Can We Justify Ignoring Illtud as Uther Pendragon in Favor of Sawyl Benisel?: Asking Some Hard Questions About Arthur's Origin

Durocornovium and Vicinity

Not long ago I wrote this piece -

https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2023/02/sawyl-benisel-as-father-of-arthur-my.html

- in which I decided to fix on Sawyl Benisel of the North as Arthur's real father.  However, in doing so, I had to, essentially, ignore what seemed a very good identification of Uther as St. Illtud.  And Illtud not only appeared attractive given his certain identification with Uther Pendragon, but because of his apparent connection with the Kingdom of Ercing and, through that entity, with Badbury Castle at Liddington and Durocornovium, the Fort of the Cornovii:

https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2023/01/illtuds-father-bicanus-and-his-llydaw.html

My reasons for ultimately choosing Sawyl were obvious.  It allowed me to settle on a Northern candidate for Uther, which seemed to better fit the battle geography, and it allowed me to rather easily account for the transmission of the name Arthur from the Roman period to the Dark Ages. But as always seems to be the case when dealing with a speculative argument for a historical Arthur, opting for Sawyl Benisel left some rather uncomfortable questions unanswered.

Chief among these (and the one that bothers me the most), is the almost certain identification in the HISTORIA BRITTONUM of the Second Battle of Badon with the Liddington Badbury site:

https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-second-battle-of-badon.html

While the HB has itself been pretty thoroughly discredited as reliable source material, it does date from the 9th century.  On the other hand, the identification of Badon with Buxton, found in the MABINOGION tale 'The Dream of Rhonabwy', is quite late - probably the 13th century.  Yet, ultimately, I used Buxton because it fit in much better with an Arthur whose birthplace was Ribchester.

There are some other less obvious problems with the Northern Arthur when it comes to the battle list of the HB.  For example, although the early Welsh poem the 'Pa Gur' firmly locates Tryfrwyd/Tribruit in the far North (at Queensferry, to be previse), the fact that it is a translation of Latin Trajectus could conceivably point to Bitton in Somerset, a place actually known by that name in the Roman period.  Some of the other battles can also be placed in the south - with some ingenuity.  I once had a discussion of the river Bassas with top Celtic linguist Graham Isaac, who had no problem with Bassas being a derivative of the English personal name Bassa.  There is only one known Bassa river in all of Britain, and that is Bassingbourn, the stream of Bassa's people, in Cambridgeshire.  Even the missing Dubglas in Lindsey can be accounted for by allowing for a simple confusion of the Witham in the Glen's Lindsey with the Witham in Essex, where we find the Blackwater. [Although this is a very poor substitute for the Devil's Water at Linnels near the Corbridge fort on Hadrian's Wall.] All of the battles can be placed in the south, in fact, even if doing so seems (to some of us, at least!) less satisfactory.  Some (like Celidon) can only be placed in the south through linguistic manipulation (as in going from one language to another with translations, some of them fanciful), the application of folkloristic principles or by permitting sheer poetic license on the part of the HB author. We also need to be willing to accept that some of the HB Arthurian battles may not have been fought against the English, but instead against other Britons or even the Irish.  

And the need to trace Arthur's name to the Roman period, and specifically to L. Artorius Castus of the North, is a strange obsession, and one we should probably dispense with.  As Roman expert Roger Tomlin has pointed out to me, Artorius was not a rare name at all, and just because we know of one such man who served in Britain does not mean there were not others.  There may, actually, have been several.  We simply don't have a record of their presence.  Were Arthur's name different, although of Latin derivation, and we did not have a figure like Castus available to us, would be waste any time on trying to trace where this particular Latin name came from?  No, of course not.  And we have plenty of examples in the early Welsh genealogies and in Dark Age British (and Irish) inscriptions of personages bearing Latin or Latinized Celtic names.  Do we seek their prototypes or exemplars?  We do not.  

It is no more compelling to try and link a man of the 5th-6th centuries to a 2nd century Roman soldier than it is to suggest that Barbury Castle, the Bear's Fort, near the Liddington Badbury and Durocornovium may have been called such by the English because Arthur belonged there. 

What we do know is this: Uther Pendragon is a title for St. Illtud.  Uther Pendragon is the only father claimed for the famous Arthur.  Are we, then, justified in assuming that Uther/Illtud was wrongly made the father of Arthur simply because he was metaphorically compared with the Biblical Samuel, and that comparison caused Sawyl (the Welsh form of Samuel) Benisel, the rightful father of Arthur, to be displaced in the tradition?

If we go solely by the Welsh tradition, we find Arthur being associated chiefly with two places: Ergyng and Cornwall.  This alone seems inconsistent or contradictory.  But if I am right and Llydaw and Bicanus are for Lydbrook and Bicknor in Ergyng, and these two places in turn are fairly standard relocations for Lidbrook and Bican Dic near Durocornovium at Wanborough, then we can efficiently reconcile the otherwise conflicting locations.  At the same time we settle once and for all the 'Badon Debate', as Liddington Castle becomes, automatically, the sole contender for the honor.  

In Illtud, then, we would have a chieftain who descended from the Dobunni who sought his fortune in southern Wales, eventually becoming head of the household troops of the lord of Dinas Powys.  At some point he was made a saint, but it is clear that for much of his life he was a soldier of some repute.  His son Arthur would have returned to Cernyw, in this case not Cornwall but Wanborough, to fight the Saxons. 

I have elsewhere discussed in great detail the various possible candidates for Camlann, where he perished.  Yes, it is noteworthy that a church of Illtud is found very close to the Afon Gamlan in NW Wales, and this was the traditional Welsh site for Camlann (as I was able to definitively prove).  However, Illtud as Eldad is placed in Gloucester by Geoffrey of Monmouth, and the River Cam emptied into the Severn at Frampton On Severn just downstream from Gloucester. This river surrounded the great Uley hillfort, which had been a stronghold of the Dobunni, and was adjacent to the Uley shrine.  We must bear in mind that the Glywysing (later Morgannwg) where Illtud served as leader of the soldiers derives from the eponym Glywys, itself from a Latin *Glevenses, the people of Glevum or Gloucester.  So, as far as the tradition goes, Illtud being in Penychen in Glywysing may itself be a relocation for a man who was actually stationed originally at Gloucester.  

The River Cam and Uley

LLanelltyd and the Afon Gamlan

So what to do with all this?

On the face of it, I cannot deny the very strong possibility that Uther Pendragon/Illtud was, in truth, Arthur's father.  If he was, the saint's life was clearly a radical revision of that chieftain's military career.  To enhance his holiness, he was made to separate from his wife (a devilish temptation) and was thereby utterly deprived of children.  Any notion that he was the father of Arthur was effectively extinguished. Yet there are any number of purely military figures in the Dark Ages and in the later medieval period who were crafted into saints posthumously, or who only became religious at the end of their lives (sometimes because they were forced to do so by political rivals). Saints' Lives are not history; they are hagiography, replete with miracles and sundry nonsense.  

