.g. Welsh gwenu 'to smile', or Indo-Iranian and
In breton, gwenn means "white". Is it the same root ? (the verb for
"smile" is very different, mousc'hoarzin, derived from c'hoari, "to
play").
Guillaume