Chapter VIII: Section V

_The Origin of the Irish Nation. The original Language of the
British Isles was a Union of Welsh and Irish. Union of the Irish,
Welsh, &c. in the ancient Local Names in the Celtic Countries of
Gaul, &c. These Names a connecting Link between the existing
Celtic Dialects and the Oriental, Greek, and other Languages, &c._

The origin of the Irish nation, or Gael, forms—for numerous reasons—a highly interesting and important subject of inquiry. Of this Nation the very same theories have been maintained as those which have been adopted in some quarters with respect to the North American Indians, the Negroes, and other branches of the Human Family; viz., that they are of a stock aboriginally inferior and distinct, by nature incapable of the virtues of civilization. Let the views advocated by Pinkerton with respect to the Gaelic race—views received with no slight degree of favour in his time—be compared with the doctrines of many modern writers on the subject of the native African and American Races, and an instructive lesson will be learnt on the force of prejudice and the uniformity of error!

On the other hand, it must be allowed that the opinions which have been generally espoused on the subject of the origin of the Gael by many of the Historians and Scholars of Ireland and of the Highlands of Scotland, can scarcely be said to possess a better claim to the approbation of a calm and dispassionate judgment. Eminently distinguished as the Irish are by Literary genius, there is probably no subject on which their native talent has appeared to less advantage than in the investigation of the early History of their own Country. Fictions the most extravagant, borrowed from the Chronicles of the dark ages, have been credulously adopted by their first Scholars in lieu of those solid truths to which a calm and sober inquiry alone can lead. Thus we find Mr. Moore, at once the Poet and the Historian of Ireland, lending the sanction of his name to the Fable that the Irish are of Spanish origin; and citing, in answer to the more reasonable hypothesis of a British origin, a variety of Irish writers of no mean note, and some Welsh writers also, in favour of the assertions: 1, that the Irish Language is almost totally unlike the Welsh or Ancient British; and 2, that the Welsh is not a Celtic but a Gothic Tongue! There is every reason to conclude that Mr. Moore—unacquainted, probably, with any of the Celtic dialects himself—resorted to those authorities which he might naturally have deemed most deserving of confidence. But this only renders more lamentably conspicuous the credulity, carelessness, and ignorance of those to whose labours he has appealed. The assertions, 1, that the Welsh and Irish are unlike; and 2, that the Welsh is a Gothic dialect, are contradictions of the plainest facts.

Influenced by national feelings Gaelic Scholars have also advanced various other theories, calculated to exhibit the antiquity of their language and race in a favorable point of view. The Gaelic has been maintained to be the Parent, at least in part, of the Latin, the Welsh, &c.; while to the first Colonists of Ireland a Carthaginian or Phœnician origin has been assigned.

These conclusions cannot be sustained. But it is highly probable, notwithstanding, that the proofs on which they have been based will be found, in many instances, to contain the germs of important truths, though blended with an admixture of error. The traces of affinity between the Irish and other ancient languages which have been collected by Gaelic Scholars, may be open in many cases to the same remark, which is clearly applicable to the examples of affinity pointed out by Mr. Catlin between the dialect of the North American Indian tribe the Mandans and the Welsh; viz., these features may consist of clear and genuine traces of a generic, though they may afford no proofs of a specific, affinity of race. There can be no doubt that the Irish preserves many primitive forms which the kindred Celtic of Wales has lost; there can be no doubt also that the Irish approximates to the Latin, to the Greek, and to the Egyptian,(49) &c. in many features which the Welsh no longer exhibits. The examples adduced in Appendix A of the connexion of the Irish language with the Hebrew, Egyptian, &c. are sufficient to show that the Irish are a nation of Oriental origin. But on the other hand it must be borne in mind, that inasmuch as the Welsh, Latin, &c., have also preserved primitive forms which the Irish has lost, there is no ground for concluding that the Gaelic is a Parent rather than a Sister of these venerable Tongues; and inasmuch as the evidence of the Eastern origin of the Gael, however unequivocal, is not clearer or closer than the accompanying(50) evidence with respect to the Welsh, English, and other European nations, there are no peculiar grounds for referring the first colonization of Ireland to a direct migration from the shores of Palestine or Africa, rather than to the gradual diffusion of population from a central point.

The following comparison presents examples of features in which the Irish approximates to the Gothic and other Languages, at the same time that it differs more or less from the Welsh.

_Words in which the Gaelic resembles the Gothic, and other European Languages, more closely than it resembles the Cymraeg or Welsh._

English. Gaelic. Illustrations. Cymraeg. 1. Ath-air, Atta, (_Gothic._), Ayta, Tad, Father. (_Ir._) Aydia, (_Basque._), Attia, (_W._) (_Hung._), Otek, (_Russ._), Fader, slightly varied in all the Gothic dialects, except the Gothic properly so called, Pater, (_Greek & Latin._) 2. Math-air, Mater or Mutter (with some Mother. (_Ir._) trifling variations) in Latin, Greek, and all the Teuto-Scandinavian dialects except the Gothic—also in the Sclavonic and Bohemian. Ath-ei, (_Gothic._) Mymmog, Mam, (_W._) (_Manx dialect._ 3. Brathair, The Irish form, _Brathair,_ Brawd, Brother. (_Ir._) occurs in the Latin and (_W._), Teuto-Scandinav. tongues; the Bredar, Welsh form, _Brawd,_ in the (_Cornish._) Sclavonian tongues. Breur, Breur, (_Arm._) (_Manx dialect_ 4. |Siur, The Irish form prevails in the Chwaer, Sister. (_Ir._) Latin, Teuto-Scand. and (_W._) Sclavonic. Piur, Hor, Huyr, (_Scotch._) (_Cornish._) 5. A Drong, Drang, a Throng, a Crowd, Torv. Company. (_Ir._) (_German._) 6. Mock. Magom, Mock, (_English._) Gwatwor, (_Ir._) (_W._) 7. Evil. Neoid, Naughty, (_Eng._) Droug, (_Ir._) (_W._) Olk, Ill, (_Eng._) (_Ir._) 8. The Rang, Rand,(51) (_Germ._) Glan, (_W._) Bank of a (_Ir._) stream. 9. A Beim, Bēm-a, a Step, (_Greek._), Cam. Step. (_Ir._) Bain-o, to go, Bahn, a Path, (_Germ._) 10. To Beir-im, Fero, (_Latin._) Ge-Bähr-en, Dwyn. bear. (_Ir._) (_Germ._) 11. Fon-amhad Fun, (_Eng._), Vonne, Delight, Vynn, or Jeering, (_Ir._), (_Germ._), Vunsch, a Wish, Mynn, a Delight, Foun, (_Germ._) Wish, (_W._) A Desire. (_Ir._) 12. A Geon, Cwen, (_Ang.-Sax. & Icel._) Gen-eth, a Woman. (_Ir._) Girl, (_W._) 13. To Fis-ay-im, Viss-en, (_Germ._), Vit-an, Wys, or know. Fod-am, (_Ang.-Sax._), “I wot,” Gwys, Wyth, (_Ir._) (_Eng._) or Gwyth, Knowledge (_W._) 14. To Gorm, Warm, (_Eng._) Gwresogi, heat, or (_Ir._) (_W._) warm. 15. A Sgath, Skia, Skiad-on, (_Greek._), Cysgod, Shadow. (_Ir._) Schatten, (_Germ._) (_W._) 16. To |Raid-him, Read-en, (_Germ._) Siarad, speak. (_Ir._) (_W._)

