Wendish in Latin: Introduction
My contention is (a) that Wendish is the ancient, original Indo-European language, on which all Indo-European languages are based, (b) that it is the language which scholars now refer to as Continental Celtic, (c) that it was spoken by a majority of European farmers for thousands of years prior to the expansion of Rome and the introduction of christianity through Franks into central and northern Europe and was, as such, the lingua franca of ancient Europe, and (d) that Wendish continues to be spoken in 5 Central European countries by some 2 million Wends. The Wendish vocabulary in Latin supports my thesis.
The substantial number of Wendish words in Latin shows clearly that Wendish-speaking tribes were living also in southern Europe prior to the founding of Rome. Therefore, they could not have arrived there only after the collapse of the Roman Empire, as still claimed by all European historians and linguists.
When the Latin language was forming in Rome between the 6th and 4th centuries B.C., Wendish words could have been incorporated into its vocabulary from various sources:
1. From Etruscans, who spoke a Wendish dialect. The Roman historian Livy, born and raised in Venetia, was well acquainted with Venetic Wendish. He wrote that Etruscans spoke the same language as Veneti, though a far more “sophisticated” version of it.
2. From Sabines: The well-known legend, “the rape of blond Sabine women by Roman men”, may be based on facts, as legends often are. Therefore, a Wendish vocabulary may have been introduced to Latin by these Wendish-speaking women.
We know that Romans simplified the spelling of foreign names, to make them easier to write and pronounce, by (a) omitting a consonant when these occurred in groups like sl or lk, or (b) inserted a vowel between them. They also regularly used b instead of v. For example, they wrote Veneti instead of Venti/Wendi, Nemeti instead of Nemti/Nemtsi, and queen Bodicca instead of her Wendish title, Vodilka/Wodilka. Thus, what Romans spelledSabini could very well have been, in fact, Slavini/ Slowindi. Their name would indicate that they were part of the Wendish Raeti and Bavarian Wends, the Vindelici, not that of the Veneti, Wendi.
It seems that Wendish dialects were spoken, prior to the expansion and militarization of Rome, in most of Cis-Alpine Gaul, and eastern coast of Italy. Names of some of these tribes are clearly Wendish: Boii (warriors); Volki (wolves); Senoni (haymakers); etc. Therefore, it would not be surprising to find Wendish-speaking tribes also in the vicinity of the expanding city of Rome.
[Note: In Wendish, Wodilka means “a lady-leader”, derived from wodit, to lead. This shows that ancient Britons – at least their Icini tribe - spoke a Wendish dialect when Romans were invading their territories.
Not only Romans, English too were apt to change b to v in foreign words. A fairly recent example: The termServia, instead of Serbia, was used in Britain until the end of WW2.]
3. From Trojan refugees, from whom Romans claimed their descent, may also have been a Wendish speaking people. We know that Paphlagonians, a Veneti tribe from the southern coast of the Black Sea, came to help Trojans when they were attacked by Greeks. We also know that in pre-Roman times there were in Troy's vicinity several other Wendish speaking kingdoms, like Phrygians, whose ancient inscriptions can easily be understood by anyone who knows Wendish. Like Romans, Veneti also claim to have arrived in the Po Valley in the aftermath of Troy's destruction.
Latin grammar is surprisingly similar to Wendish grammar, particularly in the declension of nouns and conjugation of verbs. Its grammar was simplified, though to a lesser extent than in all other modern Indo-European languages. For instance, Latin no longer retained the ancient dual which still occurs in Sanskrit, in Algonquian languages and in all modern Wendish dialects. The simplification of grammar occurs whenever 2 or more languages mix to create a new language. Therefore, English, being a mixture of at least 4 different languages has the simplest grammatical structure of all European languages. This helped it to become today's lingua franca.
The following three pages list some Wendish words occurring in Latin, with the identical or related meaning::
Wendish personal names in Roman times are further evidence that European historians are wrong in their assertions that Wends had arrived as far as the Balkans and eastern Alps and eastern Germany only after the collapse of the Roman Empire.
Some examples: The real, original name of the famous Roman historian Livy, who was born in the Veneti/Wendi territory, was probably Liubi, dear, darling, (v = b).
