|
Prehistoric people
moved little from the area they inhabited, therefore, if it was a seacoast,
they called the sea without any specific name, just ¡°the sea¡±. In later
times, when people realized that their sea was not the only one, did
they begin to give specific names to seas.
The ancient Greek scholar Strabon, who lived between 60 B.C. and 20
A.D., referred to the sea as Okeanos, the ocean surrounding the known
world. Publius Comrnelius Tacitus(cca 55-117 A.D.) gave a brief description
of the geography, ethnography and society of German lands and people
in his work ¡°Germania¡±(1). In its first chapter he writes that the River
Rhenus(Rhine) flows into the Northern Ocean(Oceanus Septenttrionalis).
Thereafter he only refers to ¡°the ocean¡±. In Chapter 2. he adds that
the name ¡°Germania¡± is rather new, as those who first crossed the Rhenus
and drove the Gauls away were called Germans.
Apart from these the earliest mentioning I know of the sea is Pliny
Jr.(¡°Germanicum Mare¡±) and of course Ptolemy(¡°Germanikos Okeanos¡±).
They date from the 1st and 2nd centuries A.D. respectively(2).
Abraham Ortelius¡¯historical atlas, called Parergon (1594), does not
confirm Pliny¡¯s use of Germanieum-Mare. ¡ªlt states, that he used the
names ¡°Oceanus Septenttrionalis¡± and ¡°Oceanus Britannicus¡±.
|
