The oldest confirmed city in all of Poland is thought to be Kalisz. The name is mentioned already in Ptolemy – as Calisia. According to Hans Krahe, the name is supposed to be “Illyrian.” Illyrian is an interesting language because it has never been actually recorded by anyone. It’s kind of a garbage can of linguistics – if it don’t anywhere else and predates the time of the Voelkerwanderungen, it must be “Illyrian.” Of course, Kalisz’s etymology is relatively certain – it is Suavic. Specifically, the word is likely to be cognate with kał meaning “a moist, wet place” or, if you will, a bog or marsh. Other place names in Poland feature a similar root: Kałek, Kaliska, Kaliszcze, Kaliszany, Kalsko. Or even, Kałuszyn from kałuża meaning “a puddle.” (Note that, for example, Theodor Kaluza was also Suavic). Similarly, water boots are called kalosze.

The Suavic etymology is very nicely confirmed by looking at another Kalisz, this time in Germany. Specifically, there is a Kalitz just East of Magdeburg (incidentally, near the area of Leitzkau – just NE of it). That Kalitz lies in the area of Möckern – originally Mokrianici – which means the exactly same thing – “a wet place.” (Compare this to the Polish – mokre).

But this creates a problem for history writing. If the name is Suavic then there must have been Suavs in the area before the Voelkerwanderung (Ptolemy wrote in the 2nd century and his reports were probably older). As mentioned, the name appears in Ptolemy as Calisia.

But it actually appears twice – the other time in the northern clime as Ascaucalis. This has been identified with Osielsko in the vicinity of Bydgoszcz. Since in Ptolemy the city immediately to the West is Scurgum, perhaps this is right as there is in that area the town of Skórka (dated back at least to the 1380s). This probably refers to “skin” but earlier meant “bark.”

Before WWII the name of that town was Schoenfelde so did the Poles change the German name after WWII? Well, yes, but the German name was not the original name, apparently, as shown in this 1875 publication:

So, in fact, it seems the Poles changed it back after WWII. The fact that Scurgum may have been Polish is acknowledged already in the 18th century:

To the West of Ascaucalis was Rugium.

It is also interesting that Ascaucalis sounds so very “Lithuanian”.

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In Old Frisian we have:

kleppa

which means “to embrace” or “to hug” but also “to hang” with someone.

whereas in Polish we have:

klepać

which means “to clap” of course but also “to pat”

In both cases we have the idea of “clapping” which seems PIE (compare with German klappen or English clap or Polish klaskać).

But in both Polish and Old Frisian the meaning seems to have turned to embrace and to pat which amount to something very similar.

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The Austalian (and NZ and Korean) scholar Hyun Jin Kim points out something very interesting. The name Radagaisus, in addition to appearing all over Suavic countries (in its Suavic spellings such as Radhošť), also appears – if it be the same name – among the Sarmatians (something that well known for quite a while – it appears in von Pauly and in my favorite Keltomaniac list of lists – Alfred Holder’s Alt-celtischer Sprachschatz, volume 2). We find it at CIG (Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum) volume 2, part IX (Inscriptiones Sarmatiae cum Chersoneso, Taurica et Bosporo Cimmerio), at number 2070 (CIG was the Prussian precursor to IG) in the form Rathagosos. Here it is:

Incidentally, this is courtesy of Kharkiv university library (Potocki). It comes from Olbia, that is Ὀλβία Ποντική, a Greek colony just east of Odessa. It was already shown by Désiré-Raoul Rochette (Rochettus) in his Antiquités Grecques du Bosphore Cimmérien:

Hyun Jin Kim also makes an interesting point in relation to the discussion of the Sarmatian – Goth connection citing an often overlooked statement by Procopius that I posted before:

“The Greuthungi Goths and even some of the other East Germanic tribes such as the Vandals and Gepids were in fact so thoroughly Sarmatianized that Procopius in the sixth century AD would argue that they were in fact separate from the Germanic peoples and were originally Sarmatians and Getae.”

The cite is this:

“Now while Honorius was holding the imperial power in the West, barbarians took possession of his land; and I shall tell who they were and in what manner they did so. There were many Gothic nations in earlier times, just as also at the present, but the greatest and most important of all are the Goths, Vandals, Visigoths, and Gepaedes. In ancient times, however, they were named Sauromatae and Melanchlaeni; and there were some too who called these nations Getic. All these, while they are distinguished from one another by their names, as has been said, do not differ in anything else at all. For they all have white bodies and fair hair, and are tall and handsome to look upon, and they use the same laws and practise a common religion. For they are all of the Arian faith, and have one language called Gothic; and, as it seems to me, they all came originally from one tribe, and were distinguished later by the names of those who led each group. This people used to dwell above the Ister River from of old. Later on the Gepaedes got possession of the country about Singidunum and Sirmium, on both sides of the Ister River, where they have remained settled even down to my time.”

Procopius (History of Wars, Book III, chapter 2)

As for the historical records of Radagaisus, well, that’s a topic for another blogpost.

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In Polish nobility’s myth making, the Poles were Slavs but they were also Lechites. They were Vandals too and then they were Sarmatians. The shift to the Sarmatians was likely precipitated by the shift of Poland’s borders to be more eastwards as the country expanded into Red Ruthenia and merged with the Lithuanian duchy. Nevertheless, could there be some truth to these stories? I mean why pick something that’s completely crazy? They wouldn’t have done that. They would have chosen for their foundational myth something that was plausible – perhaps some distant memory of the past. Let’s, again, start with the names of tribes involved:

• Slavs
• Lechites
• Vandals
• Sarmatians

Then, of course, is the history telling. In Polish (Kadlubek and others) and Russian (Nestor) legend, the Slavs come from Pannonia to Poland first. Indeed, the word “pan” (but perhaps from zhupan) to this day means “sir” or “lord”. The Czechs do not say where they came from (at least Cosmas does not though Dalimil points to Croatia which would have been close to Pannonia).  So let’s take a look at the potential protagonist tribes. Interestingly, Nestor speaks of the Slavs as Noricans which suggests an even earlier memory.