Some of these examples would furnish a more plausible argument to show that the Irish are a Gothic race than any which have been advanced to prove that the Welsh are of Gothic origin! It is singular, for instance, that the Irish terms expressive of the Domestic relations are so near the English as to excite in the first instance a suspicion that they must have been borrowed from the followers of Strongbow! But this impression must be dispelled by the reflection that terms of this class are never borrowed from its conquerors by a nation that continues to retain its primitive language. Moreover, it will be observed, that the Irish, in the instance of these words, approaches much more nearly to the Gothic, Hungarian, and Russian, &c. than it does to the English. Again, the Irish word “Gorm,” To heat or warm, is _like_ the English “Warm.” But, on the other hand, its genuineness is rendered indisputable by its _absolute identity_ with the word ’Gorm’ in Persian and Egyptian, (See Appendix A, p. 21.) Finally, the resemblances manifested above by the Irish to the Greek are quite as close as those which the former language displays to the English and other Gothic Tongues. In these examples, therefore, we may recognize proofs not of any partial results or specific connexions, but of the more complete approximation of the European languages as we enlarge our range of inquiry, and obtain more ample specimens of each Class.

But, notwithstanding the occurrence of some features of difference, it is indisputable that there exists a close specific affinity between the Irish and Welsh Languages, which renders the common origin of the nations who speak them evident. The original identity of the Irish and Welsh Languages was established as far back as the commencement of the eighteenth century, by the investigations of the excellent Archæologist, Edward Lhuyd, who spent five years in travelling through the various Celtic regions, and whose comparison of the dialects of Wales, Cornwall, Armorica, the Highlands of Scotland, and the Isle of Man, is not inferior either in soundness of reasoning, or in patient, extensive, and honest research, to the best German works of the present day. But although the writings of Lhuyd may be said to have established the original unity of the Welsh and Irish races, since the publication of his work, a peculiar opinion has been adopted by some learned men with regard to the _time_ of their original separation. Of this opinion, Edward Lhuyd was himself the first advocate; his conclusion was that though the Irish and British Celts were both descendants from one stock, they must have been separated into two distinct Tribes before their arrival in the British Islands. The Gaelic or Irish Tribe he supposes to have preceded the Welsh or British Tribe, by whom he conceives them to have been gradually driven to the West, as the Britons were by the Saxons in subsequent ages. Lhuyd’s grounds are as follows:

The most ancient names of Rivers and Mountains in the Island of Britain are very generally composed of terms still preserved in the Welsh or Ancient British Tongue. But there are some remarkable exceptions, and in these instances it frequently happens that the Names may be clearly identified with Words still preserved in the Irish or Gaelic branch of the Celtic. For example, the names of the British rivers, the Usk and the Esk, are particularly noticed by Lhuyd; these names are identical with “Uisge, Eask,” the Irish term for “Water.” This word, he observes, does not exist in the Welsh, and he had looked for it in vain in the sister dialect of Armorica; but, he adds, it is still retained by the Irish or Gaelic. Hence, he suggests that the Irish or Gaelic branch of the Celts must have colonized the Island of Britain before the arrival of the Cymry or Welsh branch, by whom, as he conceives, they were expelled, after having conferred names on the principal localities.

The evidence of language will be found sufficient to show not merely the common origin of the Welsh and Irish, but also to fix a much more recent date for their separation than that which has been assigned by Lhuyd. It will thence appear that the Irish are descendants of Colonists of the Welsh or British race, not of a distinct Celtic sept, and that the commencement of the separate existence of the Irish nation must be referred to a comparatively recent date, propositions of much interest, of which the proofs about to be advanced will probably be deemed to be at once clear and simple.

Lhuyd’s reasoning in favour of his theory, that the Irish or Gael existed in Britain as a separate Tribe, prior to the arrival of the Britons who fought against Cæsar, the ancestors of the modern Welsh, is founded on a false analogy not unnatural to a first inquirer.

The proposition that the most important local names in every country for the most part consist of terms belonging to the language of the very first inhabitants, is one of which I conceive the truth will be evident. For a proof of this principle, I may refer to Chalmers’(52) admirable analysis of local names in the Lowlands of Scotland, where, in spite of a succession of Conquests, and the utter extinction in that part of Britain of the language of the original inhabitants, viewed as a vernacular dialect, Welsh and other Celtic names are still preserved, after the lapse of ages, for the most prominent features of the country. This result, it may be observed, is one that flows from the very nature of things. Even the most fierce and ruthless invaders are compelled to hold sufficient intercourse with the first population to enable them to learn the proper names of their localities, and these names, from obvious motives of convenience, they almost universally adopt.

Now, had Lhuyd shown that the most ancient Local names in Britain are _exclusively_ Irish, there can be no doubt that, consistently with the principle just noticed, his theory would have been supported by the facts to which he adverts. But the most ancient local names in Britain are not _exclusively_ or _principally_ Irish; in an equal number, perhaps in a majority, of cases they are Welsh.

Moreover, it may be observed that the names of localities in this Island furnish highly instructive evidence, not merely with respect to the different races by whom it has been successively peopled, but also of the order in which they arrived. Thus the names of Rivers and Mountains, and other natural objects, at least of the most conspicuous, are Celtic; the names of the most ancient Towns are Latin, or Latin grafted on British words; more modern Towns and Villages have Saxon appellations; those of more recent origin have frequently Norman designations; and last of all come those places which have names derived from our present English. These various classes of names cannot be nicely distinguished in each particular instance. Of the correctness of the general principle, however, there is no doubt.

But the terms noticed by Lhuyd as significant in the Irish language do not belong to a different class of appellations from those which are obviously of British or Cymraeg origin. The Irish and Cymraeg terms are both found to predominate most in the names of the most ancient Class, viz. in those of Rivers, Mountains, &c., and to be thus applied in conjunction. Hence the natural inference that flows from his facts is not that these names were conferred by two distinct and successive races, but that they were imposed _contemporaneously_ and by the same People!

Further it may be noticed, that if British Topography presents words extant only in the Irish Tongue, Irish Topography also presents names which cannot be explained by means of the Irish, though their meaning is preserved in Welsh; for example: There is a place near the head of a Stream in Roscommon, called “Glan a Modda,” (from Glan, “The bank of a Stream,” _Welsh_.) There is a place in Wales, called “Glan a Mowdduy.” There is a place called “Glan-gora,” in a Creek at the head of Bantry Bay; and another place in Ireland called “Glan-gort.”

“Ben-heder,” the ancient Irish name for “The Hill of Howth,” interpreted by Mr. Moore “The Hill of Birds.” (Adar, “Birds,” _Welsh_. The word does not exist in Irish.)

