Some think their ancestors were early ‘Q-Celtic’ speakers from Gaul who migrated to the peninsula around the mid-6th century BC, arriving at about the same time as the powerful Vaccaei people of the western Meseta. This led some modern historians to state that the Arevaci were actually an offshoot of the latter, thus their tribal name which means ‘Are-Vaccei’ or ‘eastern’ Vacceians. However, an alternative etymology is given by the Roman geographer Pliny the elder who calls them "Celtiberi Arevaci", adding that they borrowed their name from the river "Areva" (Araviana) and thus their designation could be translated as ‘those who dwell at the Areva’ or ‘on the Areva’.