Segni (tribe)
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The Segni were an ancient tribe dwelling in the Ardennes and Eifel region during the Iron Age. In the winter of 54–53 BC, the Segni assured Julius Caesar, by means of an embassy, that they would not make common cause with the other Germani Cisrhenani (the Germani on the left bank of the river Rhine).[1][2]
The etymology of the ethnonym Segni remains unclear. It may derive from the Celtic stem *sego- ('victory, force') or from the root *seg- ('sowing'), or else be related to the Old Irish sén ('net').[1][3] However, an alternative Germanic origin is also possible since the Germanic -ng- consonantal cluster was often transcribed to -gn- in Latin (e.g. Reudigni, Marsigni). An etymology from *sengjōz ('those who live in a dried region'; cf. MHG singe 'dryness, drought'), itself a derivative of *setig ('burning, drying'), has thus be posited by some scholars.[3]
Culture
Their ethnic identity remains uncertain. The Segni were listed among the Germani Cisrhenani by Caesar, but their tribal name may be of Celtic origin.[3][1] However, the formulation "who are of the nation and number of the Germans" (ex gente et numero Germanorum) suggests that the Segni were not only considered of Germanic origin (like the Aduatuci), but also still counted among Germanic peoples at the time of Caesar.[4]
Geography
The Segni are generally presumed to have dwelled in the Luxembourgish and Belgian Ardennes. Their territory was located between that of the Treveri and the Eburones, indicating that they settled not far from the Condrusi, which themselves lived in the Condroz foothill region northwest of the Ardennes.[5][2]
Connections between the ethnonym Segni and the toponyms Ciney, Sègne and Sugny have been rejected by contemporary scholars on linguistic grounds.[5] In the 19th century, it was sometimes claimed in scholarship that the name of the Segni had been preserved in a modern town supposedly called "Sinei or Signei", located on the Meuse river in the Belgian province of Namur.[6] There is a place named Ciney in that area, but the earliest known form of the name is de Ceunaco, recorded in 1006 AD.[7]
