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The Helvetii were a Gallic tribe or tribal confederation occupying most of the Swiss plateau at the time of their contact with the Roman Republic in the 1st century BC. According to Julius Caesar, the Helvetians were divided into four subgroups or ''pagi.'' Of these Caesar only names the Verbigeni and the Tigurini,〔Bell.Gall. 1.27 and 1.12, respectively〕 while Posidonius mentions the Tigurini and the Tougeni ().〔Strabo 4.1.8, 7.2.2.〕 They feature prominently in the ''Commentaries on the Gallic War,'' with their failed migration attempt to southwestern Gaul (58 BC) serving as a catalyst for Caesar's conquest of Gaul. == Name == The endonym ''Helvetii'' is mostly derived from a Gaulish ''elu-'', meaning "gain, prosperity" or "mulititude", cognate with Welsh ''elw'' and Old Irish prefix ''il-'', meaning "many" or "multiple" (from the PIE root '' *pelh1u-'' "many").〔 The second part of the name has sometimes been interpreted as '' *etu-'', "terrain, grassland", thus interpreting the tribal name as "rich in land".〔Xavier Delamarre, ''フランス語:Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise'' (フランス語:Éditions Errance, 2003), pp. 162 and 168.〕 The earliest attestation of the name is found in a ''graffito'' on a vessel from Mantua, dated to c. 300 BC.〔Reproduction in R.C. De Marinis, ''Gli Etruschi a Nord del Po,'' Mantova, 1986.〕 The inscription in Etruscan letters reads ''eluveitie,'' which has been interpreted as the Etruscan form of the Celtic ''elu̯eti̯os'' ("the Helvetian"), presumably referring to a man of Helvetian descent living in Mantua. The name of the national personification of Switzerland, ''Helvetia'', and the country's Neo-Latin name, ''Confoederatio Helvetica'', are both derived from the name of the Helvetii. 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「Helvetii」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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