The other famous Roman historian, Tacitus, who wrote the book Germania, also has a Wendish name. Tacit(us),silent, quiet, is the Latin version of Wendish ta tic/ta tih, the silent, quiet one.
The definite articles ta and to, at the beginning of a word, frequently reveal its Wendish origins. I found it inTamali, which was, according to Romans, the name of Arminius' little son. Ta mali, means exactly that in Wendish, the little boy. Ta mala would have referred to the little girl. Arminius is the Roman spelling of his Wendish name, Rmeni, golden-haired. Arminius' brother, who remained an officer in the Roman army and had lost an eye while serving, must have had hair like his brother. He too was called the blond/yellow one, Flavus, in Latin. The royal family of the Cheruski tribe was obviously Wendish.
I have concluded that Cheruski, as most other “Germanic” tribes mentioned by Romans, like Teutoni, Cimri, Marcomanni, Vandali or Longobardi, were no Germans, as German historians claim. They were, what this term actually means in Latin, germani, blood-relations – obviously not of Germans, who at that time did not yet exist, but of the romanized Gallic Celts/Wends, who were serving as Roman interpreters. That my deductions are right shows also the fact that in all the areas where these northern “Germanic” tribes eventually settled, in Northern Italy, France, Spain and Northern Africa, there is no Germanic linguistic footprint left whatsoever – only a Wendish one.
In the 11th century Bavarian church chronicles a Taliubi public official is mentioned: Ta liubi, the loved one, darling.
A Hittite god was called Talepi. Ta lepi, means the beautiful one (masculine gender) in Wendish. He was probably the equivalent of the Greek Apollo. Ta lepa would have been a goddess.
The most famous Romans, Pliny the Elder and Pliny the Younger, were born on the Lake Como, where the Celtic/Wendish Orobii (Orlovi?) tribe resided. Their area was incorporated into the Roman state in the 2nd century B.C. Their name may have been originally Plani, farmers on the plain.
Thus, Wends were co-founders of the Roman Empire. Their contribution to all military campaigns, to their administration, as well as all cultural and social activities was profound – although finally destructive to most of their germani, blood-relations, elsewhere in Europe.
In Roman times, part of Switzerland and Bavaria were called Vindelicia. These were obviously Wendish territories. Lake Constance was called Lago Veneti and the highest mountains in Austria were also called Venetian mountains until a few hundred years ago.
A cousin of Charlemagne, duke Tasillo of Bavaria, seems to have still had a Wendish name: Ta silni, the mighty, powerful one. I have come across two Bavarian families in Canada whose names were Welk, Wendish for tall, and Hammer, obviously derived from holmar, a farmer whose estate was on a holm, a rounded hill. Volk costumes in Switzerland, Austria, Bavaria and Slovenia are the same, so are the tunes of their volksongs. This indicates a common origin.
Male Roman names like Vedeus and Videus occur throughout Roman history. They are obviously the Wendishwids and weds, members of Wendish aristocracy, druidical classes of priests and scholars.
Sabines [Sabin/ Slavin/ Slovend], of the legendary “Rape of blond Sabines” by Roman bachelors after the founding of Rome, may have been Wends who had contributed a substantial Wendish vocabulary to the Latin language.
Quintus Cornificius [Gorni Vici, upper township] has a Wendish name. He was opposing Caesar Octavian in the Civil War in 40 BC.
Wendish gorni, upper, appears also in the term Cornwall, Wendish Gorn Wal(is), i.e., Upper Wales, c = k/g. I recently read a British report on new genetic data in which they declare the population of Cornwall to be the most ancient settlers of Britain.
In 39 BC, Ventidius [Wend] sent Pompaedius Silo [silo/siln, powerful, mighty] with cavalry to the mountain Amanus on the border between Cilicia and Syria.
In 36 BC, Caesar was sending urgent messages to Agrippa to come to the aid of his soldiers in Sicily, which, being besieged and short of provisions, their leader Cornificius (Gorni Vich, the upper settlement) in the interim had decided to burn all the vessels that had been left over from the sea-fight, and set out as if to proceed to Mylae.. … Sextus’ allies decimated them, and Sextus was also reinforced by Tisienus Gallus(tisien/tishen, silent, calm, quiet) - and Caesar got reinforcement by Lepidus.
