The Cosuanetes were an ancient tribe living in the Alps during the Iron Age and the Roman era.
Name
They are mentioned as Cosuanetes (var. -naetes, -nates) by Pliny (1st c. AD),[1] as Kōtonántioi (Κωτονάντιοι) by Strabo (early 1st c. AD),[2] and as Kōnsonántai (Κωνσονάνται) by Ptolemy (2nd c. AD).[3][4]
According to Xavier Delamarre, the name could be interpreted as the Celtic Co-su-anates, from anatia ('soul'), or Co-su-uan-ates, from -uanos ('killer of').[5] However, Alexander Falileyev argues that "the discrepancies in spelling and Strabo's association of the tribe with the Raeti makes Celtic interpretation, though possible (ko(m)-su-an-et-es or the like) not necessary".[4] The ethnic name Suanetes appears to be linguistically related.[5]
Geography
The tribe was probably located in modern western Austria, near the Rucinates, although no precise location is certain.[6][4] They were part of the Vindelici.[7]
History
They are mentioned by Pliny the Elder as one of the Alpine tribes conquered by Rome in 16–15 BC, and whose name was engraved on the Tropaeum Alpium.[8]
Pliny (1938). Natural History. Loeb Classical Library. Translated by Rackham, H. Harvard University Press. ISBN978-0674993648. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
Delamarre, Xavier (2003). Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise: Une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental. Errance. ISBN9782877723695.
Falileyev, Alexander (2010). Dictionary of Continental Celtic Place-names: A Celtic Companion to the Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. CMCS. ISBN978-0955718236.
Schumacher, Stefan; Dietz, Karlheinz; Zanier, Werner (2007). "Vindeliker". In Beck, Heinrich (ed.). Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde. Vol.35 (2ed.). De Gruyter. ISBN978-3110187847.