Arran, A mountainous Island. (Arran, a Mountain, _Welsh_. This word does not exist in Irish,) &c. &c.

Mr. Chalmers in his Caledonia states that the prevalent ancient names of localities in Britain and Ireland are essentially the same.

The conclusions to which these facts legitimately and necessarily lead are, that the British Islands were originally colonized by Settlers, who, at the time of the first occupation of Great Britain and Ireland, spoke one uniform language, in which the Welsh, Irish, and other living Celtic Dialects were combined. We may infer, and I conceive most clearly, that these dialects must be viewed in the light of “Disjecta Membra” of the speech of the old British and Irish Celts, just as the Icelandic, Norwegian, &c. are fragments of the ancient “Danska Tunge,” as noticed in the previous section.

It has been shown by Dr. Prichard that the population of Islands has been derived from the neighbouring Continents, and that the population of the more distant Islands has been derived in like manner from those which are nearer to the common source of migration. It is highly unreasonable to assume that Ireland has formed an exception to this general rule, considering that the common basis of the Irish and ancient British or Welsh languages are confessedly the same, unless it can be proved that the accompanying differences are such as to require the solution Lhuyd has suggested. Here, then, the question arises, are the features of difference between the Welsh and Irish languages more numerous or more fundamental, in relation to the interval of time that has elapsed since the Roman Invasion of Britain, than the varieties of dialect among the Scandinavian nations are in relation to the period that has elapsed since the colonization of Iceland? They are not! It will thence be seen that Lhuyd’s theory, as to the remote date of the separation of the Gaelic or Irish from the British or Cymraeg branch of the Celts, is founded on an exaggerated conception of the stability of Human Tongues; and that the abandonment by various septs of different synonymes used conjointly by their common forefathers will satisfactorily account for the differences between the Welsh and Irish, to which he attaches so much weight. It will be perceived, for example, that in the Icelandic, of which the existence commenced in the ninth century, and the Continental Scandinavian from which it then sprang, totally different terms are used for “Water,” the very instance to which Lhuyd especially adverts, as regards the languages of the Welsh and Irish, whom we know to have existed as separate nations in the time of Cæsar eighteen centuries ago!

Another highly instructive test of the correctness of his theory may be derived from the investigations of Lhuyd himself, who, in his comparison of the Welsh and Irish languages, uniformly distinguished the current terms from the obsolete synonymous words that occur only in ancient MSS. This comparison proves distinctly that the Irish and Welsh languages approximate, as we ascend, at a rate which, if as rapid previously as we know it to have been up to the date of the earliest MSS., would imply that these languages must have been identical about the era of the Roman invasion. As the changes which languages undergo in their infancy are more rapid than those which occur at later stages of their growth, it is possible that the unity of these Tongues may be ascribed even to a much later period, an opinion which has been maintained by a very judicious and excellent writer, Mr. Edward Davies, who in his “Claims of Ossian” has published an early specimen of Irish Poetry, which in Language and Style he regards as identical with the most ancient productions of the Welsh Bards. Making every allowance for the irregularity of the changes which occur in Languages, I do not conceive it possible that the Welsh and Irish could have differed very essentially in the time of Cæsar. This leads directly to another conclusion, viz. that the first colonization of Ireland could not have taken place a great many centuries before the Roman invasion. Had such been the case, the differences between the Welsh and Irish Languages must have been proportionately more extensive. In the time of the Romans we learn that an Irish traitor arrived in Britain, who stated that Ireland might be kept in subjection by a single legion, an incident which tends, however slightly, to favour the opinion that the sister Island was at that period but thinly, perhaps because but recently, peopled.

Of the extent of the changes which the Celtic languages have undergone since the first arrival of the Celts in Europe, we possess proofs of far more ancient date than the earliest literary specimens of the living dialects of the Celtic in the Local names of Celtic regions, as preserved in Roman Maps, and in the existing languages of the French, English, and other nations, who occupy countries of which the Celts were the first inhabitants. These names I shall show to consist of three elements: A union of 1, Welsh, Cornish, &c.; 2, Irish, Highland Scotch, &c.; and 3, Terms not extant in any Celtic Tongue, but preserved in the Oriental, Greek, and other languages.

As regards the Names of the 1st and 2d Classes, it will abundantly appear from the ensuing examples that, in the Topographical Nomenclature of Gaul, Britain, and other Celtic regions of Europe,(53) words derived from all the various Celtic dialects now extant, occur in a manner that leads distinctly to the inference that these “Disjecta membra” must have simultaneously belonged to the language of the old Celts. Dr. Prichard, who has examined these vestiges of the ancient Celtic Populations of Europe with much ability and success, leans to the opinion that the Cymraeg or Welsh Dialects predominate in these names. But the following examples, which comprise many names derived from the Irish or Gaelic that have not been noticed by Dr. Prichard or by previous writers on this subject, will serve to render it manifest that the ancient Names in Europœa Celtica did, in fact, include all the various living Celtic dialects very equally and harmoniously blended.

How luminous and distinct these proofs of the identity of the ancient with the modern Celtic nations are, will be better understood by a preliminary statement of certain rules, which will serve to give greater precision and perspicuity to the illustrations selected:

1. There can be no doubt that the Romans, in the Celtic, as in other countries conquered by them, modified the native terms by the addition of their own peculiar grammatical inflections, as in “Judæ-i, Britann-i, Sen-ones,” &c. Now it is obvious that in identifying the Celtic terms we must reject these mere Roman inflections.(54)

2. In many cases the Roman Names cannot be supposed to involve complete transcripts of the Celtic Names; frequently they were doubtless convenient abbreviations of the original names—names consisting of descriptive terms to them unintelligible. According to Mr. Reynolds, the Saxons generally adopted the first syllable only of the Roman or British names they found in this island. According to Bullet, “Vic,” a word of Roman origin for a Village or Town, has, from similar causes, become common as a Proper name in Dauphiné; in modern times we have numerous Villages called “Thorpe,” the name for a Village in Anglo-Saxon and German. In instances of this kind, there can be no doubt that originally the names were descriptive, such as “Long-town,” “Old-town,” &c. Tre or Trev is the common Welsh word for a Town, Village, or residence; it had the same meaning in Cornwall:

“By Tre, Tres, and Tren,
You shall know the Cornish men.”

A consequence of the names of the gentry of the county having been derived from those of their residences, into which this word commonly entered!

In Wales we have numerous examples of “Tre,” as in “Tre-llwng,” “The Town” of the “Pool,” (i.e. Welshpool,) from an adjoining “Llyn,” or Pool, near Powis Castle; “Tre-lydan,” the Broad Village, or Residence near Welshpool; “Trev-alyn,” near Chester, the Residence on the Stream; the “Alyn,” &c. &c.

Now according to the Roman mode, such a term as Trev-alyn would have been changed into Trev-iri, the designation actually given to the Celts of “Treves,” &c.

