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The Aesti (also Aestii or Aests) were an ancient people first described by the Roman historian Tacitus in his treatise ''Germania'' (circa 98 CE).〔Tacitus, ''Germania'', Germania.XLV〕 According to Tacitus, Aestui, the land of the Aesti, was located somewhere east of the ''Suiones'' (Swedes) and west of the ''Sitones'' (possibly the Kvens), on the Suebian (Baltic) Sea. This and other evidence suggests that Aestui was in or near the present-day Russian enclave of Kaliningrad Oblast (previously East Prussia). Geographical and linguistic evidence suggests that the Aesti were, ethnologically, a Baltic people. They may have been synonymous with the ''Brus/Prūsa'' or "Old Prussians" – that is, not a Germanic people like modern Prussians, and not a Finno-Ugric people, such as modern Estonians. Tacitus almost certainly erred in implying that the Aesti were a hybrid Celtic-Germanic culture: he claimed that while the "Aestian nations" followed the "same customs and attire" as "the Suebians" (at the time a collective term for eastern Germanic peoples), their speech resembled that of the Britons (i.e., a Celtic language rather than the Germanic languages of the Suebii). Tacitus often utilised unreliable, secondary sources,〔 E. J. Kenney, ''The Cambridge History of Classical Literature: Volume 2, Latin Literature'', Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, pp. 647–8.〕 and may not have been aware of such distinctions in any case. Tacitus' mention of a cult of the mother of the gods among the Aesti along the eastern Baltic coast does apply to the ancient Estonian and Baltic pagan religions.〔Lang, Valter. ''The Bronze And Early Iron Ages In Estonia'', Estonian Archaeology 3. University of Tartu Press, Tartu. 2007. retrieved at () 26 December 2013〕 He also refers to the Fenni living next to the Aesti—the Fenni being ancestors to the Finns or the Sámi would situate them closest to the Estonians. Ultimately, Tacitus' use of Aesti could apply equally well to either a specific people or to a grouping of ethnically diverse peoples across a wider area .〔 In the modern Estonian language, ''Eesti'' is the endonym for "Estonia". Estonia was known as ''Estia'' or ''Hestia'' in some early Latin sources, and ''Eistland'' in ancient Scandinavian sagas. Estonians themselves used ''Maarahvas'', meaning people of the land, to refer to themselves until the early modern era. The etymologies of Aesti and Eesti remain subjects of scholarly conjecture. Tacitus is also credited with recording the only surviving example of the Aestian language: ''glesum'', an apparently Latinised word for amber and similar to the later Latvian equivalent: ''glīsas''. Both may be loanwords from a Germanic language, given their similarity to the Gothic word ''glas''.〔Rübekeil, Ludwig. ''Suebica - Völkernamen und Ethnos'' Innsbruck, 1992. p. 72f.〕 There is evidence that the area around the Vistula Lagoon was strongly associated with the Aesti: the Old Prussian and modern Lithuanian names for the lagoon, ''Aistmarės'' and ''Aīstinmari'' respectively, appear to be derived from ''Aesti'' and ''mari'' ("lagoon" or "fresh water bay").〔Mikkels Klussis, ''Dictionary of Revived Prussian: Prussian - English, English - Prussian'', Vilnius 2005–06, p. 47.〕 Therefore, the oldest known name of the body of the water was "lagoon of the Aesti". == Historical sources == 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Aesti」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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