It would be foolish, then, to accept the Life of St. Illtud at face value.  Instead, we should take it with a boulder of salt. 

Does it follow that we should abandon my Sawyl theory?  Well, there are still things about Sawyl as Arthur's father which are incredibly appealing. At this point, I don't think the argument can convincingly be slanted in Illtud's favor.  Still, I will continue to return to the problem from time to time, hoping for more clarity.  Should I discover such, I will certaintly write about it here.

Otherwise, I stand by my book THE BATTLE-LEADER OF RIBCHESTER, available from Amazon.  for those who wish to read the entire argument for Sawyl as Arthur's father, I highly recommend this title.

https://www.amazon.com/Battle-Leader-Ribchester-Definitive-Identification-Legendary/dp/B085RNKWT6/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3GVSLFPNBFI8K&keywords=the+battle+leader+of+ribchester+august+hunt&qid=1679670838&sprefix=the+battle-leader+of+ribchester%2Caps%2C163&sr=8-1

 

The 'Drws Llech' or 'Door-stone' of Sawyl's Brother, Dunod

TrussGap Brow, Swindale Beck, Cumbria

Dunod Fwr (Bwr), brother of Sawyl, my candidate for the father of the famous Arthur, is associated with five places.  I have dicussed the regio Dunutinga in my book THE BATTLE-LEADER OF RIBCHESTER.  Also treated of in that volume is Erechwydd (= Eamont in Cumbria), a place also associated with Urien of Rheged.  Bran son of Ymellyr[n] is associated with both Dunawt of Dent and Cynwyd of Kent.  Ymellyr is transparently from Old Norse a, river, plus melr, sandbank, identifying his region with Ambleside in Cumbria just to the west of the River Kent. [1]  And, yes, the use of English or Norse names in the context of figures belonging to the sub-Roman or early medieval period is horribly anachronistic.  But this does happen in the heroic poetry, demonstrating pretty obviously that some of the traditions were recorded quite late.  

Not generally mentioned in the context of Dunod's homeland is the fact that he supposedly married the daughter of Lleenog of the Kingdom of Elmet.

Elmet from Koch's CELTIC CULTURE: A HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA

But one place has remained a mystery: Drws Llech.  From P.C. Bartrum's A CLASSICAL WELSH DICTIONARY:

"DUNOD FWR ap PABO POST PRYDYN. (500, d.595). He is mentioned in a triad (TYP no.5) as one of the ‘Three Pillars of Battle’ of Ynys Prydain, and in another triad (TYP no.44) he is mentioned as one of the seven who rode the horse Corfan to view the battle-fog of [the host of] Gwenddoleu at Arderydd. This was in the year 573 (AC). His pedigree is given in HG 11, ByS §12, BGG §4 in EWGT pp.11, 56, 73. The cognomen Fwr, ‘fat’, occurs in TYP no.44 and ByS §12, but becomes Fawr in one late version of BGG §4 and Achau'r Saint §§21, 51 in EWGT pp.70, 71. He was the father of St. Deiniol by Dwywai ferch Lleenog (ByS §12). In the ‘Hoianau’ in the Black Book of Carmarthen he is called Dunaud deinwin, ‘Dunod white teeth’, the father of Deiniol (BBC 56 l.1). In Annales Cambriae s.a.595 we find: Dunaut rex moritur, but MS.B reads: Dunauut filius Pabo obiit. It seems probable that the identification is correct, but it must be supposed that he died at a good age, especially as his son, Deiniol, is recorded as dying in 584. Dunod is mentioned in a poem on the death of Urien in the ‘Llywarch Hen’ Poetry (CLlH III.3). Llywarch Hen is represented as saying: Let savage Unhwch guide me; It was said in Drws Llech, ‘Dunod ap Pabo does not retreat.’ Further on in the same poem it is probably the same person who seems to be described as making war on Owain and Pasgen, sons of Urien: A WELSH CLASSICAL DICTIONARY 236 III.37 Dunod, horseman of the chariot, planned to make a corpse in Yrechwydd against the attack of Owain. III.38 Dunod, lord of the land, planned to make battle in Yrechwydd against the attack of Pasgen. Another poem tells how Llywarch Hen, after the death of Urien, was living in a state of poverty and was advised by a friend to migrate to Powys. The friend says: V.5 Trust not Brân, trust not Dunod. The location of Dunod's family may be represented by the regio Dunutinga, which was presented to the church of Ripon in about 675 (Eddius's Life of Wilfrid, Ch.17). It is associated with the Ribble and other places in the north of the West Riding (H.M.Chadwick, Early Scotland, p.143 and n.3). The place is represented by modern Dent which is the name of a considerable region surrounding a village known as Dent Town [11 miles West by South of Hawes] (John Morris, The Age of Arthur, 1973, p.573). Dunod's bard was perhaps Cywryd (q.v.). FICTIONS Geoffrey of Monmouth included Dunod ap Pabo among the princes who were present at Arthur's coronation (HRB IX.12), similarly Brut y Brenhinedd. Two other sons of Dunod Fwr are mentioned in the Iolo MSS. p.126, namely Cynwyl and Gwarthan. For the origin of these fictions, see s.n. Gwarthan." 

Ifor Williams, the editor of the Llywarch Hen poetry, has this on Drws Llech: 

3b drws llech. Enw rhyw fwlch yn y mynyddoedd Ile bu brwydro ? [Translation: "The name of a gap in the mountains where there was a battle?"] Ar llech gw. P.K.M. 303 ; drws, cf. Drws y

Coed, y bwlch rhwng Rhyd Ddu a Nantlle : Drws y Nant,

ger Dolgellau : Bwlch Oerddrws, rhwng Dolgellau a Mallwyd ; (Llywelyn ap Gruffudd), M.A. 240a. Nyt oet hawt y dreissyaw ger drws deuvynyt ; E. Ll. 24.

Thus he believed that the place was a bwlch/fwlch, a pass or defile.  And this is despite the fact that the primary meaning of drws is 'door.'

Llech presents us with a bit of a problem, for it is not a generic term for stone or rock. Here is the word's definition in the GPC:

slate (in geol.); roofing-slate; writing-slate; bakestone, griddle; (rectangular) slab of stone, flooring- or paving-stone, flag-(stone); gravestone; rock, boulder, cliff.

A llech, therefore, is in all likelihood going to be a flattened, rectangular, slab-like stone - in other words, a stone specifically shaped like a door.  

Alan James had some interesting information to impart on the geology of the Yorkshire and Cumbria mountainous terrain, and also kindly commented on some my ideas for Drws Llech:

"Drws llech is an anomalous formation - is it a loose compound, 'door-slab'? Or a phrasal one, 'door/pass with a slab'? We'd expect *drws y lech for the latter.  Llech is ‘A slab, a slate, a flat stone’, in place-names also 'a shelf of rock' - see BLITON.

