German origin of the word "Gaul"

 

The word 'Gaul' itself seems to be derived from the tribal name ‘Wolkai’, written ‘Volcae’ and probably pronounced ‘Ghwalk’ [1]. This tribe lived in the south of modern France since (at least) the 5th century BC. Derived are Welsh in English and Waal in Dutch (Wallonia). The Romans, having difficulties in pronouncing ‘Ghwalk’ changed it early on into ‘Gaalk’, or Gallic. The word is possibly related to ‘to walk’ (the walkers). The name refers to a German tribe (better: migrants) which had migrated to, conquered and settled in the south of Gaul long before they came in contact with Rome and written history. The West-Goths or Visi-Goths would do the same in the 5th century AD. The region is indeed very attractive [2].

Initially, during the Roman republic, 'Gaul' meant the south of France (Gallia Transalpina) and the north of Italy (Gallia Cisalpina). The Germanic Volcae must have conquered this whole region at some moment and given its name. Later, this realm became split in smaller ones. In 387 BC the Italian Germano-Gaul Brennus ("chieftain") sacked Rome. His famous words were "Vae victis!" (something like: Weep Losers!). The original Gaul region never spoke Brythonic (Gaul, Celtic), nor German but mainly Occitan-Romance [3]. Probably only the aristocracy of German descent spoke German in the beginning, before their complete integration.

Brennus: The word is widely supposed to be 'Celtic' (read Brythonic or para-Brythonic). But I demonstrated in the previous chapter that the Galatian-Celtic Brennus (281 BC) was a German [4].
The alleged Gallic Brennus (387 BC), who sacked Rome, was therefore also of German origin.

So, it's likely that brennus was a German title meaning foremost head. 'Brennus' is then related to the coastal German word brain [5]. It's possible that this title ('chief') was at some point adopted by the Occitan speakers (the real Gauls), written as Brennus, pronounced as Brainnus.

The north of France (north of the Loire river) was subsequently NOT Gaul. Its population refused to be called 'Gauls' and preferred the qualification 'Celts' (Caesar). But the Romans generalized the term to the north, even up to the Rhine border, after its conquest. The clearly Germanic tribes on the west bank of the Rhine and in Belgium were qualified by Rome as 'Gaulish'. The Romans didn't link this to a specific language. It was about administration. It was like we say 'Europeans', thus not implying a specific language. This explains why the Treveri (people of Luxemburg) were also qualified as 'Gaul', despite their clear Germanic language.
Trier, the Treveri civitas (place of Roman civil administration), was the capital of the Praefectura Gallia (Spain, Gaul, Belgium, Britain - the notion 'Gaul' was expanded from Gibraltar up to modern Scotland!) during the 4th century AD. The Praefectura was ruled by a co-emperor.

Today, most historians qualify the language of the region between the Loire and the Somme rivers as 'Celtic' or 'Gaul'. The same 'Celtic' language was also spoken in the whole of Britain and Ireland. Some believe that this 'Celtic' language was spoken between the Pyrenees and the Rhine. All that is wrong.
The real language spoken south of the Loire was Occitan-Romance, which in reality is a synonym of Gaul. North of the Loire, para-Brythonic was spoken, a language related to Brythonic (but heavily contaminated with Occitan and German words). Pure Brythonic was spoken in Armorica and in the west of the British isles. All people north of the Somme river spoke a Germanic language as did the regions Lorraine, Elzas and (greater) Luxemburg. 'A Celtic people' never existed, only populations which had adopted the Celtic art and culture. They spoke languages as different as Brythonic, Occitan-Romance, German and their many sublanguages.