Vindelici

The first thing to see is that there was a tribe that bore a name similar to the Lechites. They even lived around the River Lech. And they did fight the Romans around Lake Veneticus. They are the Vindelici. The Vindelici lived near the Norici and the Rhaetians , not to mention the Suevi. They would have also lived close to where the Veneti had lived before and perhaps they were the remnants of the Veneti who had been driven north by the Roman Republic much earlier.

They are mentioned by Strabo and, arguably, also by Pliny who, in some manuscripts speaks of Vandalici, Vandilici. This has been seen as a reference to the Vandals but it seems easier to substitute an “a” for an “i” than to add a whole new suffix for Vandali to come up with Vanda-lici. However, the fact that the Vindelici may have been confused for the Vandals or that Vandals were confused for the Vindelici is suggestive of the state of affairs in this area.

Curiously, Ptolemy does not mention Vindelici but in his chapter on Raetia and Vindelicia he does mention the Suanettae and Vennontes plus Licati on the river Licati. Since the Licati is today’s Lech River, it makes sense to assume that the Licatis‘ name was something that contained the word Lech. Nearby we also have names such as Brenni/Breuni (Brena) and others (Geloni (of the Budini-Geloni fame), Senones, Isara) that are at the very least interesting.

Of course this map is a mere reconstruction of ancient names, though interesting nevertheless

The Vindelici have previously been considered Celtic but what that means is uncertain. Did they speak a Celtic language? We do not know as no evidence of their language survived. Their “Celtic” ethnicity (if by that we mean language spoken) is not backed by any evidence. Did they survive the Roman onslaught? Perhaps. If so did they retain that Celtic language later? Clearly not since the banishment of Celtic from most of Europe is incredibly complete. Did they then become Latin speakers? When Tiberius defeated them, where did any survivors go?

Suevi/Suavi

An answer to this may be offered by what happened to the Suevi. The Suevi of Caesar are on the Rhine. They seem to maintain relations with the Noricans to the south (one of Ariovistus’ wives was the sister of King Voccio or Voccion of Noricum). But then the Suevi of Tacitus are pushed further eastward (perhaps taking the names of rivers with them and transferring those to newly encountered rivers…). We know that the Suevi of Vannius were resettled by the Romans to Pannonia (perhaps Pannonia Savia). Indeed, the Suevi appear in late antiquity at the Battle of Nedao and, under their leader Hunimund, sparring with the Ostrogoths. Curiously, by then the “e” is no longer part of their name and we have, in its place, an “a” – the Suavi.

Jazyges

Since at least a few centuries BC, the Tisza plain next to the Roman province of Pannonia (which was then split up) was occupied by the Sarmatians – specifically, the Jazyges. Strangely, jazik means “language” in Slavic (as also apparently in Breton where some of the Veneti fought Caesar). And as we know, in Slavic, slowo (suovo) means a “word”. While I will not pull in the Suomi (that is the Finns), this Suevic-Jazyges connection seems most peculiar. Note also that the Suevi (especially the Quadi) were known to have fought together against the Romans.

Curiously, the war cry of the Sarmatian “Limigantes” was ‘Marha, marha’ which (especially given strong suggestions of a war goddess among the Veleti (of unknown name) and, possibly, the Poles (Lada?)) is intriguing. The Polish name Maria was for a long time pronounced Marza (see , for example, Urbanczyk) and, of course, there is the Goddess Marzanna. The relevant passage is in Ammianus Marcellinus’ Book 19, 10: “And when the emperor was seen on the high tribunal and was already preparing to deliver a most mild address, intending to speak to them as future obedient subjects, one of their number, struck with savage madness, hurling his shoe at the tribunal, shouted “Marha, marha” (which is their warcry), and the rude crowd following him suddenly raised a barbarian banner and with savage howls rushed upon the emperor himself.”

Legii/Lugii

Another tribe that is known to have brawled with the Suevi were the Lugii/Legii of southern Poland. Where did these battles take place – either in the Great Pannonian Basin or just north of it.

Vandals

Although there is no indication of the Vandals anywhere in Poland, they did appear for the first time in the Pannonia area (more or less at the Banat) and they did fight – on the same side – with the Sarmatians (at least the “royal” Sarmatians – the Arcaragantes or Argaragantes) in the fourth century in Pannonia against the Goths. That both the actual Vandals and an actual Sarmatian tribe (likely the Jazyges) met together in Pannonia is very suggestive. Curiously, archeologists digging in Hungary were finding plenty of Sarmatian artifacts but not Vandalic gear. Unless, of course, these were, ultimately, the very same things. Of course, Pannonia then became the seat of Huns and, later, of the Goths, Gepids, Lombards, Avars and, ultimately, the Hungarians. This would suggest that anyone not wanting such overlordship would have had to flee. Some would have fled west into Italy and some south into the Byzantine provinces. But, of course, those were the directions that the Huns and the other invaders would be following. They could not flee East since that was the direction that the Huns and others were coming from. So, naturally, the question arises, would they have gone North?

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