Nomads, generic name given to various peoples who had no fixed residence and who perpetually changed location in search of new pastures. Thus this word does not designate one particular people, but rather the lifestyle of such people; this is what made the ancient writers speak of Arab nomads , Scythian nomads , Numidian nomads , etc. It is probable that these peoples were thus called permutandis pabulis [forage changing] due to this changing of pastures (in Greek, vòμη). In fact, in the Parma edition of Pliny, one reads permutandis papilionibus [tent changing]; but this rendering would be acceptable because in ancient times tents for lodging in the country and at war were called papiliones ; from which the French forged their word pavillon .