36
RICE UNIVERSITY STUDIES
Romanics and Slavics for the neighboring disciplines of Romance
(or Romanic) philology and Slavic philology.
HI
The word Tezdons first appears in ancient history in close con-
nection with the word Cimbrians. The Cimbrians and Teutons were
roaming about in Europe and sometimes fighting together against
the Romans during the last couple of centuries before our Christian
era. Both are generally described as West Germanic tribes. Only a
very few scholars have had doubts about the latter description and
have expressed with more or less assurance their belief that they
were probably Kelts. I unhesitatingly join the ranks of these dis-
senters because I have to offer a clinching argument for my convic-
tion that the Cimbrians were of Keltic race. It is based on facts
which surprisingly have been completely overlooked hitherto, so far
as I know.
The Cimbrians1 called Cimbri by the Romans and Cimbern by
the Germans, at one time occupied Jutland, also called Cimbrian
Peninsula. It lies opposite Great Britain across the North Sea and
is now divided between Denmark and Germany. In the northern
part of Jutland there is a district named Himmerland which ap-
parently means Cimbriland and is also a present reminder of the
fact that once the Cimbrians were there. There was a lot of seafar-
ing traffic between Great Britain and the Cimbrian Peninsula in
ancient and medieval times. The Principality of Wales on the west
coast of Great Britain has the largest number of Keltic-speaking
inhabitants nowadays. The English refer to all the people living
in the principality as Welsh. This word, like the German word
welsch, now means strangers or foreigners. Long ago it designated
the small Keltic tribe of the Volcae. The Keltic-speaking inhabitants
of Wales, however, call themselves Cymry or Kymry, meaning fellow
countrymen. This word is contained in the name of the county
of Cumberland, adjoining Wales in the north. This name is
apparently a variant equivalent of the above mentioned name
Himmerland. Surely now, the continental Cimbrians are obviously
closely related to or more probably part of the insular Keltic
Cymry ! There can hardly be any doubt about it.
It is not equally easy to determine the race to which the Teutons
belong. True, the Keltic Cimbrians would have hardly made com-
mon cause against the Romans and fought side by side with any but
another Keltic tribe. But that is not a compelling argument for
proving that the Teutons were Kelts. If we pass from political his-