THE RED-HERRING OF LLANILID: FINDING THE REAL CAMPUS ELLETI

Palus Elleti in THE BOOK OF LLANDAFF

I had several Welsh academic treatments at my disposal regarding the early Welsh place-name Campus Elleti.  Alas, most were early.  Still, they had been compiled by noted experts in the Welsh language and in the toponymics of medieval Wales.  And, as it turns out, the information these studies contained was utterly flawed.

First, Elleti cannot be related etymologically to the -ilid of the Llanilid place-names.  -ilid is thought to represent St. Julitta, although even this is not certain.  Still, as Dr. Simon Rodway just told me the other day:

"I can't see how the modern form -ilid could derive from Elleti, but I can (just about) see it coming from Julitta (or rather something like *Iulita, with a failure of a-affection, perhaps due to vowel harmony? That's how it looks to me.  I'm a bit uneasy about Julitta > Ilid."

I then asked Dr. Rodway what he thought about the idea Dr. Graham Isaac shared with me years ago:

"The form of the name Elleti is corroborated by the instance of 'palude [Latin for “marsh” or “swamp”] Elleti' in Book of Llan Dav (148). But since both that and HB’s campum Elleti are in Latin contexts, we cannot see whether the name is OW Elleti (= Elledi) or OW Ellet (= Elled) with a Latin genitive ending. Both are possible. My guess would be that OW Elleti is right. As the W suffix -i would motivate affection, so allowing the base to be posited as all-, the same as in W ar-all 'other', all-tud 'exile', Gaulish allo-, etc. Elleti would be 'other-place, place of the other side (of something)'."

Dr. Isaac then went on to say that Elleti may be the same word as the ALLIITIO personal or god name found at Corbridge.  He added: “Taking the double -ll- at face value, as I would be inclined to do as a working hypothesis, that would be connected the W all- that I have mentioned before.” [Incidentally, the Llallawg/Llallogan epithet of Myrddin is from the same root and has the same meaning as Alletios.]

Dr. Rodway's response to this?

"Graham's suggestion sounds perfectly plausible to me, and accounts for the form Elleti better than Julitta."

I asked the same question of Professor Peter Schrijver, to which he replied merely "Makes sense."

But to clinch the matter, I decided to go look at THE BOOK OF LLANDAFF itself, where the name Elleti occurs, given to a marsh (L. palud for palus).  I have pasted the relevant passage at the top of this post.  The reference is sparse, but not ambiguous: the swamp of Elleti is between the River Thaw and the villa of Gerbert.  Gerbert is, of course, Gilbert.  This is a reference to the early Norman lord Gerbert/Gilbert de Umfraville of Penmark Castle.  The castle is only a couple kilometers east of the River Thaw.  See https://books.google.com/books?id=mhnYtVAUhQEC&pg=PA280&lpg=PA280&dq=%22Gilbert%22%2B%22Penmark%22&source=bl&ots=jAPCTYtWvV&sig=ACfU3U3H9jphfO2v8JpTjYL3WTIe6nO5LA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwins6Dl643qAhVDJjQIHQLiDTUQ6AEwAXoECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q=%22Gilbert%22%2B%22Penmark%22&f=false.

Needless to say, this isn't anywhere near either of the two Llanilids!

Elleti is no longer extant as a place-name.  The 'Campus' of the HISTORIA BRITTONUM should become something like maes in Welsh.  Palus would be cors or any number of other Welsh words for swamp, marsh, fen, etc.