Re: Origin of *marko- Margus murg ma'rgas amurg

> ****GK: The Marcomanni initially appear as part of
> Ariovistus' army in northern Gaul. Distinct from the
> Suebi (58 BCE). So they are part of those "Germani"
> Diviciacus complained as having recently crossed the
> Rhine. Some 50 years later, under Maroboduus, they
> migrate to Bohemia, and are thereafter considered to
> be part of the Suebian complex. A very strong case can
> be made for their identity with the West Przeworsk
> populations which initially moved west from the Oder
> basin into the Wetterau and Thuringia, and later
> Bohemia. "Bordering" what? In Ariovistus' time most
> likely the Suebians (in those eastern territories they
> (the Marcomanni) vacated. Some have argued for the
> Rhine border with the Gauls and Romans. However there
> were also other Germanic populations there, so the
> vacated territory in the east seems a stronger
> hypothesis in the specific historical context of the
> late 1rst c. BCE.*****

Since we know they were called Marcomanni at the latest in
Ariovistus' army they must have been border people before that. At
leas two others of the peoples of that army had Celtic names.
Assuming for logistical reasons that all those tribes Ariovistus had
persuaded to follow him then lived close together I think they must
have been living on the border to the Volcae, where that was
stationary for some centuries.


Torsten