The Paemani (also Poemani or Caemani) were a small Belgic-Germanic tribe dwelling in Gallia Belgica during the Iron Age.
[3] The name appears as Caemani in Caesar's accounts (mid-1st c. BC); the variant Paemani (or Paemanes) is also attested in manuscripts.
[1] Alternatively, scholar Peter E. Busse has proposed to interpret the forms as Q-Celtic/P-Celtic equivalents: "that Caesar wrote Q-Celtic Caemanes, with C- rather than expected Qu-, is easily explained either as a mishearing or as the result of learning the name from P-Celtic intermediaries who had no kw in their own language.
It appears to be an archaic formation, having preserved the initial p-, which has normally been lost in 'Q-Celtic languages' such as Gaulish and Old Brittonic.
[6] The Paemani dwelled in the northern part of the Ardennes and Eifel region, between the Rhône and the Meuse river, near the Caerosi in the south, the Eburones in the north, and the Tungri and Atuatuci in the west.