On the Rarogi

We all “know” that the Slavs are latecomers.  Or, at least, all the academics “know” that.  With that preconception in mind we begin here a new series that looks at this claim in more detail by examining instances of strange names or places that seem to gainsay the above made claim.  Nothing conclusive, of course, just some investigation with a looking glass.

Frequently, the claim is made that the Venethi/Veneti/Venedi name as applied to the Slavs is simply a carryover of the old name, most likely by the Germans, onto their new neighbors, the incoming Slavs.  Most people will admit that some Venethi may have been Slavicize din the process as, for that matter, may have been some remaining Restgermanen.  What is interesting, however, is that other instances appear where the same claim would have to be made.  That is, certain Slavic tribes, seem to have the same names as the Germans or Celts who allegedly preceded them.  In some cases, this may be explained by the fact that the geography of a given place necessarily preserved the name for the newcomers.  Think of the Rugians, for example.  Assuming the name Rugen remains in use then the people who live there are Rugians, whether they are the “original” Germanic Rugii or the new Slavic Rugii (aka Ranii).  But there are other instances of the same phenomenon which are not so easily explained.  So let us focus on one of them here.

Of the Rauraci

Ceasar, in his De Bello Gallico, mentions in Book I Chapter 5 and Chapter 29, the following Celtic peoples: Helvetii, Tulingi, Latobrigi, Rauraci and Boii (the last of whom are, we are to believe, the Celtic people, whose name gave name to the country of Bohemia).  Specifically, he says, when discussing this Celtic rebellion:

“After his death [that of Orgetorix of the Helvetii], the Helvetii nevertheless attempt to do that which they had resolved on, namely, to go forth from their territories.  When they thought that they were at length prepared for this undertaking, they set fire to all their towns, in number about twelve – to their villages about four hundred – and to the private dwellings that remained; they burn up all the grain, except what they intend to carry with them; that after destroying the hope of a return home, they might be the more ready for undergoing all dangers.  They order every one to carry forth from home for himself provisions for three months, ready ground.  They persuade the Rauraci, and the Tulingi, and the Latobrigi, their neighbors, to adopt the same plan, and after burring down their towns and villages, to set out with them: and they admit to their party aunited to themselves as confederates the Boii, who had dwelt on the other side of the Rhine, and had crossed over into the Norican territory, and assaulted Noricia.”

This was Chapter 5 so now for Chapter 29, where Ceasar mentions certain lists that the Romans found in the Helvetii camp that showed the strength of the individual tribes of this venture:

“Of all which items the total was [the following number of heads]: Of the Helvetii 263,000, of the Tulingi… 36,000, of the Latobrigi… 14,000, of the Rauraci… 23,000, of the Boii… 32,000…”

Appropriately enough the Rauraci are also listed on the Tabula Peutingeriana:

There they are sitting comfortably around Lake Geneva at Lausanne – close to Lake Constance with its Bregentz and Vindelici.  A similarly named Reruiges are further North:

(There are other interesting names on this map, e.g., Rutenii, Radriani or, for that matter, Veliati)

Of the Reregi

Adam of Bremen has this to say in his Book II Chapter 18 description of Slavia which is “a very large province of Germany [which is] inhabited by the Winuli who at one time were called Vandals”:

“Then come the Abodrites, who now are called Reregi, and their city is Mecklenburg.”

(Deinde secuntur Obodriti, qui nunc Reregi vocantur, et civitas eorum Magnopolis. )

(Except, it does not quite say that, rather it says: “Deinde secuntur Obodriti, qui altero noie Reregi vocantur, et civitas eorum Magnopolis.” That is “Obotrites who are also called Reregi”.  Same concept)

Further in Book III, Chapter 19:

“Now all the Slavic peoples who belonged to the diocese of Hamburg practices the Christian religion devoutly under that prince; that is, the Wagiri and Abodrites and Reregi and Polabingi [Polabians]; likewise the Linguones, Warnavi, Kicini, and Circipani, as far as the Pane River which in the privileges of our Church is called the Peene.”

(Igitur omnes populi Sclavorum, qui ad Hammaburgensem respiciunt dyocesim, sub illo principe christianam fidem coluerunt devote, hoc est Waigri et Obodriti vel Reregi vel Polabingi, item Linoges, Warnabi, Chizzini et Circipani, usque ad Panem fluvium, quem nostrae privilegia ecclesiae vocant Penem.)

These reference are made only in Adam’s work and some have speculated that they are based on a confusion with a trading place Rerk/Reric that was earlier mentioned by Einhard (whom Adam expressly relied on) or some other author of the Reichsannalen (under the years 808/809 as Emplorium Reric) but the suggestion that somehow Adam was fooled into thinking that Rerk  must have meant that there was or ought to have been a tribe of the same or similar name seems hollow.

Of Rarog

There are two things that are interesting about this name.  First, the Raurici/Reregi name is not one which one might say is easily, coming off the tongue so to speak, replicated, or, to put it a bit differently, it is not a name that one might think could be independently invented in different times and places.  But, you might say, we already have two similar names on the Tabula and, in any event, as we mentioned before, perhaps the same name was applied to a different people (i.e., the later Slavic one).

There is, however, a second interesting thing about this or a similar name.  Rarog or Raróg has a Slavic etymology.  It means a type of a falcon (or, etymologically, of a raven).  What’s more it is falcon that seems to have a religious connotation to Slavs.  Further, rarog, like Svarog or tvarog are words that are undoubtedly Slavic and are ancient (see Aleksander Brückner’s comment that it is a Slavic “ur-word”).

Coincidence?

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