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Silingi
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The Silings or Silingi (Latin: Silingae, Greek S?????a? - Silingai) were an East Germanic tribe, probably part of the larger Vandal group. According to most scholars, the Silingi lived in Silesia , the term "Silesia" itself perhaps being derived from "Silingi" - the nearby river was named Silingula after the Silingi. The river's name was borrowed by Slavs after their invasion in the 6th century A.D.
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The Silings or Silingi (Latin: Silingae, Greek S?????a? - Silingai) were an East Germanic tribe, probably part of the larger Vandal group. According to most scholars, the Silingi lived in Silesia , the term "Silesia" itself perhaps being derived from "Silingi" - the nearby river was named Silingula after the Silingi. The river's name was borrowed by Slavs after their invasion in the 6th century A.D. as S?leža or S?ledza>S?leza (from Silingja or Silinga ) - today Sleza. The Slavic tribe that lived near the S?ledza (or S?leža) river was named S?ledz-jane which later evolved into S?ležane, then the Modern Polish Slezanie. The land of S?ležane was named S?lež?sko, which evolved into Old Polish Slazsko, now Modern Polish Slask, Czech Slezsko, Latin Silesia, West-Germanic-Proto-Old High German Slesia, Modern High German Schlesien.
Tacitus in his desciption of Magna Germania mentions Suevi: Marsigni, Osi, Gothini, Burii in what later became Prussian Silesia and Burgundiones and Lygii at the Vistula.
During the reign of Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, (A.D. 161 - 180) the Silingi lived in the "Vandal mountains", later part of the former Sudetenland which now is part of the Czech Republic.
Claudius Ptolemaeus wrote that they had lived south of the Suebi-Semnone tribe. The Silingi were part of the migratory movements of the Vandals, into the Iberian peninsula and later on to North Africa.
The region Silesia
The name of the territory Silesia is assumed to either derive from the river or the montain now called the Sleza River or Mount Sleza. The hill was a religious center of the Silingi, and derives its name from them.
The hill that was the Silingi religious grove and which possibly lent the entire region the name Silesia, is situated south-south-east of modern day Wroclaw (Breslau).
The Silingi lived north of the Carpathian Mountains, in what now is Silesia, the name of which can be traced back to the Silingi from the regional name "Schlesien" through intermediate Slavic forms.
The Silingi could have been the earliest known inhabitants of Silesia, however they moved westwards by the 5th century. Any remaining Silingi were then most likely slowly replaced in the sixth century by a trickle of Slavic populations ("people of the plain").
With the exception of Upper Silesia, minor Germanic groups settled the area in the 10th century, but Silesia was conquered by the Dukes Mieszko I and Boleslaw I (Polish kingdom) just before the year 1000, although Germans continued to move there also under Polish rule. .The dukes Mieszko and Boleslaw held liens from the Holy Roman Empire).
See also
Ancient sources
Claudius Ptolemaeus, 'Geography' wrote:
Back below the Semnones the Silingae have their seat ... and below the Silingae the Calucones and the Camavi up to Mt. Melibocus, from whom to the east near the Albis river and above them, below Mt. Asciburgius, the Corconti
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