The following are analogous examples:

There is a tribe of Brig-antes in Yorkshire, another in Ireland, and a third in the North-east of Spain. Many unsuccessful attempts have been made to show that these distant Celtic tribes must have been scions of the same tribe. A much simpler explanation may be given.

By referring to the Roman maps the reader will find a word, “Briga,” in such general use as part of the names of towns as to leave no reasonable doubt that it must have been, like Tre, a Celtic name for a town—now obsolete. Thus in Spain we have, Laco-briga, Meido-briga, Ara-briga, Tala-brica, Augusto-briga, &c. Now the analogous instances already noticed suffice to point out that the occurrence of Brig-antes as a Roman name of Tribes in three Celtic countries, is a natural result of the frequent occurrence of Briga as the first part of the names of Celtic places.

The “Allo-bryg-es.” The name of this warlike tribe, the Celtic inhabitants of Savoy, has also been the source of perplexity, which may be removed in the same manner. This tribe had a town, called by the Romans “Brig-icum,” which was said to be “the only one they had.”(55) Now Allo-Bryga may reasonably be identified with Alpo-Briga, the Town of the Alps (Briga being clearly the common base of “Allo-bryg-es,” and “Brig-icum.”)

The names of Celtic communities, as they appear on the Roman Maps, may, I conceive, be proved to have been descriptive of the most prominent natural features of the regions they inhabited, and not of their lineage or descent, as seems to have been often supposed. Thus we have the Mor-ini in Belgium, and the Ar-mor-ici in Gaul on the Sea; we have the Sen-ones on the Seine, the Tamar-ici on the Tamar-is, in Hispania, &c. In the Mountainous regions it will be observed that the names of tribes are derived from the Mountains. In the flat countries they take their names from Rivers or the confluence of Rivers. In the same manner it is highly deserving of remark, that the names of the different French Departments have been derived from precisely the same natural features. Thus in the Hilly countries we have the Departments of the High Alps, “Hautes Alpes;” of the Low Alps, “Basses Alpes;” in the Champaign countries the Departments are named from the Rivers; such as the Seine, the Marne, and the Somme, &c. Many of these French names are literally equivalent to translations of the ancient Gaulish names, as interpreted by means of the Welsh and Irish languages. It is impossible to conceive a more perfect verification of the accuracy of these interpretations!

I may here observe, that as far as we can perceive, the various independent communities of Britain and Gaul mentioned by Cæsar, such as the Edui, the Venetes, &c., did not consist of _one_ clan or sept, they seem rather to have been a combination of several contiguous septs, to whom no appropriate common name _could have been_ given, except one derived from the natural features of the district they occupied.

The durability of local names has been already noticed. Of this truth we possess remarkable proofs in those of localities in France, as preserved by the modern French to the present day. I do not doubt that the present French names are, in many instances, much more faithful transcripts of the original Celtic appellations than those which occur in the Roman Maps are. Thus, for example, Bonomia, a name conferred by the Romans upon Boulogne, and of which the origin has perplexed Antiquarics, may easily be explained as a Roman abbreviation of the word Boulogne itself, of which the Celtic meaning will be shown hereafter to be appropriate and unequivocal. Here it may be noticed, that the Celtic language did not become extinct in Gaul until many centuries after the termination of the Roman sway and the establishment of the Franks in that country. The use of the old Gaulish or Celtic continued until the eighth century, nearly until the time of Charlemagne.(56) Now we know that the modern Welsh and Irish, for the most part, continue to use their own primitive names of localities in those cases in which abbreviations or translations have been substituted by the English. There can be no reasonable doubt that the ancient Gauls did the same, and that these names were in use among the inhabitants of each locality at the time of the final subjugation of Gaul by the Franks, by whom, in many instances, these names are more likely to have been adopted than those used by the Romans.

It will also be observed in the course of the following examples, that names of the class about to be noticed, viz., Topographical names of which the elements are not extant in the existing Celtic dialects, but occur in Oriental words, &c., are remarkably well preserved by the modern French. Thus the “Aube,” as pronounced by the French, is identical in sound with the Asiatic terms for Water, and names of Rivers, to which it is allied.

3. By many, perhaps by all those Celtic scholars who have investigated this subject, it has been assumed that the living Celtic dialects may be expected to furnish a complete clue to all the Local Names of ancient Celtic regions. This conclusion, like the theory of Lhuyd above discussed, is founded on an exaggerated idea of the stability of Human Tongues! Neither the Irish nor the Welsh, nor a combination of all the Celtic dialects, will be found to afford a complete solution of the Topographical nomenclature of the ancient Celtic regions of Europe. Names undoubtedly occur in these countries which have been preserved in none of the Celtic tongues, names which I shall indisputably show to be positive transcripts, in many instances, of appropriate terms occurring in the Hebrew and other languages, with which, in other parts of this work, the original Celtic dialects will be proved to have been originally identical. These facts lead to the conclusion that the ancient nomenclature of Celtic countries forms in reality a connecting link between the existing dialects of the Celts and the language of the Oriental stock from which they are descended.

This conclusion, though at variance with the views of many estimable writers, is nevertheless in unison with those anticipations which historical facts legitimately suggest. It is only reasonable to infer that since the period of their first arrival in Europe, the era at which many of these names must have been conferred (see page 10), the Celtic tribes must have lost many words which none of the modern Celtic nations have preserved. The Celts were settled about the sources of the “Ister, and the city,” (perhaps the mountains) “of Pyrene,” even in the time of Herodotus, and how many ages had elapsed since their first arrival is unknown!(57)

There is a certain Class of terms of which the meaning can reasonably be inferred from their extensive use in combination with other terms, of which the meaning may be considered as ascertained. To this class may be referred the terms immediately following.

Catti, Cassii, Casses, or Cad, seem to have meant a People, Tribe, &c., as in the following examples of the names of Celtic Tribes:

The Abr-in-Catui, in Normandy. The Catti-euch-lani, the people of Cambridgeshire and the adjoining counties. The Cassii, in Hertfordshire. The Bidu-casses, in Normandy. The Tri-casses, a people in Champagne. The Cad-ur-ci, on the Garonne.

The above words seem clearly derivable from the following Welsh words, which are allied to the Hebrew:

Welsh. Hebrew. From Kiw-dod (Kiw-dod-æ, Gow, a Body of Men, a Society _plur._) a Clan, a Nation. or Association. Kiw-ed, a Multitude, a Tribe. Gowee, a Nation. Kyf, a Body or Trunk, a Gow, Gowe, Goweeth, the Body Pedigree. of a Man or Animal.

Tre, Trev, a Village, Town, or Residence, (_Welsh_,) a Tribe, (_Irish._)(58)

Trev-iri, the people of Treves. A-Treb-ates, the people about Arras. (For further examples see Dr. Prichard’s work.) Trev is a common element in names of places in Wales, as Tre-vecca, Tre-gynnon.

Trigo, to reside, dwell, (_Welsh._)

Duro-trig-es, the dwellers on the Water or Sea, the people of Dorsetshire. (Camden.)

Catt uriges. (See Dour.)

