The origins of Venables name

The relation of the Yew to the name Venables:

It is the name of a part of the municipal territory which is inside a natural perimeter formed by the ravine of Gournay, the Fausse Louvel. It is in this perimeter that we find the oldest human settlements which occurred between the Middle Paleolithic (-40,000 years) until the Roman occupation of Gaul. Throughout this period we see traces of temporary occupations left by the passage of Neanderthals until the Neolithic. At the end of the Neolithic period, we witness the installation of Protoceltic peoples who will abandon the plateau to settle in an occupation of the terraces close to the river which is reformed thanks to the warming during this period. The mastery of metallurgy will be at the origin of the first large, intense and complex economic exchanges based on production and distribution covering vast territories. These exchanges favored the first great migrations of populations from central Europe in the 8th and 7th century BC. These so-called Celtic populations (keltoi) for Greek authors and “Galli” by Latin authors. In the 4th and 3rd century BC, there was a second migration of tribes from the Tene period who went achieve a partial sedentarization of the population both in the Seine valley and mainly on the belvedere. These Celtic migrations are based on a princely and warlike aristocracy without political unity. Yew plays an important role in cosmology and in Celto-Gallic religion. A symbol of the horse, the boar and the yew represented on the gossip [1] which one finds on the municipal territory.

[1] Gaulish gossip is cast, not minted, bronze coins.

The Celto / Gaulish influence of the name Venables

In the 2nd century BC, the people of Aulerci-Eburovices [1] "those who conquer by the yew [2]" from the Germanic people of Aulerci will settle mainly on the whole of the territory of the current department of the Eure. Their resorts in the town will be mainly in the perimeter described above as shown by traces of a set of Celto-Gauloise occupation on a site of a hamlet of the town located on the axis of a Celtic road between two large civitas which connects Evreux and the Andelys. For several decades, historical and archaeological studies have undergone considerable development and give us a better overview of the constitution of the first Gallic village territorial structures. These sites will be made up of small farms of free peasants on small units called "Vici" or live in complete autarky of family clans with restricted communication and exchanges. It is from the installation of his tribal clans of Aulerci-Eburovices and with their culture and religious symbols will certainly influence the first terminology and the future name of "Venables" and its motto.

Latin etymology study:

Aulerci: "Those who are" Far from their tracks. This term expresses the idea of separation or estrangement from a people who establish themselves far from their origins [3].

Eburo: Two meanings are given to designate an animal "the boar" or a tree "the yew" [4] which are the symbols of their belief in nature. The yew by its longevity and its robustness was reserved for the realization of weapons or tools.

Vice: The term has been brought closer to the Latin vincere (vincō, vīcī) to conquer, to fight [5].

This etymology gives two symbols:

The hunt: Those who defeat the wild boar with the spear cut in the wood of Yew
The war: Those who win with the spear cut in the wood of Yew

The current motto “Venabulis Vinco” “Conquer by the Spear”. The second symbolism is the most plausible form of its origin. It is related to the designation of a portion of the municipal territory “Les Ifs”. A place where we find the oldest traces of settlements during the Celto-Gauloise period.

[1] Auguste le Prévot: History of the department and the municipalities of Eure volume 1

[2] The yew was a sacred tree for the Aulerci-Eburovices.

[3] Xavier Delamarre: Dictionary of the Gallic language

[4] Auguste Le Prévost: memory and historical and archaeological notice of the Eure department

[5] Jacques Lacroix: Names of Gallic origin - the Gauls of combats.

