Catuvellauni
/ˌkætjuːvəˈlaʊnaɪ/noun
The Catuvellauni were a powerful Iron Age British tribe whose territory centered north of the Thames in what is now southeastern England.
Did you know?The Catuvellauni minted coins bearing rulers’ names and controlled Verulamium, later one of Roman Britain’s major towns.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Celtic, before the 1st century BCE
Proto-Celtic
*katu-wellaunī
“A reconstructed tribal name commonly interpreted as “battle-chiefs” or “war-commanders,” though the second element remains debated.”
Late Iron Age
Brittonic
*Catu-wellaunī
“The ancestral Brittonic form used by the community that became known to Roman writers as the Catuvellauni.”
1st century BCE–1st century CE
Latin
Catuvellauni
“The Roman rendering of the name of a major British tribe in southeastern Britain.”
1st century CE
Latin
Catuvellaunorum
“The genitive form used in Roman inscriptions and geographical writing, meaning “of the Catuvellauni.””
Modern English
English
Catuvellauni
“The conventional historical name for the Iron Age and Roman-period British tribe.”