Dun-um, a Hill, a Fort or Town, generally on a Hill, (occurs in _Welsh_ and _Irish_.)

Oxell-dunum, a Hill-fort in Gaul, described by Cæsar. (See numerous instances in Dr. Prichard’s work.)

“Castell Din-as Bran,” on a lofty eminence in the Vale of Llangollen, Wales.

Dur, Duvr, Awethur (_Welsh_), Dour (_Cornish_), Dur (_Armorican_), Dovar (_Irish_, obsolete, but occurs in ancient MSS.) “Water.”

This word, and Ydōr or Hudōr (_Greek_), and Tschur (_Armenian_), “Water,” have an obvious affinity. These forms may be traced in the names of Celtic Localities.

“Dour” occurs in the following names of Rivers: Dur, (_Hibernia_,) Dur-ia Major, “The Doria,” and Duria Minor, (_Gallia Cisalpina_,) Dur-ius, “The Douro,” and “Dero,” (_Hispania_,) Dur-anius, “The Dordogne,” (_Gallia_). In _Bucharian_ Deriâ means “The Sea.”

Ydōr or Hudōr (_Greek_), Awethur (_Welsh_), occur in the Rivers “The Adour,”(59) Atur-is (_Gallia_), “The Adder” (_Britain_), “The Adare” (_Ireland_.)

“Tschur” (_Armenian_), occurs in “Stura,” (_Gallia Cis._), “The Stour” (_Britain_), “The Suir” (_Britain & Ireland_), “The Souro” (_Spain_, a branch of the Tagus.)

From the frequent recurrence of all these different forms in several Celtic countries thus widely separated, it is plain that they were used conjointly by the early Celts, and represent various transitions of the same word. Thus “Stura” (in _Gal. Cis._), flows between the neighbouring streams Duria Major and Duria Minor, &c.

This word “Dour” enters very largely into the names of tribes; it forms singly a natural clue to a great number of names that hitherto have been referred to a complication of Roots. Thus the Roman name for the people of Dorsetshire, Duro-trig-es, i.e. The dwellers on the Water or the Ocean, has been noticed by Camden.

In the preceding, and in several of the following, it will be apparent that the old Celts applied this term to the “Sea or Ocean,” as the Bucharians do, and also to a “River.” At present the Welsh apply the term to Water only, in a restricted sense.

In the South-east of England names abound (applied to places on Rivers or the Sea) in which the two slight variations of Dur and Du-v-r (or Do-v-ar, _Irish_), still preserved in Welsh, are apparent. Duro-vern-um, “Canterbury,” from Duro, Water, and Vern or Veryn, a Hill. (Compare the name of the “Ar-vern-i,” under Beryn, at p. 78.) The Town was on a Hill by the Stour.

Portus Du-b-r-is or Dub-r-œ, i.e. “Sea Port,” the modern “Do-v-or,” a word which is an echo of the Irish Dovar and the Welsh Du-v-r.

Duro-brivæ, Rochester on the Medway, (Briva or Brivis, the ancient Celtic for a Town.) Duro-levum, Milton on the Thames.

Lan-du-b-r-is, a Portuguese Island. Lan, a Bank of a Stream, or the Sea: also an inclosed Space, (_Welsh._)

Tur-ones, the inhabitants of the country at the junction of several streams with the Loire, the neighbourhood of the modern Tours.

Bi-tur-ig-es, from Bi “Two,” Tur or Dour, Water, and trigo, to reside.

There are two tribes of this name in Gaul; the Bituriges Cubi, situated between two of the branches of the Loire, and the Bi-turi-ges Vobisci, between the Garonne and the Sea, at the junction of the Dordogne and the Garonne.

Cat-ur-iges, from Catti, Tribes or People; Dour, Water, and Trigo, to reside; on the Durentia, South-east of France, about Embrun or Eburo-Dunum, which was their principal town. Cad-ur-ci, from Catti, Tribes, and dur.

There is one tribe of this name on the Dordogne, and another contiguously placed on the Garonne.

The mutual support that these interpretations give to each other will be obvious.

The following Irish word for “Water,” which is not extant in the Welsh, may be traced in Celtic regions in its various modifications: Uisge (_Irish_), “The Usk” (_South Britain_)—Eask(60) (_Irish_, obsolete), “The Esk” (_Scotland_), “The Escaut” (_North of France_), Isca, “The Exe” (_South Britain_)—Easkong (_Irish_, obsolete), Axona (_Gallia_, _Belg._), “The Aisne,” Axones, the neighbouring tribe.

Names Of Estuaries, Or Mouths Of Streams.

The terms of this class, which occur in ancient Gaul, &c., consist either of terms still thus applied in the living Celtic dialects, or of compounds of which the elements may be recognized, unchanged, in those dialects. Moreover it will be highly interesting to observe that these terms, for the most part, consist of Metaphors derived respectively from the same sources as the two English words “Estuary” and “Mouth,” and the two Latin words “Æstuarium” and “Os Fluminis.”

One of the principal arguments of those writers who maintain that the separation of the Irish from the other Celtic tribes must have been of remoter date than the first peopling of these islands, is founded on the fact that the Irish use the word In-ver for the Mouth of a Stream, while the Welsh use Ab-ber (spelt Aber); a feeble support for so wide a conclusion, which a correct analysis of these terms, and a comparison of some interesting coincidences in the local names of ancient Gaul will show to be utterly futile! In-ver and Ab-ber are not simple but compound terms, literally corresponding to the Latin expression “Fluminis Æstuarium.” Æstuarium is from Æstuo, “To boil,” a metaphorical term, obviously derived from the agitation of the Waters where two Streams meet, or where a River enters the Sea.

In the first syllable “Inver” and “Ab-ber” differ, but they agree in the last. Both “In” and “Ab,” the first syllables of these terms, occur so often in Celtic regions that there can be no doubt they were both in use among the ancient Celts as words for a River, or Water. The last syllable of these words, Ber or Ver, I shall show to mean an “Estuary.”

“In” occurs in the name of “The Inn,” in the Tyrol, the “Æn-us” of the Romans, and in other instances previously noticed. “An” is a Gaelic or Irish term for “Water,” which is identical in sound and sense with terms of frequent occurrence among the tribes of the American Continent, as in Aouin (_Hurons, N. America_), Jin Jin (_Kolushians_, extreme North-west of _N. America_), Ueni (_Maipurians, S. America_.)

“Ab” occurs in “The Aube,” in France, &c., a name of which the pronunciation may be considered identical with Ab, “Water,” (_Persian._) Ap in Sanscrit, and Ubu Obe in Affghan, mean “Water.” “Obe” occurs in Siberia as the name of a well-known river. In India also the term has been applied to “Rivers;” thus we have in that country the Punj-âb, (the Province of “The Five Rivers,”) an appellation of which the corresponding Celtic terms “Pump-ab” would be almost an echo!

