Germaniae veteris typus (Old Germany.), Aestui, Venedi and Gythones on the right upper corner of the map Edited by Willem and Joan Blaeu), 1645.

The Vistula Veneti (alternatively also called the Baltic Veneti) were an ancient Indo-European people living in contemporary Poland, along the rivers of Oder and the Vistula.

Ethnic character of the Veneti

The Veneti are believed to have been originally a centum Indo-European people dwelling in the area of contemporary Poland. Their heritage is attributed to Pre-Slavic hydronyms found in the Vistula and Odra river basins. To a certain extent, these hydronyms fall within the scope of Old European hydronyms established by Hans Krahe (see Old European hydronymy).

It is not clear whether they were related to the Adriatic Veneti, a people whose language is attested in inscriptions dating from 6th to 1st centuries BC and is known to have been particularly closely related to the Italic languages (see Venetic language). Hydronyms attributed to the Vistula Veneti seem to show resemblances to those attested in the area of the Adriatic Veneti (in Northeastern Italy) as well as those attested in the Western Balkans that are attributed to Illyrians (for examples, linguistic comparisons and further reference see Go??b 1992: 263-268), all of which may point to a possible connection between these ancient Indo-European peoples. However, some scholars may prefer to consider the Vistula Veneti as a distinct group.

Scholarly consensus suggests that the Pre-Slavic population of the Vistula and Odra river basins had a North-West Indo-European character with close affinities to the Italo-Celtic branch, but was definitely different from the Germanic branch (Go??b 1992: 88).

Origin of the ethnonym Veneti

According to J. Pokorny, the ethnonym Venet? (singular *Venetos) is derived from Proto Indo-European root * 'to strive; to wish for, to love'. There seem to have been two possible accentuation patterns: Old High German Winida 'Wende' points to Pre-Germanic *Venétos, while Lat.-Germ. Venedi (as attested in Tacitus) and Old English Winedas 'Wends' call for Pre-Germanic *Venetós. Etymologically related words include Latin venus, -eris 'love, passion, grace'; Sanskrit vanas- 'lust, zest', vani- 'wish, desire'; Old Irish fine (< Proto-Celtic *venj?) 'kinship, kinfolk, alliance, tribe, family'; Old Norse vinr, Old Saxon, Old High German wini, Old Frisian, Old English wine 'Friend' (Pokorny 1959: 1146 - 1147; Steinacher 2002: 33).

Archaeology

Polish archaeologist Jerzy Okulicz has interpreted Veneti as the possible bearers of the Pomeranian culture, an Iron Age archaeological culture in Poland. Elements of the Pomeranian culture, in particular its bell-shaped burials group, have been ascertained in the successive Przeworsk culture, as well as in the Milograd culture to the east where eventually the Zarubintsy culture arose. If correctly interpreted, these archaeological data suggest that from 3rd century BC onwards Veneti entered into an intense cultural contact with Proto-Germanic and Proto-Slavic peoples and eventually assimilated with the two groups (Okulicz 1986; Pleterski 1995).

Relation between Veneti and Slavs

The Veneti were geographically and temporaly contiguous to the Proto-Germanic and Proto-Slavic peoples and were eventually assimilated by both groups, perhaps even more decisively by Proto-Slavs who later settled in the territory which erstwhile belonged to the Veneti. The Germanic peoples subsequently transferred the ethnonym Veneti to their new easterly neighbours, the Slavs. This tradition survived in German language where Slavs living in closest proximity to Germany were originally called Wenden or Winden (see Wends), while the people of the Austrian federal lands Styria and Carinthia referred to their Slavic neighbours as Windische. It should be emphasised, though, that Slavic peoples never used the ethnonym Veneti for themselves but were called thus only by the neighbouring Germanic peoples. Such transfers of ethnonyms from one group to another are not unusual and have occurred frequently in history. An analogous example is the name Böhmer, formerly applied by Germans to the Czechs, which originally was the name of a Celtic tribe Boii who dwelt in Bohemia before the Serbs (before they moved south) and later the Czechs. Similarly, the name of the Celtic Volcae (Proto-Germanic *Walhoz) was adopted as the collective name for the Celtic peoples and later for the Romance peoples (Schenker 1996: 3-4; Steinacher 2002: 28-29).