Dio Cassius RH V, p. 385: In 38 BC Ventidius (Wendt) lost his position by Antini, yet later had a triumph alone, as if the victory had been his alone – for Antony perished in the meantime - and he acquired a greater reputation from this fact, as well as from the caprice of fortune; for he himself had once marched in procession with the other captives at the triumph of Pompeius Strabo, and now he was the first of the Romans to celebrate a triumph over the Parthians.
[Note: Was Ventidius a Wendish Illyrian? Was he one of the Tolenti “pirates” who were finally defeated in the Roman army's siege of Metlica? When did this siege take place? Tolenti were obviously the present WendishDolenti/Dolentsi, one of whose Illyrian kings was called by the Wendish word Vampast, overweight. Pompey's war against the pirates took place in 67 BC.
According to Roman maps, Tolenti lived in early Roman times in southern Slovenia and along the entire Dalmatian coast to where Albania is today. They were obviously no pirates, they were legitimately defending their territories and their coasts from intruding Romans.
To expand their empire, Romans liked to portray themselves as the benefactors and protectors of weaker communities. For example, they claimed to have gone to war with the Illyrians, in the latter part of the 3rdcentury BC, to protect Italian traders and the smaller Greek cities from Illyrian attacks. In Metlika - in the present south-eastern Slovenia where the last Tolenti/Dolentsi still live - Wends preferred to commit suicide, by burning their walled city and dying in it with their families, to becoming enslaved by Romans.
Daughter of the Celtic king who is reported as having married a Greek merchant and founded Massillia, today'sMarseille, in the Provence, was called Peta, Wendish for the fifth. She may have been the fifth born child in the family, and was, therefore, called Peta, the way Romans called their children Primus, Secundus, Quintus,Octavius, Decimus, etc. For a boy, Wends would have used Peti.
From various books of Roman and Greek historians and geographers, I have collected a large number of Latin names and toponyms with Wendish roots appearing throughout the Roman occupied western and southern Europe, including Sicily and Spain. I will add them to this list as soon as I manage to organize my voluminous notes on this subject. I welcome also any contribution from readers of this site.
The substantial number of Wendish words in Latin shows clearly that Wendish-speaking tribes were living also in southern Europe prior to the founding of Rome. Therefore, they could not have arrived there only after the collapse of the Roman Empire, as still claimed by all European historians and linguists.
When the Latin language was forming in Rome between the 6th and 4th centuries B.C., Wendish words could have been incorporated into its vocabulary from various sources:
1. From Etruscans, who spoke a Wendish dialect. The Roman historian Livy, born and raised in Venetia, was well acquainted with Venetic Wendish. He wrote that Etruscans spoke the same language as Veneti, though a far more “sophisticated” version of it.
2. From Sabines: The well-known legend, “the rape of blond Sabine women by Roman men”, may be based on facts, as legends often are. Therefore, a Wendish vocabulary may have been introduced to Latin by these Wendish-speaking women.
We know that Romans simplified the spelling of foreign names, to make them easier to write and pronounce, by (a) omitting a consonant when these occurred in groups like sl or lk, or (b) inserted a vowel between them. They also regularly used b instead of v. For example, they wrote Veneti instead of Venti/Wendi, Nemeti instead of Nemti/Nemtsi, and queen Bodicca instead of her Wendish title, Vodilka/Wodilka. Thus, what Romans spelledSabini could very well have been, in fact, Slavini/ Slowindi. Their name would indicate that they were part of the Wendish Raeti and Bavarian Wends, the Vindelici, not that of the Veneti, Wendi.
It seems that Wendish dialects were spoken, prior to the expansion and militarization of Rome, in most of Cis-Alpine Gaul, and eastern coast of Italy. Names of some of these tribes are clearly Wendish: Boii (warriors); Volki (wolves); Senoni (haymakers); etc. Therefore, it would not be surprising to find Wendish-speaking tribes also in the vicinity of the expanding city of Rome.
