The
Nemetes (; ), by modern authors sometimes called
Nemeti, were an ancient
Germanic tribe living by the
Rhine where
Ariovistus had led them, the
Suebi and other allied
Germanic peoples in the second quarter of the 1st century BC. The Roman name for
Speyer,
Noviomagus Nemetum, reflects this city's status as the Nemetes' tribal capital. According to
Tacitus, they were "unquestionably Germanic". The name of the tribe, however, is
Celtic as the name of its main town
Noviomagus meaning
noviios 'new' and
magos 'plain', 'market' (cf. Old Irish
mag 'plain'), as are those of a number of gods worshipped in their territory, including
Nemetona, who is thought to have been their eponymous deity. Both of these names derive from the Celtic root
nemeto-, referring to sacred spaces.