I. GOMER, the son of Japheth, was father to the people of Galatia, according to Josephus. The ancient inhabitants of this country were called Gomares, before the Galatians made themselves masters of it. The Chaldee places Gomer in Africk; Bochart, in Phrygia; because Phrygia in Greek has the same signification, viz. a Coal, as Gomer in Hebrew and Syriac. We are of opinion, that the ancient Cimbri or Cimmerians sprung from Gomer. See our Comment upon Genesis x. 2.
It is very probable, that Gomer, or rather the Gomerites his descendants, not only peopled the country of the Cimbri or CimmeriansJoseph. Euseb. Zonar. Isidor. Cluver. Germ. Cambden., but likewise Germany and Gaul; the name of German is not very different from Gomerim. The Gauls, or Galatians, or Celtæ, were derived, they say, from Aschenez, the eldest son of Noah; but Cluver pretends, that the ancient Celtica comprehended Illyria, Germany, Gaul, Spain, and c. 5, 6, 7. Hosea i. 1, 2, &c.the British Isles. His reason for this assertion, is, that all these people anciently spoke the same language. He further supposes, that Gomer, or his family, peopled the countries which lie in Asia between the Paropamisus and the Mountain Imaüs, and between the confluence of the Oxus and the Oby; that from thence these people are called Gomares by Ptolemy, l. 6. c. 17. and Mela, l. 1. c. 2.