The Celto / Gauloise symbolism of the yew

The yew is a tree which grew in Celtic times in dense forests. They thought that the yew was descended from the God of death. They chose the yew to represent this reality because they had already noticed the extreme longevity, even their capacity by the rejections of their roots to perpetuate themselves eternally. Yew plays an important role in cosmology and in Celto-Gallic religion. Our ancestors showed him great respect, the Yew was a sacred tree symbol of the link between earth and sky. He occupied an important place in various mythologies, and participated in a large number of legends and popular traditions convinced of the existence of life in the hereafter and therefore of the immortality of the soul. The Celts had a very "natural" view of eternal life, inspired by the infinite cycles they could observe around them: the rebirth of nature in spring, after its death in late autumn, the flow and the ebb of water, the perpetual movement of the stars in the sky… Eternal disappearance, eternal recommencement. Unlike other sacred trees, yews had unique symbolic meaning and were not meant to personalize a deity. Our ancestors very quickly realized that the yew had very interesting qualities, its red wood, of a very high quality, had many uses, and allowed, thanks to its flexibility, the manufacture of long-range bows and the manufacture of arrows which were coated with the decoction of the juice of the crushed desiccated leaves [1] Its fibrous bark, was also used to make fairly coarse fabrics.

The Gallo / Roman origin of the name Venables

During the conquest of Gaul, the Romans scarcely dared to venture into the dark yew forests. The Romans, with their vision of imposing a new civilization and religion, razed the forests of yew and literally drove it from conquered spaces as it was associated with the cult of the occupied, The Romans laid the foundation stones for rejecting the beliefs of nature that were in place in the occupied land. The Celto-Gauls worshiped many deities who were originally gods of vegetation, of war and at the same time tutelary (protective) deities. To impose their civilization and show their determination on the municipal territory, the Romans will establish a Pars Urbana of around five hectares on the ancient sacred Druidic sites and bury their dead in the same cemeteries. They will ostensibly separate humans from other species (these other species becoming this “Nature”). But if the Latin language will impose a new etymology, the Celto / Gaulish symbols will continue.

[1] the Gauls, then the Romans poisoned their arrows with it. Julius Caesar (-100 to -44) reports in Commentaries on the Gallic Wars (Book V, chapters 24 and 26, Book VI, chapter 31) that the king of the Eburones, Catuvolcos, who occupied part of present-day Belgium, s 'poisoned with yew in 53 BC. J.-C.

Latin influences

The Latin language will evolve the primary etymology of the name in different forms including the following etymologies:

VENABELEN by the word VEN designates a mountain and BELENOS God of Celtic Gallic mythology associated with light and sun

VENATIO Fight between or against wild animals in circus games or designate a hunting ground.

VENERIS Temple dedicated to Venus.

VENA (Venae) designates a vein (metal vein, stream of water).

VENABULUM designates a hunter's spear [1]

1st century BC name used by Cicero

Species of half-pike, of which the narrow very broad blade; this is why Virgil said: lato venabula ferro; it was used to hunt wild beasts.

In the 13th century, the administrative and military center of the village was called VENABLIS and VENABULA.

The IF

yew belongs to the taxaceae botanical family. These species are already present at the beginning of the Tertiary era, and fossilized footprints even suggest that they already existed in the Triassic (200 million years). It is a resinous, but it has no resin. It is a conifer, but without a cone. It is a tree with highly toxic wood. The only condition is not to consume its seeds (red) and its leaves (dark green) in decoction which contains the taxine[1] highly toxic substance for all causing cardiac arrests. Seen from the outside, its growth is very slow (30 cm in height and 2 mm in diameter per year) and quite chaotic. It is easy to carve which can also help to recognize it. Specimens stand out from the norm by their exceptional longevity. They can reach several hundred years, a height of about 15 to 20m and a circumference of 5 to 10m. Seen from the inside, the sap of the yew passes under the bark and not in the trunk. Because of its longevity and its evergreen character, an ancient belief associated the yew with immortality. He holds a special place in the Celtic-Gallic calendar which dedicated him a particular worship.

When the Romans invaded Gaul, they massively destroyed this tree, wanting to cut down one of the symbols of religious life in Gaul to impose their own. It was gradually driven out of agricultural areas and in particular hedgerows, to find a privileged place in places such as cemeteries where normally the animals did not come to graze. History will do the rest to arrive at the name used for our "Venable" days.

[1] The taxine remains active after cooking, drying or storing the plant. The leaves are the parts of the yew that contain the most. The taxine content rises as the season progresses. It seems at its peak on the withered foliage. Taxine is also found in the seeds which must be chewed to release the poison.