Vellavi

The Vellavi were a Gaulish people in the region of Le Puy-en-Velay in the region of the Auvergne, which, at the time of Julius Caesar's campaigns against the Gaul (Gallic Wars) lay on the border of Gallia Narbonensis. The oppidum of Ruessium, an early seat of a Catholic bishop, began to be called during the 4th century the [civitas] que dicitur Vetula in pago Vellavorum— the city "called Vetula in the country ('pays') of the Vellavi" a document of 1004 termed it (Lauranson-Rosaz).

The Vellavi sited south of the Arverni— whose name is embodied in Auvergne

Name

The name Vellavi stems from Gaulish vello- ('better') attached to the suffix -avus.[1]

The city of Le-Puy-en-Velay, attested as civitas Villavorum ca. 400 CE ('civitas of the Vellavi'), and the Velay region, attested as pagus Vellaicus in 845 ('pagus of the Vellavi', Velhac in the 13th c., Velai in 1335), are named after the Gallic tribe.[1]

References
  1. Nègre 1990, p. 158.

Bibliography
  • Nègre, Ernest (1990). Toponymie générale de la France (in French). Librairie Droz. ISBN 978-2-600-02883-7.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

Further reading
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.