They are mentioned as Gabalos or Gabalis by Caesar (mid-1st c. BC),[1] as Gabalei͂s (Γαβαλεῖς) by Strabo (early 1st c. AD),[2] as Gabales by Pliny (1st c. AD),[3] and as Tábaloi (Τάβαλοι) by Ptolemy (2nd c. AD).[4][5]
The ethnonymGabali is a Latinized form of Gaulish *Gabloi. It derives from the stem gablo- (cf. Olr.gabul, Middle Welshgafl, OBret.gabl), initially designating the 'forked branch of a tree', then more generally a 'fork'. The name is related to the Gallo-Latin *gabalottus ('spear'), which may have given the word javelot in French.[6][7]
The city of Javols, attested ca. 400 AD as civitas Gabalum ('civitas of the Gabali', Javols in 1109), and the Gévaudan region, attested in the 1st c. AD as Gabalicus pagus (Gavuldanum in the 10th c., Gavalda in the 13th c.), are named after the Gallic tribe.[8]
Geography
The Gabali dwelled in the Gévaudan region, on the north-western foot of the Cevennes. Their territory was located south of the Arveni, and north of the Ruteni.[9]
Their chief town was Anderitum (present-day Javols).[9]
Delamarre, Xavier (2003). Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise: Une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental. Errance. ISBN9782877723695.
Falileyev, Alexander (2010). Dictionary of Continental Celtic Place-names: A Celtic Companion to the Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. CMCS. ISBN978-0955718236.