Irminones

Also referred to as Herminones, Hermiones a Germanic proto-tribe or cultural group.

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The name Irminones comes from Tacitus?s Germania (98 CE) who categorized them as one of the tribes of Mannus. Other West Germanic proto-tribes were the Ingvaeones and Istvaeones. However, all he says is that they lived in the Central region.

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Pomponius Mela writes in his Description of the World (III.3.31) in reference to the Kattegat and the waters surrounding the Danish isles (see the Codanus sinus):

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:On the bay are the Cimbri and the Teutoni; farther on, the farthest people of Germania, the Hermiones.

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Mela then begins to speak of the Scythians.

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Pliny's Natural History (4.100) claims that the Irminones include the Suebi, Hermunduri, Chatti,

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and Cherusci.

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In Nennius the name Mannus and his three sons appear in corrupted form, the ancestor of the Irminones appearing as Armenon. His sons here are Gothus, Valagothus/Balagothus, Cibidus, Burgundus, and Longobardus from whence come the Goths, Valagoths/Balagoths, Cibidi, Burgundians and Lombards.

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They may have differentiated into the tribes Alamanni, Hermunduri, Marcomanni, Quadi, Suebi) circa 10 CE. At this time the Suebi, Marcomanni and Quadi had moved southwest into the area of modern day Bavaria and Swabia. In 8 BCE, the Marcomanni and Quadi drove the Boii out of Bohemia.

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The term Suebi is usually applied to all the groups that moved into this area, though later in history (ca. 200 CE) the term Alamanni (meaning "all-men") became more commonly applied to the group. This became the basis for the French name for Germany and the Germans.

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Tacitus: Publius or Gaius Cornelius Tacitus (ca. 56–ca. 117), Roman orator, lawyer, and senator, is considered one of antiquity's greatest historians. His major works—the Annals and the Histories—took for their subject the history of the Roman Empire's first century, from the ascension of t...

Germania: German?a or jerigonza is the term used in Spanish to refer to the argot used by criminals or in jails. Its purpose is to keep outsiders out of the conversation....

Mannus: Mannus, son of Tuisto was a mythological character from whom a number of Germanic tribes were descended. Tacitus (Germania, chapter 2) explicitly mentions the names of these Germanic tribes, claiming descent from Mannus:...