> Chris,
> In his book "The Germanic People" Francis Owen suggests these
pronunciations
>for the Cimbri and Teutones: Ximbroz and Theudonez. The versions were
familiar
>with are the Latin/Celtic interpretations of the names. Can anyone help me
with
>a possible meaning of Ximbroz?
Steve,
If Cimbri (your *Ximbros - and as a note I believe that the -x- here would
have a Greek value [kh] not as the x in Xavier) were ultimately of Celtic
origin, it may be (as I said) related to Irish cimb "take/possess,"
therefore Cimbri may mean "the possesors/the takers."
The Latin authors of the classical period generally came pretty close to
representing foreign names the way they sounded to their own ears - if a
tribe was calling itself Ximbri (thus "KHimbri"), I think that Latin authors
would have written Chimbri or Himbri instead.
-Chris Gwinn