Lech is indeed used for grave-slabs - horizontal in medieval times, upright gravestones later, and by metonymy for 'a grave'. I think your idea that the name might have referred to some prehistoric structure is a good one, though I don't think Cumbric speakers would necessarily have recognised that some of them were remains of 'graves'. The fact that llech doesn't have a plural inflection may not rule out a 'door' with a pair of slabs, the modern plural forms, llechau, llechi, are analogous formations, probably not used in Cumbric.

Your point about limestone pavements is a good one too. Such 'door-like' passes as I can think of in the Pennines, Yorkshire Dales and Peak District are almost all on limestone - not necessarily with pavements, but characteristically bedded with large slabs. In the Lakeland fells, more typically igneous rocks, with slate slabs.

There aren't many 'door-like' passes through the Pennines, or the Cheviots. 'Doors' with 'slabs' are more typical of the Lakeland fells. 

I think drws implies a fairly narrow gap between high, rocky sides. The distribution of llech reflects geology, much more likely in places where there are bedded layers that weather or break easily into flattish slabs."

https://getoutside.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/guides/the-welsh-origins-of-place-names-in-britain/ has for drws:

gap, narrow pass

James at https://historicplacenames.rcahmw.gov.uk/ adds that drws in the Welsh landscape means

"Technically, drws means the opening itself, the slab of wood on hinges with which you close the opening is a dôr, so the term also applies to physical features."

In https://spns.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Alan_James_Brittonic_Language_in_the_Old_North_BLITON_Volume_II_Dictionary_2019_Edition.pdf, a Truss Gap in Cumbria is listed:

drus (m)

IE *dhwōr- (ō-grade of *dhwer- 'pierce') + -est- > eCelt *durestu- > Br *drustu- > OW drus > MMnW drws, cf. MCorn darat > Corn daras; O-MnIr, G dorus, Mx dorrys; ?cf. Lat foras 'out of

doors', fores 'double doors'.

The precise history of the Celtic forms is ‘thoroughly obscure’ according to P. Schrijver (quoted

in EGOW at p. 51). They exist alongside the more regular development eCelt *durā- > OW dor >

W dôr, MCorn dor, Bret dor, OIr dor, cogn. Lat foris ‘outside’, OE dor > ‘door’ (also OE duru >

northern ME/ early Scots dure), Gk thúrā-, Skt dvarau, and ‘in all major Indo-European groups’,

OIPrIE §72 at p. 108, and see also DCCPN p. 18.

‘A door, doorway, gate, gateway’. It occurs in later Welsh place-names and in early Modern

Welsh literature in the sense of ‘a narrow gap or pass’, but its presence in earlier Welsh

toponymy is not certain. For Irish and Scottish Gaelic examples, see DUPN p. 59 and PNFif5 p.

356.

Whaley (2001), pp. 77-96, and in DLDPN pp. 348-9, argues for this element in the following, but

see also *trǭs:

a1) Truss Gap Wml (Shap) PNWml2 p. 178, DLDPN p. 349 and plate 2.

a2) Trusmadoor Cmb (Ireby) DLDPN pp. 348-9 and plate 1 (not in PNCmb) + -μa [+ OE –dor

‘door’]. 

As it happens, this Truss Gap is located pretty much exactly between Dentdale and Eamont (Erechwydd).

But even better, there is a Trussgap Brow in this place.  Trussgap is, of course, a tautology (with English gap reproducing the meaning of Cumbric truss/drws).  Brow here is for the crag (see photo at the top of the post), which itself sports cliffs.  I take this for Drws Llech, given that llech could mean a cliff.

Perhaps significantly, the place-name Swindale (according to Victor Watts in his THE CAMBRIDGE DICTIONARY OF ENGLISH PLACE-NAMES) means 'valley where swine are raised.'  This finds it echo in the name of the man associated with Drws Llech in the Llyward Hen poetry - Unhwch.  According to Dr. Simon Rodway of The University of Wales, Unhwch means 'unique pig.'

Alan James' comment on the site?

"GPC gives clogwyn as the last of the senses for llech, though even that word can mean a steep crag. I rather doubt whether llech would have been used in Cumbric for cliffs in general, though it's obvious how the sense could extend by metonymy. And the crags and screes on either side have plenty of slabs still attached or fallen off - see the photo of Gouther Crag for example: there's a huge 'slab' on that edge, and the gap between Gouther and Outlaw Crags might well be a drws."

[1]

From P.C. Bartrum's A CLASSICAL WELSH DICTIONARY:

BRÂN ab YMELLYRN. (Legendary). He is mentioned in a poem on Urien Rheged put into the mouth of Llywarch Hen (CLlH. III.40, p.17 and notes): Brân ab Ymellyrn planned to exile me, and burn my houses: A wolf howling at the door(?)! Another poem tells how, after the death of Urien, Llywarch Hen was living in a state of poverty and was advised by a friend to migrate to Powys. The friend says (CLlH. V.5, p.22 and notes): Trust not Brân, trust not Dunawd; Consort(?) not with them in hardship. Herdsman of calves, go to Llanfawr. Gruffudd Hiraethog found that Brân ab Ymellyrn was identified with Brân Galed (q.v.). In Peniarth MS.176 p.185 he wrote: Kynan ap Bran Galed ap Emellyr ap Kynwyd Kynwydion, a hwnnw oedd Bran Galed yn gynnar ac a elwid wedi hyny Bran Ewerydd. Hen Llyfr Bodeo[n]. 'Bran Ewerydd’ seems to be an attempt to identify the same Brân with Bran mab Ywerit [Brân ab Iwerydd] of a poem in the Black Book of Carmarthen. See s.n. Iwerydd Glyn E.Jones, in BBCS 25 pp.105-112, discusses the possible identification of Brân ab Ymellyrn, Brân [Hen] ap Dyfnwal [Moelmud] (see Dyfnwal Moelmud (2)), and Brân ab Iwerydd, but A WELSH CLASSICAL DICTIONARY -59- comes to no definite conclusion. He points out that a certain Brân was ‘at Cynwyd’ (Bran yg Kynwyt) according to ‘Gwarchan Tudfwlch’ in Canu Aneirin, l.1291. Also in CLlH VII.17 a battle of Cynwyd is mentioned in connection with Pelis, a soldier of Urien Rheged. Brân ab Ymellyrn may be referred to here.  

A TOP CELTIC LANGUAGE SPECIALIST WEIGHS IN ON MY IDENTIFICATION OF SAMLESBURY AS 'SAWYL'S BURG'

Courtesy https://lancashirepast.com/2020/08/08/ribchester-roman-fort-ribchester/

Proximity of Samlesbury to Ribchester

I had long since obtained agreement from the majority of place-name experts on my proposed derivation of the Samlesbury, Lancashire place-name from the Welsh personal name Sawyl.  But, I had neglected to take my case to at least one of the world's most renowned Celtic language scholars.  To redress that oversight, I decided to send the following query to Prof. Dr. Peter Schrijver of Utrecht University.  This man had been very generous in the past when it came to helping me with linguistics problems I encountered during my Arthurian research.  

"Hi, Peter.

Please find attached an entry for a place-name found in Victor Watt's THE CAMBRIDGE DICTIONARY OF ENGLISH PLACE-NAMES.

My question to you is whether you think the first element of this place-name could come from the Welsh (or Cumbric) form of the name Sawyl, at some point in its development from the Latin form of the Biblical Samuel.

Yes, Victor Watts disagrees.  But without meaning to bias you from the outset, place-name experts Alan James, Richard Coates and Andrew Breeze agree with me that some form of Samuel through the Welsh would best account for this place-name.  I have also suggested that there may be good reasons embedded in Welsh tradition to support the idea.  Sawyl Benisel of the North is said to descend from Pabo Post Prydain.  Pabo is here being used as an eponym for the Papcastle Roman fort in Cumbria, which is on Derwent Water.  Samlesbury and its related sites are on the Darwen in Lancashire, an identically named river.  Sawyl's son Asa/Asaph is a well known saint in nearby NE Wales, while his son San[c]ton has a church in extreme southern Cumbria.  All of the other relatives of Sawyl can be easily (and firmly) traced to Cumbria and immediately adjacent territories.  The Irish sources give Sawyl an Irish princess as wife, one hailing from the Dal Fiatach along the coast in NE Ireland.  Indications, therefore, are that Sawu ruled from what had been the Roman period tribal region of the Setantii (or Segantii).

What I haven't done thus far is ask a Welsh/Celtic specialist how we might have ended up with the early forms for Samlesbury, assuming for the sake of argument that the name Samuel is involved.  I'm hoping you can please fill in that gap.  

Yes, I understand all too well that you may disagree with my proposed etymology for Samlesbury, and that's fine.  As always with these kinds of questions, I have my own doubts.  We are dealing with a name in English territory, one that may have been subjected to influence from English, Anglo-Norman and even Norse.

Thank you very much for your help with the issue."

His response:

"That seems quite possible to me. The forms with Sc-, Sh-, Sch- are later and point to a secondary Anglo-Saxonized interpretation. An ancient (i.e. earliest medieval) British or British Latin spelling <Samuel> or <Samel-> would be expected, or a later (say 700-1000 CE) Welsh spelling <Samuil, Samuel>. Hard to say exactly when the name became Sawyl. Old Welsh was still [Savuil], but a spelling <sauuil> may well have been avoided because of double <uu>. Approximately by the 11th century (so Middle Welsh) the -v- may well have been lost. But this is very rough chronology."

As a follow-up, I wanted to make sure and ask Schrijver what he thought of  yet another idea for the etymology of Samlesbury.  Via personal communication with Professor John Insley of Heidelberg, who is responsible for the Lancashire portion of the EPNS, I had the following on a proposed derivation for the place-name:

Schrijver's opinion of that idea?

"It’s a concatenation of unsupported assumptions: diminutive -ula instead of the -ila of Soemel, Seomel, ablaut of the root, arbitrary etymology. Pretty desperate. Maybe he’s unaware of the fact that if he would like to hang on to the connection with OE so:m ‘agreement’ its Celtic counterpart *sa:m- (> Ir. sám ‘peace’) is much closer to the vocalism of Samlesbury…"

That the best etymology for Samlesbury remains 'Sawyl's fort' is vitally important to my Arthurian theory, for I have settled on this particular Dark Age Samuel of the Segantii (not Setantii; see https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2023/02/segantii-not-setantii-deciding-on.html) as the father of the legendary Arthur.  As to how I arrived at this conclusion, my readers are welcome to peruse the many articles here on my blog site.  Better yet, please do consider purchasing my book THE BATTLE-LEADER OF RIBCHESTER, available from Amazon in ebook, paperback and hardcover formats.

https://www.amazon.com/Battle-Leader-Ribchester-Definitive-Identification-Legendary-ebook/dp/B085VQQ43L/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1677690972&sr=8-1

SEGANTII, NOT SETANTII?: DECIDING ON A TRIBAL NAME IN NORTHWEST ENGLAND

River Mersey, the Seteia of Roman Britain

The lot of difficulty has attended scholarly attempts to etymologize Seteia, the Roman period name for the River Mersey.  To date, we do not possess a satisfactory solution to the riddle of this British hydronym.  

What follows is a brief discussion of the current literature on the subject.  

"The suggestion that a deity-name *Sentanā- ‘traveller, wanderer’ might underlie the ethnic name Setantii and the river-name Seteia (PNRB pp. 456-7) requires an improbable grafting of an early Goidelic form *Sēt- onto Brittonic suffixes (Cúchulainn’s given name Sétanta raises similarproblems, see CPNS p. 25, DCM p. 102). An ancient river-name unconnected with the root*sent- seems more likely to underlie these (and any connection between the Setantii and Cúchulainn remains doubtful); but see Breeze (2006b). Seteia was probably the River Mersey,and Portus Setantiorum a site (Meols?) on the Mersey estuary (D. J. Breeze 2017, 5)."

https://spns.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Alan_James_Brittonic_Language_in_the_Old_North_BLITON_Volume_II_Dictionary_2019_Edition.pdf

* A.L.F Rivet & Colin Smith : The Place-names of Roman Britain, p 456-457 : 

Sources : See the nex entry. (voir noms de lieux : Setantorum Portus / Fleetwood, Lancashire)

DERIVATION. This ethnic name is mysterious; there seem to be no British roots visible, and very few analogues anywhere of names in Set-. It is tempting, in view of Ptolemy's variants which show Seg- (Seg-) both for the port-name and the river-name, to suspect some confusion with the Seg- of Segontium, a possibility that occurred to Rhys (1904) 315 with regard to the river, though eventually he seems.to wish to main tain Setantii as a proper form. The strongest argument for so doing is provided by Watson CPNS 25, who points out that the first name of the Irish hero Cuchulainn was Setanta (from an earlier *Setant(os) : 'the Setantii were an ancient British tribe near Liverpool. . . the inference is that Setanta means "a Setantian" and that Cuchulainn was of British origin'. But the relation between these two names has been questioned. There is a full exposition of the problem by Guyonvarc'h in Ogam, XIII, (1961), 587-98, with discussion of views of Mac Neill, Osborne, and others, including Brittonic-Goidelic transferences in both historical and phonetic aspects. The essence of the matter is that it is tempting to see in this name Irish sét ('path'; = British *sento-, for which see CLAUSENTUM), but *-ant- suffix (as in DECANTAE) is Brittonic only, for -nt- does not exist in Goidelic. The name might be based on a divine name *Setantios, not otherwise known, and he in turn might be related etymologically and by sense to the goddess Sentona, perhaps 'wayfarer' (see further TRISANTONA1). Clearly there is an additional problem in reconciling the a/e vowels in these forms (Trisantona, Gaulish Santones) if they are indeed connected. There, for the présent, the matter rests; but it is as well to reiterate that one cannot base too much speculation on forms recorded by Ptolemy alone, particularly when, in numbers, the MSS of his work record attractive variants.

IDENTIFICATION. Presumably a minor tribe, but since they appear only as part of a 'descriptive' name in the coastal list (next entry) and not in their own right in the full list of tribes, they probably formed part of the Brigantian confederacy. If the river name seteia is directly connected with them, they should have stretched along the Lancashire coast from the Mersey to Fleetwood.

Graham Isaac's *sego- [1] was not hard to come by, as we have the following variant spellings for Setantiorum Portus and Seteia:

Segantiorum

Gesantiorum

Segeia

Segeiais

Segeiatis

According to THE DICTIONARY OF CONTINENTAL CELTIC PLACE-NAMES (ed. by Alexander Falileyev), which quotes from G. R. Isaac, Place-Names in Ptolemy’s Geography. CD-ROM. Aberystwyth 2004.:

"Due to the very easy and frequent confusion of tau and gamma in Greek transmission, it is possible that some, or even all, of the apparent instances of set(i)o- are for sego- (as very frequently in names in ms. {Set-} in Hispania, where there are ample other sources to confirm the correctness of the reading {Seg-})."

The same source allows for a possible derivation from seit-:

"But there may also be a genuine base set-, or {se:t-} <*seit-, involved. But if so, I cannot suggest an analysis of it at this time.’"

The only thing I could find on seit- in relation to these Set- place-names is a brief discussion in http://www.asciatopo.altervista.org/narbonensis.html:

Extension: *seit-

Reconstructed from Lithuanian sietuva 'a deep place in the river, pool'

Suffixed full-grade form *seit-i-a in Setia (Latium)

Suffixed full-grade form *seit-i-o in Setius m. (Narbonensis)

Setia

Place: Sezze, province Latina, region Lazio, Italy

Name: Setia (Ptol., Plin., Liv., Dion.)

Etymology: A stem *set- is widely diffused in toponymy. The name has exact counterparts in Setia (Baetica), Setia (Tarraconensis). With different suffixes we have Setovia (Germania), Seterrae (Tarraconensis), etc. An Illyrian Setovia has been explained by [Duridanov] from a *seit-oua, thus from an IE root *seit-. This is not included in Pokorny's dictionary (some Baltic cognate appellatives meaning 'a deep place in the river, pool' are under the root *sei-t- 'to let fall'), but probably is an extension of the huge family *sei-/si- somehow related to waters. This probably is the Pokorny's *sei- 'to be damp, to drip'. The feature *ei>e found in Setia is typically Eastern Italic (Volscan).

Setius m.

Place: Mont Saint Clair (Sète), department Hérault, region Languedoc-Roussillon, France

Name: Setius m. (Ptol., Avien.) Sigius m. (Strab.)

Etymology: A cognate of Setia (Latium), the name derives from the extension *seit- of the IE root *sei- 'to be damp, to drip'. The reason of such a name is that the hill dominates a marshy area (étang de Thau).

Alas, we cannot prove the existence of seit- in Celtic.  We do, however, have plenty of examples of sego- place and personal names.

But if Segeia is the right form of the river-name, in what sense was it applied to the Mersey?  Breeze, whose met- idea for set- (see above) is unacceptable (there is simply no justification for assuming that a word spelled with either a Greek tau or a Greek gamma would have as its original form one starting with mu), complains that the Mersey was a "sluggish river".  

Breeze is not entirely correct in his assertion.  The Mersey has the second largest tidal bore in all of Britain (see http://www.merseyestuary.org/the-tidal-bore.html).  Furthermore, "The Narrows further downstream of the Inner Estuary are characterised by changes in geology ond the Estuary becomes a straight narrow channel with depths of up to 30m even at low water, and fierce tides of up to six knots (http://www.environmentdata.org/archive/ealit:4093/OBJ/20002960.pdf)." "The River Mersey is an extremely dangerous river. The Mersey has the third fastest tidal run in Europe, with the speed of the water reaching 10 knots in places (https://www.bbc.co.uk/liverpool/localhistory/mersey_times/issue_07/about.shtml#:~:text=The%20River%20Mersey%20is%20an,rapid%20death%2C%20often%20within%20minutes)."  

Breeze also contradicts himself, saying right after mentioning the River Seint that sego- is unknown in hydronyms!  Seint itself is from British *Segonti, and it is believed the fort of Segontium was named for the river.  The root of *Segonti is sego-. 

Xavier Delamarre (in Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise: Une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental, 2003) proposes to derive the Belisama (= the River Ribble) name from the Gaulish root belo- ('strong, powerful'), rendering Belesama as 'the Very Strong' (cf. Sanskrit baliṣṭhaḥ 'the strongest').  According to him, cognates stemming from *bʰelH- do not seem to connote 'shining', but rather 'white, grey, pale'.  If he is right, we could have two major rivers in the same tribal region that meant 'strong'.

In response to my discussion of seg- rather than set- for the river-name, noted Brittonic place-name expert Alan James remarked only that "I think both those ideas [Segeia for the Strong One and Belisama for the Very Strong] are quite, well, 'strong' possibilities."

In brief, we might easily refer to the Mersey as 'the Strong or Forceful One', a goddess to pair with Belisama of the Ribble.  She would have given her name to the tribe, who became the people of the Strong One.  

[1]

victory *sego(s)- (?), SEMANTIC CLASS: action, Celtiberian Sego-bris (?); seko ‘victory-fort (?)’, Gaulish Sego- (-maros, dūnon, -briga, etc.) ‘victory’, Early Irish seg (MIr.) ‘strength’, Scottish Gaelic seagh ‘sense, esteem’, Welsh hy ‘bold, brave, undaunted, intrepid, valiant, steadfast, confident, daring; audacious, presumptuous, impudent’,

[English–Proto-Celtic Word-list with attested comparanda, University of Wales]

*sego- 'force' [Noun]

GOlD: Mlr. seg [0 m] (DIL sed, seg) 'strength, heed, interest, an equal'

W: MW hy 'bold, brave' (GPC hy, hyf)

GAUL: Sego-maros [PN], perhaps Segestica [Toponym]

LEP: sexe()u (?) 'Lepontic coin'

CELTIB: Segouia (?) [Toponym], Sekobirikez [Abl. s, Toponym] (A8)

PIE: *segh_ 'hold (by force)' (IEW: 888f.)

COGN: Skt. sahate 'be able, support', Gr. ekhi5 'hold, have', Go. sigis

'victory'

ETYM: Mlr. and Early Molr. seg is sometimes spelled sed (Gen. sg. seda,

seadha). Celtib. asekati (Botorrita I) might reflect *ad-seg- (Eska 1989). W

hoel [m] 'nail, peg, stake' has been derived from the o-grade of the root (?

PCelt. *sogHi), but this is not wholly convincing for semantic reasons. MW

hoen [m and f] 'joy, 'gladness, vigour' could be from *sogno-, but again the

difference in meaning is conspicuous. Finally, Olr. sar [0 m] 'outrage', sar-

'exceeding, excellent' may be related, if we start from PIE *saxsro- < PIE

*sogh-sro- and accept the lengthening of vowels before *xsL (cf. *taxslo-

'axe' < *tok-slo-).

REF: LEIA S-68, GPC II: 1945, 1884f., LIV 467, EIEC 123, Delamarre

269f., Jordan Colera 1998: 31, Sims-Williams 2006: 107f., MLH V.l: 329f.

[Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic By Ranko Matasovic]

Reconciling L. Artorius Castus' Expedition to Armorica with the Anti-Perennis Deputation to Rome

What is the proper rendering of ARM[...]S on the 2nd century L. Artorius Castus stone?  There are only two possible readings for this word: ARMENIOS or ARMORICOS. The recent attempt to see this fragmented word as ARMATOS has been universally rejected and I do not myself consider it a viable contender.  For more on ARMATOS for ARM[...]S, see https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2021/11/my-rebuttal-of-antonio-trincheses.html and many other articles here on my blog site.  

The other reading, ARMENIOS, is also quite plausible.  Statius Priscus as goveror of Britain was sent to head up the army in Armenia.  And our only record of the reorganization of Dalmatia (quite possibly when Liburnia was created as a separate province) occurred under Marcus and Verus only a few years after the end of the Armenian War.  However, if Castus went to Armenia with British troops, he did this before the Sarmatian troops were in Britain.  And that means that our attempt to link the Dark Age Arthur with Sawyl of Ribchester loses its appeal.  

Armenia was also very far from Britain.  My analysis of British vexillations on the Continent and beyond (see https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2022/12/vexillations-sent-from-britain-to-fight.html) revealed that other than a proposed Armenia expedition, the two other most distant postings for British vexillations were Carnuntum in Austria and Sirmium in Serbia.  

I should mention that the claim made by some that ARMORICOS will not fit on the Castus memorial stone is wrong.  See https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2021/06/the-lucius-artorius-castus-stone-with_14.html.  

My Reconstruction, Using Identical Sized Letters from Appropriate Lines

Computer Reconstruction Courtesy Alessandro Faggiani

Quite a bit has been written on the topic of Armorica and the Maternus rebellion.  For more on the subject, please consult the following sources:

https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2021/04/can-we-place-lucius-artorius-castus-in.html

https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2020/06/picards-revolt-of-maternus-rough-google.html

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwiRrJ-Ty6z8AhWRAjQIHTjzBMsQFnoECBgQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fjournals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de%2Findex.php%2Fbjb%2Farticle%2Fdownload%2F82262%2F76473&usg=AOvVaw17Q7Z5Com4i5sHWhvQ36Za

https://historicalunderbelly.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/thoma-grunewald-bandits-in-the-roman-empire-myth-and-reality-2004.pdf

https://www.academia.edu/26057121/Bandits_in_the_Roman_Empire_Revised_

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiIg567zKz8AhXhOn0KHXjWB8wQFnoECAgQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fjournals.umcs.pl%2Frh%2Farticle%2Fdownload%2F9556%2F8305&usg=AOvVaw2A-zVYlJrjHDRSEMzBmuaR

Castus' fame would have been magnified even more if we can assign him to the deputation that went to Rome to force the execution of the Praetorian Prefect Perennis.  We are told by Cassius Dio that 1500 spearmen went on the mission, and the Greek word to describe these troops may well imply that they were Sarmatian contus-bearers.  Of course, the account of this deputation has been doubted by Classical scholars, as it is difficult if not impossible to account for how it may have happened.

I now believe I can easily do so.  It is not difficult to do, as the dates for the Perennis affair and the Deserters' War match up quite nicely.  

Commodus makes his call for forces to be contributed in the battle against the deserters.  This was issued to those provinces which were affected.  I can only assume if Armorica is having serious problems, this would, indirectly at least, affect Britain.  And there was always the danger the movement would spread to Britain.

But, in Britain, the legates have just been removed from office.  So it is Castus who becomes dux and leads large legionary detachments to Armorica.  At the same time, it is necessary to send the three senators back to Rome under escort.  Castus arranges for the detail to be sent.  When it is in Rome, the senators make their case for Perennis' removal.

Castus, meanwhile, would certainly have remained in Armorica with the bulk of his troops.

Now, granted, the 1500 number is large, and that sounds like the kind of force Castus would have brought to bear against the deserters; it does make sense for the composition of a simple escort.  So I would suggest the number was wrongly applied by Dio to the escort itself, when originally it belonged to the much larger force that crossed into Armorica.

As being dux of this military force automatically implies full command of it, no matter what it happens to do, there was no need to add to the memorial stone any information referring to the escort sent to Rome - and, indeed, there was not sufficient room on the stone for this information.

I consider this a very adequate explanation of the events involving both Castus' dux command and the fall of Perennis.  

I could go further, even.  A separate delegation, sent from Britain to Rome at the same time as the force was sent to Armorica to deal with deserters, might well have become conflated in memory and/or tradition.  Especially if both reached Dio by second-hand witness reports.

The reference in Dio's story to the "deputies of the army" (see https://www.jstor.org/stable/638138) as the ones who sent the 1,500 may be the source of the original confusion.  I would make these out to be the representatives of the delegation to Rome, and not the party responsible for sending LAC to Armorica. Commodus himself, according to Herodian, was the one who ordered provinces to send forces against Maternus:

"When he was informed of these developments, Commodus, in a towering rage, sent threatening dispatches to the governors of the provinces involved, charging them with negligence and ordering them to raise an army to oppose the bandits." (https://www.livius.org/sources/content/herodian-s-roman-history/herodian-1.10)

The Death-Place of Arthur son of Aedan of Dalriada

Stronend, Fintry Hills

Double Craigs, Fintry Hills

From https://celt.ucc.ie/published/T201040.html:

"On the Battle of the Miathi

AT another time, after the lapse of many years from the above-mentioned battle, and while the holy man was in the Iouan island (Hy, now Iona), he suddenly said to his minister, Diormit, ‘Ring the bell.’ The brethren, startled at the sound, proceeded quickly to the church, with the holy prelate himself at their head. There he began, on bended knees, to say to them, ‘Let us pray now earnestly to the Lord for this people and King Aidan, for they are engaging in battle at this moment.’ Then after a short time he went out of the oratory, and, looking up to heaven, said, ‘The barbarians are fleeing now, and to Aidan is given the victory; a sad one though it be.’ And the blessed man in his prophecy declared the number of the slain in Aidan's army to be three hundred and three men.

Prophecy of St. Columba regarding the sons of King Aidan

At another time, before the above-mentioned battle, the saint asked King Aidan about his successor to the crown. The king answered that of his three sons, Artur, Eochoid Find, and Domingart, he knew not which would have the kingdom after him. Then at once the saint prophesied on this wise, ‘None of these three shall be king, for they shall fall in battle, slain by their enemies; but now if thou hast any younger sons, let them come to me, and that one of them whom the Lord has chosen to be king will at once rush into my lap.’ When they were called in, Eochoid Buide, according to the word of the saint, advanced and rested in his bosom. Immediately the saint kissed him, and, giving him his blessing, said to his father, ‘This one shall survive and reign as king after thee, and his sons shall reign after him.’ And so were all these things fully accomplished afterwards in their time. For Artur and Eochoid Find were not long after killed in the above-mentioned battle of the Miathi; Domingart was also defeated and slain in battle in Saxonia; while Eochoid Buide succeeded his father on the throne."

The Dark Age Miathi were known to the Romans as the Maeatae.  This was a federation of tribes centered just north of the Antonine Wall, and apparently (given the location of the hillforts of Myot Hill and Dumyat) more towards the eastern end of the Wall.  We first hear of them causing major trouble in the reign of Septimius Severus (emperor from 193-211 A.D.).[1]  The Caledonians north of the Wall eventually entered into alliance with them, magnifying the seriousness of the threat.

The name Maeatae means possibly 'the larger people', but more probably (see Rivet and Smith's THE PLACE-NAMES OF ROMAN BRITAIN [2]) 'those of the larger part.'

The Irish sources have Arthur son of Gabran die in what sound like two different places: in the territory of the Miathi or, alternately, in Circinn. 

There may be yet another Arthur who can be linked to the Miathi - and this is none other than the most famous one presented to us in the HISTORIA BRITTONUM.  For my best identification of this hero's Bassas river battle site is Dunipace in Scotland [3].  Dunipace has the distinction of being found directly between the two known Miathi forts - Dumyat in Stirling and Myot Hill in Falkirk.  In this context I had once made the tentative suggestion that the presence of an Arthur at Dunipace may be a confusion over the Dalriadan Arthur fighting in that location.

However, there does not appear to be any relationship between Dunipace and Circinn.  In addition, the Circinn of Arthur son of Aedan appears to be in a totally different place than the region of a similar sounding name north of the River Tay in Angus and Mearns.

The most recent good treatment of the subject can be found in James E. Fraser's FROM CALEDONIA TO PICTLAND: SCOTLAND TO 795.  Here are a couple of short extracts from that title:

Alan James was kind enough to share this information with me regarding Circinn:

"Watson, CPNS 108, points out that OIr cír is 'a crest', and so cír-chenn is 'a crested head'. That seems more like a personal than a place-name, but Circhind is genitive, so Magh Circhind could be 'Circhen's plain'."

Cirech, on the other hand (according to William J. Watson in THE HISTORY OF THE CELTIC PLACE-NAMES OF SCOTLAND), meant "crested."  From the eDIL:

círach

adj o, ā (cír). In phr. cathbarr c.¤ crested helmet: a chathbarr c.¤ clárach, LU 6392 ( TBC-I¹ 1877 ) ( TBC-LL¹ 2533 ). cathbarr c.¤ 'ma chend cechtar nái, RC xiii 456.z . cathbairr ciracha, fororda, Cog. 162.5 . corrc[h]athbharr c.¤ , CCath. 5262 . cathbarr cirrach, YBL 121a45 . Note also: brú . . . / bheannbhachlach chíorach na gcolg (of ship), Measgra D. 48.34 .

If I had to hazard a guess as to a location for Cirech/Circinn, I would opt for the boundary region between Dunbartonshire and Stirlingshire.  When searching the maps and reading relevant descriptions of the area, I noticed the remarkably long escarpment with crags stretching from the Touch Hills in the east to the Fintry Hills in the west.  The 'crest' of this escarpment is remarked upon in great detail by the following geological report:

https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/13985/1/RR10007.pdf

"The member is restricted to the Fintry–Touch Block (Francis et al., 1970) and specifically to the western and northern parts of the Fintry Hills, and the northern parts of the Gargunnock and Touch hills. These rocks crop out from the crest of the crags at Double Craig [NS 6365 8701], westwards to Ballmenoch Burn [NS 6485 8692 to 6464 8752], and northwards to the prominent crags below Stronend [NS 6266 8950] which extend eastwards to the Spout of Ballochleam [NS 6526 8998] and on to the north-north-east, below Lees Hill [NS 6587 9106] and east-north-east to Standmilane Craig [NS 6704 9176] and Black Craig [NS 6841 9228]. From there, the outcrop continues to the east, passing through more crags and then to Baston Burn [NS 7437 9374]."

"The Lees Hill Lava Member consists predominantly of trachybasalt but also includes a plagioclase-macrophyric basalt lava (‘Markle’ type), and the rocks generally form the crest of the escarpment at the top of the cliffs formed by the Spout of Ballochleam Lava Member. The trachybasalt is typically fine grained, massive, locally ‘slaggy’ and highly vesicular, and with local platy jointing. A single trachybasalt lava is present in the east [NS 7184 9247], which occurs as an intercalation within the macroporphyritic basalt lavas of the Gargunnock Hills Lava Member, near to its base. In the Gargunnock Burn [NS 7065 9249 to 7059 9222] two trachybasalt lavas are present, separated by a plagioclasemacrophyric basalt lava that is absent farther west, where the member consists entirely of trachybasalt lavas."

"The member is restricted to the northern part of the Fintry–Touch Block (Francis et al., 1970) and specifically to the northern Gargunnock Hills and northern Touch Hills, northeast  of Glasgow. These rocks generally form the crest of the escarpment at the top of the cliffs formed by the Spout of Ballochleam Lava Member and crop out northwards from Gourlay’s Burn [NS 6628 8974 to 6625 9003] to Lees Hill [NS 660 910], east-north-east to Standmilane Craig [NS 6722 9180] and Black Craig [NS 6829 9219], and then eastwards through crags to the east of Gargunnock Burn [NS 7195 9244]."

 When I discussed this with place-name expert Alan James, he remarked:

 "The Gargunnock Hills are more immediately the boundary between the territory of the Miathi and (geographical) Strathclyde, ruled from Alclud. The R Endrick is still the boundary between W Dunbartonshire and Stirlingshire, and I think Fintry may be Brittonic *fin-dre 'boundary settlement' rather than a Gaelicised *(g)win-dre (as is the case with the one in Angus). Dalriada was to the west, across the Ben Lomond range and Loch Lomond. But that part of the Forth valley down to Stirling is the strategic heart of Scotland, anyone wanting to control the north of Britain has to win command of Castle Rock (Stirling) and The Fords of Frew. So battles were always going around there!"

Circinn as the 'crested head' or 'head of the crest' could be Stronend.  The first element of this hill-name is Scots-Gaelic strone (https://dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/strone_n2), "A headland or promontory, esp. one that ends a range or ridge of hills."  Double Craigs is also a good candidate.  

 

Crags along the crest of the Fintry Hills

Crags along the crest of the Touch Hills

Crags along the crest of the Gargunnock Hills (and below)

[1]

MAEATAE

 Rivet & Smith, p. 404 :

SOURCE

- Xiphilinus 321 (summarising Cassius Dio LXXVI, 12) : Maiatai (= MAEATAE; twice);

- Jordanes 2, 14 (also quoting Cassius Dio) : Meatae

DERIVATION. Holder II. 388 thought the name Pictish, and it is discussed by Wainwright PP 51-52; it may survive in Dumyat and Myot Hill, near Stirling and thus north of the Antonine Wall. Watson CPNS 58 seems to take the name as wholly Celtic, as is surely right in view of the Continental analogues he cites for the second element or suffix : Gaulish Gais-atai 'spearmen' (*gaison 'spear'), Gal-atai 'warriors' (*gal 'valour, prowess'), Nantu-atai (-ates) 'valley-dwellers'; he notes also the presence in Ireland of the Magn-atai. See also ATREBATES, with further references. One might therefore conjecture that in this name at least the force of the suffix is 'those of. . . '. The first element might be the same as in Maia, probably 'larger', in which case a sense 'larger people' or more strictly 'people of the larger part' may be suitable. It is to be noted that Cassius Dio, as quoted by others, seems to say that Britain north of the Antonine Wall was divided between the Calidonii and the Maeatae, these having subsumed lesser tribes, and it could well be that the Maeatae were the 'people of the larger part'. The name was still in use in Adamnan's day : Miathi in his Life of St Columba, I, 8.

MAIA/MAIUM:

* Rivet & Smith, p. 408 :

SOURCES

- Rudge Cup and Amiens patera : MAIS

- Ravenna 1075 (= R&C 120) : MAIO

- Ravenna 10729 (= R&C 154) : MAIA 

- Ravenna 10922 (=R&C 298) : MAIONA

(ND : We propose to read, at XL49, Tribunus cohortis primae Hispanorum, MAIS (or MAIO); for the argument, see p. 221)

In his 1935 study of the Rudge Cup, Richmond noted that Bowness fort was the terminal point of two Systems, the Wall and the Cumbrian coastal defences, and was therefore mentioned twice by Ravenna (which, he then thought, rarely repeated names). The association of Ravenna's Maiona with this place is made here for the first time. Although at 10922 it figures in the list of islands ad aliam partem, and was taken as a western island by R&C, it is likely that (as is the case with other non-island names in this section) it was written 'in the sea' on a map and wrongly interpreted by the Cosmographer. Final -na could have arisen from *Maium (neuter singular) on the map, written as was the Cosmographer's habit *Maion and then miscopied.

DERIVATION. It is not sure what the correct form of this name in Latin guise should be. The only epigraphic evidence indicates a locative plural in -is (as argued also for the Rudge Cup form of Camboglanna). If this is right, the nominative neuter plural of the name is Maia, as in Ravenna I0729. In that case the neuter singular Maio and what we can see in Maiona are equally acceptable oblique-case singulars. All may be right; such variation in recorded forms is by no means improbable.

R&C suggests that the base of the name is British *maios, comparative of *maros (compare Latin maior), from which Welsh mwy derives; Jackson LHEB 357 and 360 appears to accept this. The sense is therefore 'larger (one or ones)', perhaps referring to the size of promontories (Bowness contrasted with Drumburgh). If thename is basically adjectival, it is easy to see how in differing interpretations it could be singular or plural, as the sources appear to show. The root is represented in personal names in Gaul such as Maiagnus, Maianus, Maiiona for *Magiona (Holder II. 387), perhaps Maiorix; in Gaul and Italy a goddess Maia was known. The only relevant place-names abroad seem to be Maio Meduaco between Brenta Vecchia and Brentella in N. Italy, and the Statio Maiensis mentioned under Magis. The North British Maeatae people may have a first element in their name corresponding to the present name.

[2]

19 1 In the eighteenth year of his reign, now an old man and overcome by a most grievous disease, he [Severus] died at Eboracum in Britain, after subduing various tribes that seemed a possible menace to the province.

https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Historia_Augusta/Septimius_Severus*.html#note136

5 4 Inasmuch as the Caledonians did not abide by their promises and had made ready to aid the Meaetae, and in view of the fact that Severus at the time was devoting himself to the neighbouring war, Lupus was compelled to purchase peace from the Maeatae for a large sum; and he received a few captives.

https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/76*.html

12 1 There are two principal races of the Britons, the Caledonians and the Maeatae, and the names of the others have been merged in these two. The Maeatae live next to the cross-wall which cuts the island in half, and the Caledonians are beyond them. 

5 1 When the inhabitants of the island again revolted, he [Severus] summoned the soldiers and ordered them to invade the rebels' country, killing everybody they met; and he quoted these words:

"Let no one escape sheer destruction,

No one our hands, not even the babe in the womb of the mother,

If it be male; let it nevertheless not escape sheer destruction."

2 When this had been done, and the Caledonians had joined the revolt of the Maeatae, he began preparing to make war upon them in person. While he was thus engaged, his sickness carried him off on the fourth of February, not without some help, they say, from Antoninus. 

https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/e/roman/texts/cassius_dio/77*.html

[3]

Place-name expert Alan James again came to the rescue when I asked how Bassas may have developed out of Late Latin or Late Brittonic:

“By the time the Latin word was adopted by Britt speakers, its inflectional forms were probably quite reduced at least in "vulgar" speech, and the Britt inflextions likewise. So your hypothetical form would be, for practical purposes *bassas. The -as suffix is nominal, noun-forming, it would be 'a shallow, shallows'. I suppose that might be a stream-name, more likely a name for a stretch of a river or a point on a river or estuary, a strategic location where a battle might well be fought, though of course there must be scores of possible candidates.”

Long ago the antiquarian Skene suggest Dunipace ner Falkirk in Stirlingshire for Arthur’s Bassas. The idea has not been thought well of by scholars over the years. However, recently place-name expert John Reid has tentatively proposed that Dunipace might be rendered Dun y Bas, the ‘Hill of the Ford.’

Commenting on this possibility, Alan James shared this with me:

“It ought to be *din-y-bas, not **dun-y-bais (that's what misled me); it would mean more correctly 'fort of the shallow', which is apparently okay topographically; the changes din > dun, /b/ > /p/, and /a/ > long /a:/ could all be explained in terms of adoption by Gaelic speakers. 'Hills of death' [a local, traditional etymology] would be G *duin-am-bais, which I wouldn't rule out, though I'm uneasy with /mb/ > /p/.”