The Daner were an ancient North germanic tribe residing in modern day southern Sweden and on the Danish islands. They were not mentioned by Tacitus, whose famous work Germania mentions the Gothones (Goths and/or Gotlanders?) and the Suiones (Swedes). They seem to be, however, mentioned by Jordanes, as the Dani, and also by Procopius.
The name Daner is the etymological root of Dane. Jordanes maintains that the Dani were of the same stock as the Suetidi (Swedes, Suithiod?) and expelled the Heruli and took their lands. If Tacitus simply did not overlook the Dani, and if Jordanes's information was correct, it is possible that they first appeared, as an off-shoot of the Suiones, sometime in the 2nd or 3rd century A.D. According to Sven Aggesen this would have been about the time that King Dan the Proud, gave his name to the Danes. North Germanic tribes are the Germanic tribes that left Scandinavia late on the second phase of the migration period, that took place between AD 500 and 900, and those whose people are still there nowadays. ... Gaius Cornelius Tacitus Publius (or Gaius) Cornelius Tacitus (c. ... Map of the Roman Empire and Germania Magna in the early 2nd century, with the location of some Germanic tribes as described by Tacitus. ... Invasion of the Goths: a late 19th century painting by O. Fritsche, is a highly romanticized portrait of the Goths as cavalrymen. ... Gotlanders are the people of Gotland. ... Sweden in the 12th century before the incorporation of Finland during the 13th century. ... Procopius (in Greek Προκόπιος, c. ... Svitjod or SvíÞjóð, is an ancient name for Sweden. ... The Heruli (spelled variously in Latin and Greek) were a nomadic Germanic people, who were subjugated by the Ostrogoths, Huns, and Byzantines in the 3rd to 5th centuries. ... Sweden in the 12th century before the incorporation of Finland during the 13th century. ... The 2nd century is the period from 101 - 200 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian Era. ... // Overview Events 212: Constitutio Antoniniana grants citizenship to all free Roman men 212-216: Baths of Caracalla 230-232: Sassanid dynasty of Persia launches a war to reconquer lost lands in the Roman east 235-284: Crisis of the Third Century shakes Roman Empire 250-538: Kofun era, the first... Svend Aagesen (or Sven; also known as Aggessøn, Aggesøn or Aggesen; the most correct name is probably Sven Aggesen, in Latin Sveno Aggonis; born somewhere around 1140-1150, death unknown) is most famous, in Denmark at least, for making one of the first attempts to write a coherent... Dan is the name of one or more legendary kings of the Danes in medieval Scandinavian texts. ...

The name "Dan" could derive from the tribe of Dan, which was one of the lost 10 tribes of Israel. The tribe of Dan was a seafaring and exploratory people. Biblical accounts say that this tribe would leave a serpent's trail behind it in its migrations. These people, along with 9 other tribes of ancient Israel were taken into captivity by the Assyrians (who might well be the ancestors of the German people), never to return and finally forgetting their roots. In ancient Hebrew, vowels did not seem to matter. Hence, "Dan" could be spelled "Don," "Din," "Dun," or "Den." Consider "Danube," "Dunkirk," Denmark" and "Donovan," "Danby," "Dane," etc. This fact can also help explain the similarities between the languages of Germany, England, and the Scandinavian countries, since all these people can trace their roots to ancient Assyria. ^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Danes
• Northmen
• Normans
• Norsemen
• Norse
• Rus'
• Varangians
• Vikings