Further it may here be noticed—as an example of the complete identity of the Celtic and Oriental languages when all the “Disjecta Membra” are compared—that this word does not exist in the modern Celtic in the simple form of Ab, but in the derivative form of Avon, which is found in the Roman maps spelt “Abon,” &c. Now this form also occurs in the East. Abinn, “A River,” is given by Klaproth from the language of the inhabitants of the Mountains to the North of Bhagalpur. Apem means “Water,” in Zend, an ancient Persian dialect. Af is “Water,” in Kurdish.

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“Berw” is the South Welsh name for the effervescence in the deep receptacle in which a Cataract foams after its fall; it is applied also to the Cataract itself, as “Berw Rhondda,” the fall of the River Rhondda.

Aber, in Cornish, means “a Confluence of Rivers,” also “_a Gulf_,” “_a Whirlpool_.”(61)

In Breton or Armorican Aber means “a confluence of Rivers.” “Dans le diocese de Vannes,” says Bullet, “le mot a encore une autre signification, c’est _celle de torrent_.” “In the diocese of Vannes this word has still another meaning, viz., that of ‘a Torrent!’ ” Compare Torr-ens (_Latin_), “Torrent” (_English_), from Torreo (_Latin_), “To boil.” “Aber, in a deflected sense,” he says, “has been applied to a Harbour; hence Havre de Grace!”

“It is a curious fact,” says Chalmers, “which we learn from the Charters of the twelfth century, that the Scoto-Irish people substituted Inver for the previous Aber of the Britons. David I. granted to the Monastery of May _Inver-In_ qui fuit _Aber-In_ in Chart May.”(62) This remarkable place is at the “_Influx of a small stream_, called the _In_, on the coast of Fife. Both appellations are now lost.”

Among the names of ancient Celtic regions we have Abrin-catui, that is (_without any change in the word_) Aber-In-Catui; the name of a Tribe in Normandy, about Avranches, which is at the mouth of a River now called the See. (Another stream flows into the same Estuary.)

Aber—In—Cattui.

Literally,

“Estuary (of the) River—Tribes or People,” i.e. The Tribes living at the Estuary of the River or Rivers.

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The name of the same place will also furnish an example of a corresponding term, primarily meaning “The Mouth,” in the modern Celtic.

Genœ (_Welsh_), Ganau (_Cornish_), Gion (_Irish_), Genu (_Armorican_), mean “The Mouth.”

The original name of “Avranches,” when the country was first subdued by the Romans, was In-“_gena_.” Here it is plain “Gena” was synonymous with Aber! The Town was afterwards called Aber-in-Catui by the Romans, who very generally gave the names of the Celtic tribes to their principal Towns.

In D’Anville’s Map we find, in the same part of Gaul, _Aræ-genu_-s given to Bayeux, (the capital of the Bajocasses,) at the _mouth_ of a river now called the “Ayr!”

The following are very striking examples of the occurrence of the same word, Genœ or Ganau:

“Gano-durum” (Dur water) Constance, at the spot where the Rhine issues out of Lake Constance.

“Geneva.” (The Rhone issues here from the Lake, and is immediately afterwards joined by the Arve.)

“Genua” (Genoa). At the mouth of a stream.

“Albium In-gaun-um,” a town to the east of Genoa, where many streams from the Maritime Alps unite in one mouth.

Beal or Bel (_Irish_), Buel (_Manx_), “A Mouth.” This is another word, applied in Wales and Ireland, in topographical names, in nearly the same sense as Aber, as in Bala, at the mouth of a lake, North Wales, _Bally-shannon_, Ireland. This word does not occur either in vernacular Welsh or in the Welsh of old MSS. But in Irish, _Beal_ or _Bel_ is still the common word for “A Mouth.”

We shall find unequivocal proofs that this word also was used by the old Celts of Gaul, as in “_Boulogne_,” i.e. Bala (Beal, or Buel) Liane, “The mouth of the Liane.” The town is at the mouth of a small stream, of which Bullet, who does not appear to have suspected the derivation, says “La rivière qui passe à Boulogne s’appelle _Liane_.—The stream that runs by Boulogne is called Liane!” “Liane, Lune,” &c. is a common proper name for a stream in all countries of which the Celts formed the first population. Lliant (Llian-au, _plur._) means a stream, a torrent, in Welsh; Llyn, “Water,” in Welsh; and Lean, Irish. Hence “The Lune” in Herefordshire, &c.

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A further example of words of this Class occurs in the Latin name of the “Humber.”

This great receptacle of streams was generally called Ab-us; but Ptolomey, in Greek, gives the name more fully, “Abontrus!”(63) This word means in Welsh and Irish “The Outlet”, or literally “The Door” of the Rivers. Trus, A Door, (Drous, _Welsh_, Doros, _Irish_,) occurs in the same sense in Tura (_Sanscrit_), Der (_Persian_). Hence it appears that the Welsh word, which is nearer to the term preserved in this name, has not been borrowed from the English “Door!”

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“Aber,” however, was the greatest favorite with the ancient Celts, as with the modern Cymry! It would seem that this word “Aber” was as commonly applied in ancient Gaul, &c. as it still is in Wales, not merely to the mouths of large rivers, but to places situated at those of _very small streams_!(64)

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_Britain._—York, Ebor-acum (Caer Eboranch, _Welsh_; Ever-wick, _Saxon_.) Is inclosed for the most part between the Ouse and the Foss, which unite close to the Town! The river Foss separates _some parts of the Town_ from the rest.

Eburo-cass-um (Alnewick), at the mouth of the River Alne, Northumberland. Ever-wick is the name of an adjoining Village on the same river.

Eburo-nes (_Belgic. Gaul_). About the junction of the Saba and the Mosa. Cæsar states in his account of them that this tribe had no Town.

There was a prince of the Œduans(65) in Cæsar’s time, named Eporo-dor-ix, apparently from Aber-Dour “Water,” and Rex. The Gaulish chiefs, like those of the Gaelic Scotch, seem to have frequently derived their names from their peculiar territories or patrimonies; in the same manner, for instance, as the chiefs “Lochiel, Glengarry,” &c.

As before intimated, it appears pretty clear that the little nations into which Gaul was divided, such as the Ceno-mani, the Œdui, &c. consisted for the most part of a combination of _several_ distinct septs or clans each under their respective princes. The name of the chief (Eporo-dor-ix) just mentioned may, therefore—and most probably must—have been derived from that of some place no longer capable of being identified, though the country of the Œdui, the source of many rivers, abounds in localities to which it would apply very appropriately!

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_Gaul._—Eburo-dunum (now Embrun in Dauphiné.) At the confluence of a small stream with the Durance.

Since writing the above I find this town in Hornius’ map, marked “Epeb r-o-durû,” i.e. “Mouth of the Water,” (_Welsh._)

Eburo-briga, a Town. At the junction of one of the streams that feed the Seine above Sens.

Ebro-lacum. A Town near the source of the Loire; precise situation apparently unknown. But the affinity of “Ebro” to the Celtic “Aber,” and the identity of Lac (um) with Loch(66) or Lach, the Gaelic for a Lake or Water, will be obvious.

Avar-icum (Bourges), at the junction of the L’Evrette with the Evre, one of the branches of the Cher.