[Note: In Wendish, Wodilka means “a lady-leader”, derived from wodit, to lead. This shows that ancient Britons – at least their Icini tribe - spoke a Wendish dialect when Romans were invading their territories.
Not only Romans, English too were apt to change b to v in foreign words. A fairly recent example: The termServia, instead of Serbia, was used in Britain until the end of WW2.]
3. From Trojan refugees, from whom Romans claimed their descent, may also have been a Wendish speaking people. We know that Paphlagonians, a Veneti tribe from the southern coast of the Black Sea, came to help Trojans when they were attacked by Greeks. We also know that in pre-Roman times there were in Troy's vicinity several other Wendish speaking kingdoms, like Phrygians, whose ancient inscriptions can easily be understood by anyone who knows Wendish. Like Romans, Veneti also claim to have arrived in the Po Valley in the aftermath of Troy's destruction.
Latin grammar is surprisingly similar to Wendish grammar, particularly in the declension of nouns and conjugation of verbs. Its grammar was simplified, though to a lesser extent than in all other modern Indo-European languages. For instance, Latin no longer retained the ancient dual which still occurs in Sanskrit, in Algonquian languages and in all modern Wendish dialects. The simplification of grammar occurs whenever 2 or more languages mix to create a new language. Therefore, English, being a mixture of at least 4 different languages has the simplest grammatical structure of all European languages. This helped it to become today's lingua franca.
The following three pages list some Wendish words occurring in Latin, with the identical or related meaning::
Wendish personal names in Roman times are further evidence that European historians are wrong in their assertions that Wends had arrived as far as the Balkans and eastern Alps and eastern Germany only after the collapse of the Roman Empire.
Some examples: The real, original name of the famous Roman historian Livy, who was born in the Veneti/Wendi territory, was probably Liubi, dear, darling, (v = b).
The other famous Roman historian, Tacitus, who wrote the book Germania, also has a Wendish name. Tacit(us),silent, quiet, is the Latin version of Wendish ta tic/ta tih, the silent, quiet one.
The definite articles ta and to, at the beginning of a word, frequently reveal its Wendish origins. I found it inTamali, which was, according to Romans, the name of Arminius' little son. Ta mali, means exactly that in Wendish, the little boy. Ta mala would have referred to the little girl. Arminius is the Roman spelling of his Wendish name, Rmeni, golden-haired. Arminius' brother, who remained an officer in the Roman army and had lost an eye while serving, must have had hair like his brother. He too was called the blond/yellow one, Flavus, in Latin. The royal family of the Cheruski tribe was obviously Wendish.
I have concluded that Cheruski, as most other “Germanic” tribes mentioned by Romans, like Teutoni, Cimri, Marcomanni, Vandali or Longobardi, were no Germans, as German historians claim. They were, what this term actually means in Latin, germani, blood-relations – obviously not of Germans, who at that time did not yet exist, but of the romanized Gallic Celts/Wends, who were serving as Roman interpreters. That my deductions are right shows also the fact that in all the areas where these northern “Germanic” tribes eventually settled, in Northern Italy, France, Spain and Northern Africa, there is no Germanic linguistic footprint left whatsoever – only a Wendish one.
In the 11th century Bavarian church chronicles a Taliubi public official is mentioned: Ta liubi, the loved one, darling.
A Hittite god was called Talepi. Ta lepi, means the beautiful one (masculine gender) in Wendish. He was probably the equivalent of the Greek Apollo. Ta lepa would have been a goddess.
The most famous Romans, Pliny the Elder and Pliny the Younger, were born on the Lake Como, where the Celtic/Wendish Orobii (Orlovi?) tribe resided. Their area was incorporated into the Roman state in the 2nd century B.C. Their name may have been originally Plani, farmers on the plain.
Thus, Wends were co-founders of the Roman Empire. Their contribution to all military campaigns, to their administration, as well as all cultural and social activities was profound – although finally destructive to most of their germani, blood-relations, elsewhere in Europe.
In Roman times, part of Switzerland and Bavaria were called Vindelicia. These were obviously Wendish territories. Lake Constance was called Lago Veneti and the highest mountains in Austria were also called Venetian mountains until a few hundred years ago.
