Editing Nervii (section)

==Language==
Although it is often assumed that the Nervii spoke a Celtic language, the evidence regarding their linguistic affiliation is inconclusive. The same applies to other Belgian tribes, like the [[Menapii]] and [[Morini]], to the west of the Nervii on the [[English Channel]], and the ''[[Germani cisrhenani]]'' to the east of the Nervii, stretching to the Rhine.<ref name=wightman>{{Citation|title=Gallia Belgica|last=Wightman|first =Edith Mary|year=1985|publisher= University of California Press|isbn=9780520052970| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aEyS54uSj88C}} page 12-14.</ref>

Caesar writes that the Belgae generally had received immigration from Germanic people from east of the Rhine.<ref>[[Julius Caesar]], ''[[Commentarii de Bello Gallico]]'' [[s:Commentaries on the Gallic War/Book 2#4|2.4]]</ref> The Romanized Greek [[Strabo]] wrote that the Nervii were of Germanic origin.<ref>[[Strabo]], ''[[Geographica]]'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/4C*.html 4.3]</ref> [[Tacitus]], in his book ''[[Germania (book)|Germania]]'', says that in his time the Nervii and [[Treveri]] both claimed Germanic ancestry, similar to that of their mutual neighbours the [[Tungri]], in order to distinguish them from the weaknesses of the [[Gauls]].<ref>[[Tacitus]], ''[[Germania (book)|Germania]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0083%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D28 28]</ref>

The Romans were not precise in their [[ethnography]] of northern [[barbarians]]: by "Germanic" Caesar may simply have meant "originating east of the Rhine" with no distinction of language intended. During Caesar's lifetime, Germanic languages east of the Rhine may have been no closer than the river [[Elbe]].<ref name=wightman/> It has instead been argued based on place name studies that the older language of the area, though apparently [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]], was also not Celtic (see [[Nordwestblock]]) and that Celtic, though influential amongst the elite, might never have been the main language of the part of the Belgic area north of the Ardennes.<ref name="Davidsfonds">{{Citation|last1=Lamarcq|last2=Rogge|first1=Danny|first2=Marc|title=De Taalgrens: Van de oude tot de nieuwe Belgen|publisher=Davidsfonds |year=1996}} page 44.</ref><ref name="M. Gysseling 1975 pp. 1-6">{{cite journal | last1 = Gysseling | first1 = M. | year = 1975 | title = Enkele Belgische leenwoorden in de toponymie | journal = Naamkunde | volume = 7 | pages = 1–6 }}</ref> On the other hand, these same studies of placenames such as those of [[Maurits Gysseling]], have also shown evidence of Germanic languages entering the Belgic area north of the [[Ardennes]], before the Roman conquest, while strong evidence for old Celtic place names is found in the Ardennes and to the south of them.<ref name="Davidsfonds"/><ref name="M. Gysseling 1975 pp. 1-6"/> Luc van Durme summarizes competing evidence of Celtic and Germanic influence at the time of Caesar by saying that "one has to accept the rather remarkable conclusion that Caesar must have witnessed a situation opposing Celtic and Germanic in Belgium, in a territory slightly more to the south than the early medieval [[Romance languages|Romance]]–Germanic language border", but van Durme also accepts that "second century BC Germanisation did not block the [[Celticization|celtisation]] coming from the south . . . but that both phenomena were simultaneous and interfering instead".<ref>{{citation|title=Genesis and Evolution of the Romance-Germanic Language Border in Europe|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H7VcdGI20FkC&pg=PA9|issue=Language Contact at the Romance-Germanic Language Border|journal=Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development|isbn = 9781853596278|last1 = Treffers-Daller|first1 = Jeanine|last2 = Willemyns|first2 = Roland|year = 2002|doi = 10.1080/01434630208666450|s2cid = 144862907|url-access = subscription}}</ref>

The ''[[Notitia Dignitatum]]'' reports that the Nervii were a Gaulish tribe.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://lukeuedasarson.com/NDsagittariiNerviiGallicani.html|title=N.D. unit listing: Sagittarii Nervii Gallicani|website=lukeuedasarson.com|access-date=2017-10-07}}</ref>