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_Switzerland._—Ebro-dunum, “Yverdun,” at the mouth of the river Orbe, that flows there into the Lake of Neuf-chatel.

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_Spain and Portugal._—Eburo-britz-ium, the modern Alco-baza or Alco-baca, on the Portuguese coast, between the Tagus and the Mondego, and not far from Torres Vedras. This town is at the mouth of the Alcoa river. The modern name, Alco-baca, (“The mouth of the Alcoa,”) is a guarantee of the correctness of the above construction of the ancient name!(67)

In the North-east of Spain, on the Bay of Biscay, we meet with the word Aber itself in an undisguised form, as we do in Gaul in the word Abr-in-catui.

There is a town, Uxam-_aber_, on a river called in Roman Maps the Uch-esia.(68) This is an unfortunate word for the advocates of the Spanish origin of the Irish, for here we have the Welsh Aber, in lieu of the Gaelic Inver, in the North of Spain—the very district from which the Colony is supposed to have come! Indeed the Local names in the Celtic regions of Spain generally approach much more nearly to the Welsh than to the Irish! This will be seen in some of the following examples.

Glan or Lan, “a Sea shore or Margin,” (_Welsh_,) not extant in Irish.

Glan a tuia (Glandeves), at the junction of a small stream with the Varus, that separates France and Italy.

Glan-um, on the Puech River, near Embrun.

Cat-a-laun-i. A tribe resident about Chalons on the Seine.

Cat-a-laun-i. “People (of) the river bank.” The name originally given to this town by the Romans was Duro-Cat-a-laun-i, i.e. (The Town of) “the Tribe on the Bank of the _River_ or _Water_.”

Llanes, a place on the coast of Asturia. (The aspirated _Ll_ of the Spaniards is very like the Welsh _Ll_, and is most probably a relic of Celtic pronunciation.) Lancia (Ciudad Rodrigo,) Lancia (Guarda.)

Lan-dubr-is. “The Shore or Margin of the Sea or Water,” or a spot inclosed by the Sea.(69) An Island, in Latin Maps, on the coast of Portugal.

“The Lan-des,” The well-known arid sandy deserts forming the South-eastern coast of France.

Medio-lan-um.(70) Medd, the middle, (_Celtic_,) and Lan. Towns thus designated seem to have been situated either at the Curve or Winding of a stream, or inclosed between two streams.

I may instance—in Cisalpine.

Gaul. Medio-lan-um, Milan.

Mediolanum (_Santones_), on the Loire. (_Eburovices Aulerci_), Evreux, Normandy. (_Bituriges Cubi_), inclosed between two winding streams, which are the sources of the Loire. Bi-tur-iges is from a synonyme, Bi, two, and Dour, Water.

Dôl, “A wind, a bow, a turn, a meander, a dale or mead, through which a river runs,” (_Welsh_,)(71) as in Dol-Vorwyn and Dol-Vorgan, Montgomeryshire, North Wales; “Dôle,” the ancient capital of Franche Compté. (Compare the situation.)

Lut-ecia,(72) Paris, seems clearly to have derived its name from its situation among marshes. “Située dans une isle de la Seine environnée de marais profonds, difficiles à traverser, qui communiquent à ce fleuve.” (Bullet, from Strabo.)

Llath-ach, “Mud, Dirt,” (Irish,) Llaith, Moist, (_Welsh._)

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Lug-dunum or Lau-dunum.(73) “Laon,” built on the Summit of a Rock divided into two branches. Lug, from Llech, a Stone. Clog, a detached rock, (_Welsh._) Liag, a great Stone. Leagan Kloiche, a Rock, (_Irish._)

In the following instances the identity of the Gaulish and other Celtic names with the Welsh is remarkably clear, and will be vividly felt by persons vernacularly familiar with the Welsh language, and the most common local names in Wales.

The “Bretons,” Ar-mor-ici. Ar, “On,” Mor, “the Sea.”

The people of a Hilly Region in the South-east of France, Ar-e-com-ici.

Coum, “a Hollow Circular Valley, or Depression,” (_Welsh._) This word is the source of the numerous names of places in England ending in Combe. The Oriental origin of the word is clearly traceable. After describing the great Table-land of Central Asia as extending over the whole of Persia, Ritter adds: “Towards ‘Koom,’ (in Persia,) we find the greatest depression, in the Table-land; here the surface sinks to 2046 feet!”(74)

There are also the “Com-oni,” above Toulon, and Com-us, “Como,” to which the word is peculiarly appropriate. (Bullet.)

The People of Auvergne. Ar-vern-i, “On the Hills.” Veryn or Beryn is a Hill in Welsh. Thus “Cevn y Beryn,” is the name of a Hill in Montgomeryshire.

By Plutarch the Ar-vern-i are called Ar-ben-i. “This is a very interesting addition to our information. ‘Veryn’ and ‘Ben’ are both synonymes extant in Welsh for ‘a Hill.’ ”

We have the same words repeated in the following instances, joined with Um (_Irish_), Am (_Welsh_), “About.” (Compare the Greek Amphi.)

Um-benn i, “The People (living) about the Hills.” A Swiss Tribe.

Um-bran-ici (from Beryn or Bron, _Welsh_,) a name of the Helvii mountaineers to the South-east of the Cevennes.

In the following names, again, we have Pen or Ben, and Beryn or Bron, alone.

Ben-ones, a Mountain Tribe in Switzerland.

Breun-i, on the borders of Bavaria and the Tyrol.

Bern-enses, the people of Berne, in Switzerland, and also those of Bearne, in the South of France, adjoining the Pyrenees.

A-Pen-inus Mons. Alpes Pen-inæ, the Alps immediately to the South of Geneva. Vallis Pen-ina, the Valley of the Rhone.

The primary sense of Pen, in Welsh, is “the Head.” As observed at page 11, the names for Hills in that language are metaphors from “the Head, the Breast,” &c. Now it is observable that in ancient Celtic Europe a difference of application corresponding to the different primary meanings of the terms is discoverable. Alpes is the general name for the Alps. (Alpes) Pen-inæ, a term derived from the Head, are the lofty and abrupt Alps, as distinguished from Alpes Maritimæ, &c.

In Spain and Portugal. Pena-s da Europa, (North of Spain.) Cape Pena-s, (in the Asturias.) Pen-a Longa, a Town adjoining the long ridge called the Sierra da St. Catherina in Portugal.

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Gebenn-a Mons, the Cevenn-es, “South of France.” Cevenn-es, (omitting “es,” French plural,) is identical with Cevn, “a Back,” “a Hill,” as in Cevn y Coed, the name of a hill in Montgomeryshire, (_Welsh._)

The Irish Gibhis, “a Valley,” is from the same source. Names of “Valleys and Hills” are generally composed of the same roots. (Similiter the Latin word “Altus” means both “High” and Deep!) A Valley is, in fact, formed by Hills!

These various meanings and inflections are found united in the Hebrew.

