Metuonis
Metuo- or Metuonis (reading types : Mentonomon , Meconomon ) is a geographical name that occurs in ancient scripts and is used to designate an area in the coastal area of the so-called North Sea. This name is apparently first used by Pytheas , who lived around 320 BC. BC undertook a sea voyage to the north and on this voyage should also have reached the North Sea. The writings of Pytheas have not survived. It is only in various historical-geographical works of antiquity (e.g. Strabo and Pliny the Elder ) mostly critical reference to these writings.
Since Pytheas uses the term Mentuo (nis) in connection with the place of origin of amber , some authors speculated that it could also be part of the Baltic Sea coast, possibly the Samland. The general doctrine, however, assumes that Pytheas did not reach the Baltic Sea on his journey.
Older authors, especially the Schleswig-Holstein philologist and local researcher Detlef Detlefsen, said that the word Metuonis means something like Heuland = marshland. If this derivation were correct, this would be a further indication of a localization of the location Mentuo (nis) in the Wadden Sea of the North Sea. However, recent research emphasizes that it is probably a proto-Celtic colored word * mēto- 'soft, fat', which can be combined with the Latin swamp name Metia and the Latin mītis 'soft', which goes well with a situation in today's world Wadden Sea can be agreed. In addition, the ancient Roman sources report that Pytheas stated in his travel report a dimension of 6,000 stadia , which is either an indication of the distance from a location that cannot be clearly identified or an indication of the extent of Metuo (nis ) was meant. A Roman stadium is around 185 meters, so it is a good 1,100 kilometers. This information is not considered as the distance between an island in the North or Baltic Sea and the mainland. The (amber) island of Abalus mentioned in this context in the travelogue of Pytheas could - as some authors suspect - have not been Helgoland , but an island that was once off the Eiderstedt peninsula , probably towards the end of the last pre-Christian or perished in the first millennium AD. In any case, it is no longer mentioned in historical times. The distance between this island and the coast of Menuo (nis) is given in Pytheas with only one day trip. This dimension of 6,000 Roman stadiums cannot describe the distance between Abalus, even if it was Heligoland, and the coast, but rather the length of the coast of the locality Metuo (nis). At the time of the Pytheas' voyage, it could have been the Elbe estuary, which at that time was much further inland. According to the prevailing opinion, there is much to be said for Metuo (nis) - roughly localized - to be viewed as the part of the North Sea coast that we now call the German Bight , or - in a narrower interpretation - as the old Elbe estuary.
On the other hand, Hermann Reichert recently argued with good reason that Mentuo (nis) should be sought in the Baltic Sea region.
In view of the sources, in particular the loss of Pytheas' travelogues, the two understandably justified deductions remain speculative.
literature
- WJ Beckers: From the Germanic north in its earliest historical time: Wadden zone - Mentonomon - Abalos. In: Geographische Zeitschrift , 17th year, issue 11 (1911).
- Albert Forbiger: Handbook of ancient geography. Leipzig 1842–1848.
- Richard Hennig: Terrae incognitae: A compilation and critical evaluation of the most important pre-Columbian voyages of discovery on the basis of the original reports available about them. Volume 2, Leiden 1944.
- Hermann Reichert, Metuonis . In: Heinrich Beck (ed.), Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde, 2nd edition, Volume 20, Berlin 2002, pp. 1-4.
- Corinna Scheungraber & Friedrich E. Grünzweig: The old Germanic toponyms as well as un-Germanic toponyms of Germania. A handbook on their etymology , Vienna 2014, pp. 251–252.
Individual evidence
This article is essentially based on the sources mentioned under literature. In addition, the following sources were used: