Since discussing Huddersfield as a possible location for
the Mount Damen battle of Uther, I’ve had reason to reconsider my
identification. The reason? As always, new information has come to my
attention. The following is from Mike
Ashley’s THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF KING ARTHUR:
The actual passage reads: “ad montem Damen, id est Wingates, super caput Chochem.” [See https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.medievalacademy.org/resource/resmgr/maa_books_online/hammer_0057.htm.]
The problem arises with the identification of the monk's fix
for the site with that of a place in Northumberland. As it happens, he is precisely locating Damen
at Damems. How?
We need only look at the map:
Madoc’s ‘Wingates’ is Whins Wood directly across the river
from Damems. Doubtless the ‘gates’ came
about because wood in Welsh was coet. As
an example we can cite Bathgate in West Lothian, which stands for “Baedd-coed”
or Boar Wood. Chochem is not for the
Coquet River, but for the Keigh- of Keighley, found as Chichelai in the Domesday
Book, with early forms of Kikeleia, Kikhele, Kye Leya, Kyghele. This is for a Cyhha’s Leah, with Cyhha beinf related to OE Cohha. As in Welsh /-y-/ could stand for o, ‘Chochem’
is readily explained as an attempt at this OE personal name.
So at least as far as Madoc was concerned, Geoffrey of
Monmouth’s Damen = Damems.[1]
The Welsh translation of Geoffrey has here instead ‘Mynydd
Danned’, the Mountain of Teeth (or Toothed Mountain). This is a descriptive name based on Geoffrey’s
claim that Damen’s summit was composed in part of jagged rocks. As such, it could fit any tooth-like rock outcrop and cannot now be identified.
[1]
As a caution, we should note that Damems is only recorded quite late. The following is from Dr. Richard Coates of The English Place-Name Society -
PN WRY 6, p. 5:
Damems 1620, 1649
Dammemes 1622
Damens 1643
Damends 1724
[1]
As a caution, we should note that Damems is only recorded quite late. The following is from Dr. Richard Coates of The English Place-Name Society -
PN WRY 6, p. 5:
Damems 1620, 1649
Dammemes 1622
Damens 1643
Damends 1724
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