Subject: The Meaning of "Morin"
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1998 00:04:07 EDT
From: Blithian@aol.com
To: bmorren@newnorth.net

Brian;
I know of at least three variations on Morin.... Morino, Morini, and possibly Moran. The name is Belgic Gaul in origin and is derived from the Celtic word "mor" for the sea. It's the same as Latin "mare" and modern French "mer." The name refers to a people who live near the sea.
The earliest reference to the people called Morin is in Julius Caesar's Conquesti di Gauli... circa 60 b.c. They lived in the part of Europe closest to Britain... NW France, SW Belgium. Caesar uses the Latin plural when referring to them "morini." It took his legions three years to conquer them and their allies before he could even begin to invade Britain, which was his objective.
Caesar says they came against him with 30,000 warriors; if true, we could estimate the total number of the people at more like 90,000 at the time. Although he refers to them as a "tribe," I should point out that they lived in cities and villages protected by hill-forts. They were civilized enough to have produced their own gold coins, so they were more than just farmers. One early hill-fort city was called "Tremorin," ("tre=city) and the legendary architect of King Arthur's Camelot in some legends was called "Tremorinus."
Some books say the name Morin is Scottish, or other absurdities. The fact is, there are even today more Morins in NW France than anywhere else, and more Morins in Quebec and northern New England than anywhere else in North America! Please feel free to send this to anyone you wish as long as you don't charge them for copies.
Aloha..............
John Bliven Morin (retired prehistorian)

p.s. Later, as they became Romanized, many Morins became Legionnaires themselves, spreading the name to Italy, Spain, etc.

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