Linguists agree in the opinion that Slavic languages evolved in close proximity with the Baltic languages, or, for that matter, originally formed a linguistic union with the Baltic languages, having later separated from the latter. The earliest origins of Slavs seem to lie in the area between the Middle Dniepr and the Bug rivers, where the most archaic Slavic hydronyms have been established (Go??b 1992: 300). The mentioned area roughly corresponds with the Zarubintsy archeological culture which has been interpreted as the most likely locus of the ethnogenesis of Slavs.

In linguistic terms, there is evidence that during the course of its evolution Proto-Slavic adopted some lexical elements from a foreign, centum-type Indo-European language. As these lexical elements have correspondences in North-West Indo-European dialects, it has been proposed that contacts of Proto-Slavs with the Veneti may have been the source for these borrowings (Go??b 1992: 175; for detailed examples see p. 79-86). According to the latest work by Zbigniew Go??b (2004) the Vistula or Vis(t)la is an ancient Slavic hydronym, and Slavs were present in the Vistula basin for centuries prior to Pliny the Elder mentioning the river's name in the I century AD.

According to Polish archaeologist Micha? Parczewski, Slavs began to settle in southeastern Poland at no earlier than late 5th century AD, the Prague culture being their recognizable expression (Parczewski 1993).

Historical sources mentioning the name Veneti/Venedi

Roman historian Pliny the Elder in Natural History (Liber IV: 96-97) mentions a tribe called Sarmatian Venedi (Latin Sarmatae Venedi). Subsequently, Tacitus in Germania (46) mentions Venethi; when comparing these to Germani and Sarmatae, however, Tacitus associates them with the former, stating that their habits are different from those of the Sarmatae.

In 2nd century AD, Ptolemy in his work De Geographia (III 5. 21.) mentions a people called Ouenedai along the southern shores of the Baltic, which he calls the Venedic Bay. Considering Ptolemy's Ouenedai and their location along the Baltic sea, a German linguist, Alexander M. Schenker, underlines that the vocabulary of the Slavic languages shows no evidence that the early Slavs were exposed to the sea. Proto-Slavic had no maritime terminology and even lacked a word for amber which was the most important item of export from the shores of the Baltic to the Mediterranean. In view of this, the very fact that Ptolemy refers to the Baltic as the Venedic Bay appears to rule out a possible identification of the Veneti of his times with the Slavs (Schenker 1996: 3-5). Schenker's conclusion is supported by the fact that to the east of the Ouenedai, Ptolemy mentions two further tribes called Stauanoi and Souobenoi, both of which have been interpreted as possibly the oldest historcial attestations of Slavs (Go??b 1992: 291).

According to Steinacher (2002: 32), the Adriatic Veneti, the Veneti of Gaul and the North Balkan/Paphlagonian Enetoi mentioned by Herodotus and Appian were not related to each other, nor to the Veneti/Venedi mentioned by Tacitus, Pliny and Ptolemy.

The historical document Tabula Peutingeriana, originating from the 4th century AD, separately mentions the Venedi along the Black Sea and the Venadi Sarmatae north of the Carpathians (see Go??b 1992: 287-291, 295-296).

In 551 AD Gothic author Jordanes in his book De origine actibusque Getarum (30-35) wrote, that the Venethi include Antes and Sclaveni. Jordanes also states that the same tribes were subdued by Ermanaric in the IV century.

