Auscii

The Auscii or Ausci were an Aquitani tribe dwelling around present-day Auch during the Iron Age.

Alongside the Tarbelli, they were one of the most powerful peoples of Aquitania.{{Sfn|Duval|1989|p=739}}

Name

They are mentioned as Ausci by Caesar (mid-1st c. BC), Pliny (1st c. AD) and Pomponius Mela (mid-1st c. AD),Caesar. Commentarii de Bello Gallico, 3:27:1.Pliny. Naturalis Historia, 4:108.Pomponius Mela. De situ orbis, 3:2:20. and as Au̓skíois (Αὐσκίοις) by Strabo (early 1st c. AD).Strabo. Geōgraphiká, 4:2:2.{{harvnb|Falileyev|2010}}, s.v. Auscii.

The ethnonym Auscii may be related to the prefix eusk-, meaning 'Basque' in the Basque language (euskara).{{Cite book|last=Allières|first=Jacques|title=Les Basques|date=1977|publisher=Presses Universitaires de France|pages=15}}

The city of Auch, attested as civitas Auscius in the early 4th century AD, is named after the tribe.{{sfn|Nègre|1990|p=1202}}

Geography

Their territory was located north of the Onobrisates, west of the Cambolectri and Volcae Tectosages, south of the Lactorates, west of the Atures.{{Harvnb|Talbert|2000}}, Map 25: Hispania Tarraconensis.

The chief town of the Auscii was known as Elimberrum (modern Auch), whose name can be compared to the Basque ili-berri ('new town').{{Cite book|last=Rostaing|first=Charles|title=Les noms de lieux|publisher=Presses Universitaires de France|year=1948|pages=34|author-link=Charles Rostaing}}

Culture

It is believed that the Auscii spoke a form or dialect of the Aquitanian language, a precursor of the Basque language.Jacques Lemoine, Toponymie du Pays Basque Français et des Pays de l'Adour, Picard 1977, {{ISBN|2-7084-0003-7}}

References

= Bibliography =

{{Cite book|last=Duval|first=Paul-Marie|date=1989|chapter=Les peuples de l'Aquitaine d'après la liste de Pline|title=Travaux sur la Gaule (1946-1986)|publisher=École Française de Rome|volume=116|pages=721–737|isbn=9782728301676}}
{{Cite book|last=Falileyev|first=Alexander|title=Dictionary of Continental Celtic Place-names: A Celtic Companion to the Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World|publisher=CMCS|year=2010|isbn=978-0955718236}}
{{Cite book|last=Nègre|first=Ernest|title=Toponymie générale de la France|year=1990|publisher=Librairie Droz|isbn=978-2-600-02883-7|author-link=Ernest Nègre}}
{{Cite book|last=Talbert|first=Richard J. A.|title=Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=2000|isbn=978-0691031699|author-link=Richard Talbert}}

Category:Aquitani