Ουακομαγοι

Attested:  Ptolemy 2,3,13 Ουακομαγοι

Where:  A tribe in eastern Scotland, between the Tay and the Moray Firth, with 4 πολεις, at Βανατια (near Comrie), Ταμεια (near Perth), Πτερωτον στρατοπεδον (Burghead), and Τουησις (Speymouth), essentially the Cairngorms.

Name Origin:  The natural meaning of vaco- is ‘cow’, from PIE wak- and Latin vacca, while -magus may have a sense of ‘field’ related to Latin magis ‘platter’ and proto-Celtic *magos- ‘plain, field’ (Matasovic, 2009:253).  This suggests that these people already reared the famously hardy Highland Cattle (or a precursor breed) in Roman times.

Notes: Rivet and Smith's discussion is lengthy but full of red herrings.  Their comment that “it is not credible that the name of a tribe in Sotland should be formed with a Latin borrowing” misses the point that Ptolemy described lifestyles rather than political units.

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Last edited 29 April 2023     To main Menu