Note 66 — LECTURE IV. THE EURAFRICAN RACE; SOUTH MEDITERRANEAN BRANCH.
Reading edition
Early in this century, Bory de St. Vincent maintained the identity of the Iberians and Berbers (Essai Geologique, Paris, 1805). Humboldt argued that there was but one language in old Spain beside the Celtic, in spite of the direct assertion of Strabo to the contrary, and the well-known fact that many Celtiberic inscriptions cannot be read either in Celtic or Basque (Prüfung der Untersuchungen, etc., § 39).
The Roman geographer, Rufus Festus Avienus, offers the important correction that the Iberi derived their name, not from the Ebro, as is usually stated, but from a stream close to Gibraltar on the Atlantic side.
“At Iberus inde manat amnis et locos Fœcundat undã: plurimi ex ipso ferunt Dictos Iberos, non ab illo flumine Quod inquietos Vasconas prælabitur.” —Ora Maritima.
The two names show that it was a nomen gentile, and that the tribe so known extended along the southern coast.
It has been recently asserted that many north African place-names occur in Spain (Revista de Anthropologia, Madrid, 1876, quoted by Fligier).