A cousin of Charlemagne, duke Tasillo of Bavaria, seems to have still had a Wendish name: Ta silni, the mighty, powerful one. I have come across two Bavarian families in Canada whose names were Welk, Wendish for tall, and Hammer, obviously derived from holmar, a farmer whose estate was on a holm, a rounded hill. Volk costumes in Switzerland, Austria, Bavaria and Slovenia are the same, so are the tunes of their volksongs. This indicates a common origin.
Male Roman names like Vedeus and Videus occur throughout Roman history. They are obviously the Wendishwids and weds, members of Wendish aristocracy, druidical classes of priests and scholars.
Sabines [Sabin/ Slavin/ Slovend], of the legendary “Rape of blond Sabines” by Roman bachelors after the founding of Rome, may have been Wends who had contributed a substantial Wendish vocabulary to the Latin language.
Quintus Cornificius [Gorni Vici, upper township] has a Wendish name. He was opposing Caesar Octavian in the Civil War in 40 BC.
Wendish gorni, upper, appears also in the term Cornwall, Wendish Gorn Wal(is), i.e., Upper Wales, c = k/g. I recently read a British report on new genetic data in which they declare the population of Cornwall to be the most ancient settlers of Britain.
In 39 BC, Ventidius [Wend] sent Pompaedius Silo [silo/siln, powerful, mighty] with cavalry to the mountain Amanus on the border between Cilicia and Syria.
In 36 BC, Caesar was sending urgent messages to Agrippa to come to the aid of his soldiers in Sicily, which, being besieged and short of provisions, their leader Cornificius (Gorni Vich, the upper settlement) in the interim had decided to burn all the vessels that had been left over from the sea-fight, and set out as if to proceed to Mylae.. … Sextus’ allies decimated them, and Sextus was also reinforced by Tisienus Gallus(tisien/tishen, silent, calm, quiet) - and Caesar got reinforcement by Lepidus.
Dio Cassius RH V, p. 385: In 38 BC Ventidius (Wendt) lost his position by Antini, yet later had a triumph alone, as if the victory had been his alone – for Antony perished in the meantime - and he acquired a greater reputation from this fact, as well as from the caprice of fortune; for he himself had once marched in procession with the other captives at the triumph of Pompeius Strabo, and now he was the first of the Romans to celebrate a triumph over the Parthians.
[Note: Was Ventidius a Wendish Illyrian? Was he one of the Tolenti “pirates” who were finally defeated in the Roman army's siege of Metlica? When did this siege take place? Tolenti were obviously the present WendishDolenti/Dolentsi, one of whose Illyrian kings was called by the Wendish word Vampast, overweight. Pompey's war against the pirates took place in 67 BC.
According to Roman maps, Tolenti lived in early Roman times in southern Slovenia and along the entire Dalmatian coast to where Albania is today. They were obviously no pirates, they were legitimately defending their territories and their coasts from intruding Romans.
To expand their empire, Romans liked to portray themselves as the benefactors and protectors of weaker communities. For example, they claimed to have gone to war with the Illyrians, in the latter part of the 3rdcentury BC, to protect Italian traders and the smaller Greek cities from Illyrian attacks. In Metlika - in the present south-eastern Slovenia where the last Tolenti/Dolentsi still live - Wends preferred to commit suicide, by burning their walled city and dying in it with their families, to becoming enslaved by Romans.
Daughter of the Celtic king who is reported as having married a Greek merchant and founded Massillia, today'sMarseille, in the Provence, was called Peta, Wendish for the fifth. She may have been the fifth born child in the family, and was, therefore, called Peta, the way Romans called their children Primus, Secundus, Quintus,Octavius, Decimus, etc. For a boy, Wends would have used Peti.
From various books of Roman and Greek historians and geographers, I have collected a large number of Latin names and toponyms with Wendish roots appearing throughout the Roman occupied western and southern Europe, including Sicily and Spain. I will add them to this list as soon as I manage to organize my voluminous notes on this subject. I welcome also any contribution from readers of this site.