Identifications of Veneti as Slavs

"The name Veneder was introduced by Jordanes. The assumption that these were Slavs can be traced back to the 16th century to P. J. Schaforschik from Prague, who tried to establish a Slavic Origin history. Scholars and historians since then viewed the reports on Venedi/Venethi by Tacitus, Pliny and Ptolemy as the earliest historical attestation of Slavs. In addition, phonetic similarity and geographic proximity of the ethnicons Veneti and Vandali inspired an erroneous belief that the Germanic people of Vandals were Slavs as well" (Steinacher 2004; see also Origins of Vandals). Such conceptions, started in the 16th century, resurfaced in 19th century where they provided the basis for interpretations of the history and origins of Slavs (Steinacher 2002: 31-35). Modern history nowadays clearly distinguishes two matters: one is the existence of several different ancient peoples by the name of Veneti, and the other one is the fact that Germanic peoples adopted that ethnonym for their easterly neighbours, the Slavs.

In 1980s some Slovene scholars proposed a theory according to which the Veneti were Proto-Slavs and bearers of the Lusatian culture along the Amber Path who conquered and settled the region between the Baltic sea and Adriatic Sea, as presented in their book "Veneti - First Builders of European Community". This theory has been criticised and rejected by Slovenian and other European scholars.^[1]

See also

• Veneti (disambiguation)
• Vandals
• Vends
• Wends

Notes

References

• Go??b, Zbigniew (1992). The Origins of the Slavs: A Linguist's view. Columbus: Slavica Publishers, 1992. ISBN 0-89357-231-4.
• Krahe, Hans (1957). Vorgeschichtliche Sprachbeziehungen von den baltischen Ostseeländern bis zu den Gebieten um den Nordteil der Adria. Mainz: Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur, 1957.
• Krahe, Hans (1954). Sprache und Vorzeit: Europäische Vorgeschichte nach dem Zeugnis der Sprache. Heidelberg: Quelle & Meyer, 1954.
• Okulicz, Jerzy (1986). Einige Aspekte der Ethnogenese der Balten und Slawen im Lichte archäologischer und sprachwissenschaftlicher Forschungen. Quaestiones medii aevi, Vol. 3, p. 7-34.
• Pokorny, Julius (1959). Indogermanisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch. Bern, München : Francke, 1959.
• Parczewski, Micha? (1993). Die Anfänge der frühslawischen Kultur in Polen. Wien: Österreichische Gesellschaft für Ur- und Frühgeschichte, 1993. Veröffentlichungen der österreichischen Gesellschaft für Ur- und Frühgeschichte; Bd. 17.
• Pleterski, Andrej (1995). Model etnogeneze Slovanov na osnovi nekaterih novej?ih raziskav / A model of an Ethnogenesis of Slavs based on Some Recent Research. Zgodovinski ?asopis = Historical Review 49, No. 4, 1995, p. 537-556. ISSN 0350-5774. English summary:
• Schenker, Alexander M. (1996). The Dawn of Slavic: an Introduction to Slavic Philology. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996. ISBN 0-300-05846-2.
• Skrbi?, Zlatko (2002). The Emotional Historiography of Venetologists: Slovene Diaspora, Memory and Nationalism. Focaal: European Journal of Anthropology 39, 2002, p. 41-56. http://www.focaal.box.nl/previous/foc39abs.pdf
• Steinacher, Roland (2002). Studien zur vandalischen Geschichte. Die Gleichsetzung der Ethnonyme Wenden, Slawen und Vandalen vom Mittelalter bis ins 18. Jahrhundert(doctoral thesis). Wien, 2002.
• Steinacher, Roland (2004). Wenden, Slawen, Vandalen. Eine frühmittelalterliche pseudologische Gleichsetzung und ihr Nachleben bis ins 18. Jahrhundert. In: W. Pohl (Hrsg.): Auf der Suche nach den Ursprüngen. Von der Bedeutung des frühen Mittelalters (Forschungen zur Geschichte des Mittelalters 8), Wien 2004, p. 329-353.
• Sva?ek, Maru?ka. Postsocialism politics and emotions in Central and Eastern Europe, Berghahn Books, 2006, ISBN 1-845-45124-4

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