Cunobelinus

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A historical Celtic king known for ruling the Catuvellauni tribe in ancient Britain during the early first century; a notable leader whose reign is associated with pre-Roman British history; recognized in archaeological and historical records for his influence before Roman conquest
2. An ancient figure who held dominion over a British tribe before the Roman occupation; remembered as a significant pre-Roman monarch in Britain; identified primarily through inscriptions and later historical accounts
3. A prominent leader from Iron Age Britain associated with the Catuvellauni people; regarded as a key historical personality in the period preceding Roman rule; known through numismatic and literary evidence as a Celtic king

Etymology: Cunobelinus, known to later Britons as Cymbeline, ruled over the Catuvellauni from roughly AD 9 to 40, and his name survives partly because Shakespeare borrowed it for the title character of his play "Cymbeline." The Latin form is a Romanized spelling of a Brittonic name built from "cuno-," meaning "hound" or "high," and "belinus," the name of the Celtic god Belenus, so the name roughly means "hound of Belenus" or "the strength of Belenus." The Romans wrote it on coins and in the historian Suetonius's account, which is where we get the Latin spelling. Those coins are the best physical evidence for his reign. Many gold and silver issues bear the inscription "CVNO" or "CVNOBELINVS" together with designs in the Iron Age style, and they show the Catuvellauni controlling a large part of southeast Britain, with a mint at Camulodunum (modern Colchester), which later became the first Roman capital in Britain. His influence was so great that Roman writers described him as "rex Britannorum," king of the Britons, though this title was probably a flourish rather than a precise political fact.

Synonyms: Cunobelin