Gabali

The Gabali were a Gallic tribe from Gallia Aquitania, in the mountainous region, where the Oltis (Lot) and the Elaver (Allier) emerge. They were subject, and allied to the Averni. They are mentioned in Book VII of Caesar's Commentaries. During Caesar's conquest of Gaul they were raiding the country of the Provincial Ruteni, and they were among the tribes that sent relief troops to the Gallic army trying to break the siege in Alesia.

Map of ancient Gaule.

Name

They are mentioned as Gabalos or Gabalis by Caesar (mid-1st c. BC),[1] as Gabalei͂s (Γαβαλεῖς) by Strabo (early 1st c. AD),[2] as Gabales by Pliny (1st c. AD),[3] and as Tábaloi (Τάβαλοι) by Ptolemy (2nd c. AD).[4][5]

The name Gabali stems from Gaulish gablos ('forked branch of a tree > fork').[6]

The city of Javols, attested as civitas Gabalum ca. 400 CE ('civitas of the Gabali', Javols in 1109), and the Gévaudan region, attested as Gabalicus pagus in the 1st c. CE (Gavuldanum 10th c., Gavalda 13th c.), are named after the Gallic tribe.[7]

Geography

The Gabali dwelled in the Gévaudan region. Their capital was Anderitum (present-day Javols).[7]

References
  1. Caesar. Commentarii de Bello Gallico, 7:7:2; 75:2
  2. Strabo. Geōgraphiká, 4:2:2
  3. Pliny. Naturalis Historia, 4:109
  4. Ptolemy. Geōgraphikḕ Hyphḗgēsis, 2:7:11
  5. Falileyev 2010, p. entry 3924.
  6. Delamarre 2003, p. 172.
  7. Nègre 1990, p. 154.

Bibliography
  • Delamarre, Xavier (2003). Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise: Une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental (in French). Errance. ISBN 9782877723695.
  • Falileyev, Alexander (2010). Dictionary of Continental Celtic Place-names: A Celtic Companion to the Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. CMCS. ISBN 978-0955718236.
  • Nègre, Ernest (1990). Toponymie générale de la France (in French). Librairie Droz. ISBN 978-2-600-02883-7.



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