On Lippe or Lipa

lipalipasti

Strabo (Book 7, 1)

“Both the Visurgis and the Lupias (Λουπίας) Rivers run in the same direction as the Amasias, the Lupias being about six hundred stadia distant from the Rhenus and flowing through the country of the Lesser Bructeri.”

Pomponius Mela (Book 3, 30)

“Of the rivers that pass into the territories of other peoples, the most famous are the Danube and the Rhodanus; of those that go into th Rhenus, the Moenis and the Lupia; and of those that go into the Ocean, the Amissis, the Visurgis, and the Albis.  On the other side of the Albis, the huge Codanus Bay is filled with big and small islands.”

(Montium altissimi Taunus et Retico, nisi quorum nomina vix est eloqui ore Romano. Amnium in alias gentes exeuntium Danuvius et Rhodanus, in Rhenum Moenis et Lupia, in oceanum Amissis, Visurgis et Albis clarissimi.)

(BTW Codanus sounds to us like Godanus or Gdansk – supposedly it refers to the Baltic Sea although the reference seems to be more to parts closer to Denmark like Mecklemburg)

Cassius Dio (Roman History, Book, 54,33,1)

At the beginning of spring he sent out again for the war, crossed the Rhine, and subjugated the Usipetes. He bridged the Lupia (Λουπία or Λουπίας), invaded the country of the Sugambri, and advanced through it into the country of the Cherusci, as far as the Visurgis.

(ἅμα δὲ τῷ ἦρι πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον αὖθις ὥρμησε, καὶ τόν τε Ῥῆνον ἐπεραιώθη καὶ τοὺς Οὐσιπέτας κατεστρέψατο, τόν τε Λουπίαν ἔζευξε καὶ ἐς τὴν τῶν Συγάμβρων ἐνέβαλε, καὶ δι´ αὐτῆς καὶ ἐς τὴν Χερουσκίδα προεχώρησε μέχρι τοῦ Οὐισούργου.)

Marcus Velleius Paterculus writes (History of Rome, Book 2, Chapter 105,3):

“The prolonging of the campaign of that year into the month of December increased the benefits derived from the great victory. Caesar was drawn to the city by his filial affection, though the Alps were almost blocked by winter’s snows; but the defence of the empire brought him at the beginning of spring back to Germany, where he had on his departure pitched his winter camp at the source of the river Lupiae, in the very heart of the country, the first Roman to winter there.”

(Pietas sua Caesarem paene obstructis hieme Alpibus in urbem traxit, at tutela imperii eum veris initio reduxit in Germaniam, in cuius mediis finibus ad caput Lupiae fluminis hiberna digrediens princeps locaverat.)

Tacitus (Histories, Book 5, 22)

“The enemy rowed back in broad daylight with the captured vessels. The praetorian trireme they towed up the river Lupia as a present to Veleda.”

(multa luce revecti hostes, captivis navibus, praetoriam triremem flumine Lupia donum Veledae [oh, yes, Veleda] traxere.)

Tacitus (Germania, 32)

“When the Sigambri removed to Gaul, the Usipii and Tencteri became masters of their possessions on the Lupia.”

Tacitus (Annals, Book 1, 60)

“The army then advanced to the extreme limits of the territory of the Bructeri and laid waste all the land lying between the rivers Amisia and Lupia…” [actually Lupiam in the accusative case]

Later Formulations

Also include Lippia and iuxta Lippiam.

Thoughts

There are others that write the same (Ptolemy) and Tacitus names the river Lupia three other times.  Currently, the river is, of course, called Lippe and it courses through Westphalia all the way to the Rhine.

If we move East from those parts we arrive in Leipzig.  The name of Leipzig comes from the Slavic word Lipsk which refers to the Linden trees (“Latin” medieval spelling was Lipsia).  The Slavic word for a linden tree is Lipa.  (The Slovenians apparently always very much honored linden trees but that is, perhaps, a topic for another time.)

So the Slavs clearly lived where Leipzig is now.  They lived to the Elbe River where they arrived coming from the East after the fall of the Roman Empire and the outmigration of the Germanic tribes.  Lippe, is far to the West of the Elbe and, of course, no one claims that the Slavs ever reached the Lippe.  Right?

…what is interesting, however, is that Lippe also appears in the Ravenna Cosmography, not as Lippe or Lupia but as Lippa:

ravennalippa

Now, Kreis Lippe, where the River Lippe flows, is where the ancient Teutoburger Forest was (where Varus got a fat lip, so to speak, and lost his legions to the Germans of Arminius – BTW the Lippe, appropriately, originates at the site of today’s Arminiuspark).  Apparently, some ancient trees are present there to this day such as this one:

schaumburg

What type of tree is this?

About “Lippes alte Bäume und Wälder” you can read here at this very nice site.  One type of tree, it seems, is mentioned there the most – just search for Linde – the Germanic word for a lipa tree.  Are you ready to ask ‘what gives?’

PS Another name for Lippe was Asna (does that sound like jasna, i.e., the light one?) – see Maurits Gysseling.

Copyright ©2015 jassa.org All Rights Reserved

March 27, 2015

5 thoughts on “On Lippe or Lipa

  1. Pingback: On Veleda | In Nomine Jassa

  2. Pingback: On the Julian Origin of Wolin | In Nomine Jassa

  3. Pingback: On Kętrzyński and His Crazy Theories | In Nomine Jassa

  4. Chamavii

    You ask about the old ancient trees. These are in Dutch: Linde Bome, you’ve got normal Lindes and Koningslindes. (Kings-Lindes) in German its named: Linde (same as in Dutch. I dont know the English name. If i search for it ill get the strange word lime tree. But it has nothing to do with lime.
    The old trees are from origin holy. You can find them at places where the people of germanic tribes did hold there court or justice. They call that: in een Heimal or in a ‘Gehegend Gericht’ where there was such a tree (mostly old) and under that three they spoke ‘justice’, or they held meetings. Such a place is also named a Thing or Dingplaats. If you want to know more about this i can send you more information. (i’m living near the borders of Germany-Netherlands, on the country side where we have these old trees around our house. Our house /place was such a old court house. (1297-1828).

    Reply
    1. torino Post author

      Interesting! But note that Lipa is the Slavic word for a Lindentree and there seemingly are lots of Lipas along the Lippe…

      Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *