they assumed that of Danes[1]. But this resemblance of name, which many historians produce as a solid proof, is liable to so many different explanations, that it is better to acknowledge once for all, that this subject is as incapable of certainty, as it is unworthy of research.
Whatever was the origin of the Cimbri, they for a long time before the birth of Christ inhabited the country, which received from them the name of the Cimbrica Chersonesus[2], and probably comprehended Jutland, Sleswic, and Holstein, and perhaps some of the neighbouring provinces. The ancients considered this people as a branch of the Germans, and never distinguished the one from the other in the descriptions they have left us of the manners and customs of that nation. The historical monuments of the north give us still less information about them, and go no farther back than the arrival of Odin; the epoque of which, I am
- ↑ The historians of the north do not inform us when this name began to be in use. Among foreign writers, Procopius an author of the VIth century, is the first who appears to have made use of it. We shall see below, what we are to think of the etymologies which have been given of this name.
- ↑ Or Cimbric Peninsula.
