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| The Rio Tambre in Sigüeiro, Galicia |
A paper by Manuel Alberro, University of Uppsala makes a strong case for the Galician people to be included in the lists of ancient celtic nations. (1)
He
says:-
“Social
and commercial relations between the peoples of the northwest of the
Iberian Peninsula and those of Brittany and the British Islands date
back to very remote times. Trade in tin between Ireland and Galicia
was already established during the late Neolithic (MacCalister
1921:16), and the similarities in thousands of stone tombs found all
along the coasts of Atlantic Europe could indicate that those
contacts existed during the period of megalith construction as well
(Eogan 1982). These ancient connections continued during the Bronze
Age, when a well-defined socio-cultural and commercial zone called
the Atlantic Façade, Area, or Province included Ireland, the Isle of
Man, Scotland, Wales, the Cornish Peninsula, Armorica (Brittany) and
Galicia in Spain, and lasted for at least three millennia (Cunliffe
:The Ancient Celts: Oxford University Press: 1997: p.148). Cunliffe
affords northwestern Iberia particular importance within the zone,
noting how the complex influence of western seaways converged "around
the isolated yet reassuring stepping-stone of Galicia" (Cunliffe
2001:60).”
What
he does not mention, as far as I can see, is the similarity of place
and river names. Among the most obvious is the almost identical
ancient names of the rivers Tamar (Cornwall / Devon border) and the
Tambre of Galicia.
Articles
from Wikipedia have the details:-
The Tambre is a coastal river that crosses Galicia, in
northwestern Spain. In ancient times, it was called "Támaris".
(2)The Tamar (Cornish: Dowr Tamar) is a river in south west England, that forms most of the border between Devon (to the east) and Cornwall (to the west). The area is a World Heritage Site due to its historic mining activities.
The name Tamar (or Tamare) was mentioned by Ptolomy in the second century in his Geography. The Tamar is one of several British rivers whose ancient name is assumed by some to be derived from a prehistoric river word apparently meaning "dark flowing" and which it shares with the River Thames.
The seventh century Ravenna Cosmography mentions a Roman settlement named Tamaris, but it is unclear which of the towns along the Tamar this refers to. (3)
ndirect evidence for the antiquity of the name 'Thames' is provided by a Roman potsherd found at Oxford, bearing the inscription Tamesubugus fecit (Tamesubugus made [this]). It is believed that Tamesubugus' name was derived from that of the river. Tamese was referred to as a place, not a river in the Ravenna Cosmography (c. 700 AD).
The river's name has always been pronounced with a simple t /t/; the Middle English spelling was typically Temese and the Brittonic form Tamesis. A similar spelling from 1210, "Tamisiam", is found in the Magna Carta (4)
For an amateur such as myself, the
evidence of very ancient links between the people of the Northwest
coasts of the Iberian peninsula and those of the British Isles
appears to be overwhelming.
1)
e-Keltoi
- Vol. 6, Manuel
Alberro, University of Uppsala:
The
Celts in the Iberian Peninsula
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