Hebrew. Hebrew. Derivatives Ga.e, to rise. Gve, or Gou e, to be Kub, a Mountain.(75) high, gibbous, or (_Persian._) curved. Kof. (_Pehlwi._) Goun, or Gav.n, Gb, the Back. Gbn, Gev.n, or Cev.n, the Swelling. Hunch backed. Back, the Ridge of a Hill. (_Welsh._) Gee a. Ga.oun, plur. G.b.oe, G.h.o.th, a Geib-his, Gibhis, a A valley, or more Mountain. G.b.o.the, Valley. (_Irish._) properly a lawn the Slope of a The Ghauts, rising to the top of Mountain. Mountains in Asia. the adjoining hill. Gibb-osus. (_Latin._)

Goupp en, a chain of Hills in Switzerland. (Bullet.)

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Alp. Dr. Owen Pughe quotes many classical authors to show that the word meant in Gallish a lofty Mountain. In the mountains of Glamorganshire, he adds, it is still used for a craggy summit.

Alp-es. Allo-bryges, from Alp- and (briga).(76) Brigi-cum was their only town. To the South-east of the Allobryges were the Hel-v-ii, (_Alba_ their capital.) To the North the Hel-v-etii, (Vod in Welsh, a Residence.) Both names were probably from Al-p.

Nant, (Nan-au, _plural_,) a Mountain Valley, “a Mountain Stream,” (_Welsh._) This word is still in use in Savoy. (See Dr. Prichard’s remarks.)(77)

Nannet-es, a Tribe in Britany, and

Nant-uates, a Tribe occupying the valley of the Rhine below its source.

Nang-ates, the people of Connaught. This is one of numerous instances of local names in Ireland, of which the sense has been lost in the Irish and still preserved in the Welsh.

Cori, or Corrie, means a hollow between hills. A glen or “Cleugh,” a small stream.(78) (A word of _Celtic origin_. Jamieson’s Etymological Dict. of the Scottish Language.)

This word appears to be in use both in the Highlands and Lowlands of Scotland; the first a Gaelic, the second originally a Cymraeg district. (See Chalmers’s Caledonia.)

Sir Walter Scott has very gracefully introduced this ancient word in the beautiful “Coronach,” or Funeral-song of the Clansman, in the “Lady of the Lake:”

“He is gone from the mountain,
He is gone from the forest,
Like a summer-dried fountain,
When our need was the sorest.

“Fleet foot on the _corrie_
Sage counsel in cumber
Red hand in the foray,
How sound is thy slumber!”

To this passage Sir Walter Scott has added the following note:(79) “Corrie or Cori.” The _hollow_ side of the hill where game usually lies!

I conceive a comparison of the following examples will serve to render it indisputable that this term may be accepted as a clue to a great number of the most important topographical names of Gaul and Britain, which have hitherto eluded the researches of Celtic scholars.

Hebrew. Celtic. C.r. To surround, go round. Cor. A Circle, (_Welsh_.) A pasture or Circuit for Cor-lan. A Sheepfold, Cattle. (_Welsh_.) A Lamb. Ka ora, or Kyra. A Sheep, (_Irish_.) A “Cor.” A measure so called from its round form. C.eee.ou.r. A Round Pot, or “Cori,” or Corrie. “The Caldron. _hollow side_ of the Hill where the game usually lies.” (Sir W. Scott.) C.r.e. To dig, as a Well or A _Hollow_ between Hills. A Pit. Cleugh. (Jamieson.)

The Tri-Cori-i. From Tre and Cori. A tribe who inhabited the modern French Department of the “High Alps,” an Alpine region, the source of numerous streams which feed the Rhone and its branches.

The Petro-Cori-i.(80) The inhabitants of the Departments of Dordogne and Correze. Dordogne is thus described by Malte Brun:

“We may pass from the Department of Lot to that of Dordogne by descending the last river which traverses it on the South from East to West. It is also watered by the Ille, the Dronne, the Vezere, and by more than _fourteen hundred small rivers_ and streams. Hills extend along this country in every direction, but with the exception of two vallies, those watered by the Ille and the Dordogne, they bound only _narrow passes, almost all of which are desolated by torrents!_”

Correze. From the same authority we learn that two thirds of this department consists of a mountainous region, full of “ravines and precipices,” and that its scenery progressively assumes more of this wild and romantic character as you ascend the river Correze, which gives its name to the Department, and to its principal town. Correze is plainly derived from Cori.(81)

The Cori-tan-i. A British tribe in Derbyshire, &c., from Cori and Tania, an addition frequently made by the Romans to the name of a province or district, as in Aqui-tania, Mauri-tania. Camden expresses himself totally unable to explain this term satisfactorily.

The following are partly composed of ancient Celtic Topographical Names, of which the appropriate meanings have not been preserved(82) in the Welsh and Irish, &c., but are found in the Oriental and other languages.

“Eryr-i,” the Welsh name of the Snowdon Mountains. This word has been variously explained by Welsh scholars, as meaning the “Snowy Mountain” (from Eira, “Snow”), the “Eagles’ Mountain,” &c. None of these explanations are appropriate. Moreover “Eryr-i” is not the name of a _single_ peak, but of the Snowdon _range_ of mountains! “E.r.r” is a pure Hebrew word, signifying a very high mountain,(83) from which “Eryr-i,” the name of the Snowdon range, the highest in South Britain, is a plural regularly formed!

Cimas da Our-ar-as, are high Mountains to the North of Lisbon.

Ban-nau Brycheiniog, “the Brecon Beacons,” lofty hills in Brecknockshire. Ban de la Roche, the celebrated Pastor Oberlin’s residence among the Vosges Mountains, in the East of France. Ban, “Lofty,” (_Welsh_,) Bian, a Hill, (_Irish_,) Boun-os, a Hill, (_Greek_,) Ban-k (_English_), a diminutive.

Bal. “Applied in Wales to Mountains that terminate in a Peak. Balannu, to shoot or spring forth.” (Dr. W. Owen Pughe.) Belan is also applied to Hills, as “Nant y Belan,” near Wynnstay. Bala, Bulund (_Persian_), Beland (_Pehlwi_), Bulund (_Zend_), “High.”

“The Don and the Dune,” Rivers in Scotland. Trev-i don, i.e. “the Town of, or on the River,” a place on the river Tarn, in the South of France. Don, Dun, “Water,” “a River,” (_Ossetians_, a people of the Caucasus). “The Don” River, in the country of the “Don Cossacks,” who are also considered to be a people of the Caucasus. “Donau” (_German_), the Danube.

From Ar, “a River, a Stream,” (_Hebrew._) “Ar-a,” now “the Ayr,” that enters the sea at Bayeux, (see before, p. 73.) “The Ar-ar,” Gaul. “The Ayr,” Scotland.

From Ee.a.ou.r, “a River, a Stream,” (_Hebrew_,) a modification of A.r. Wari, “Water,” (_Sanscrit._) “The Evre” and “Evrette,” France. “The Wavre,” Belgium. “The Weaver” and “the Wear,” England.

From Ee.a.r (_Hebrew_), and Iaro, “a River,” (_Egyptian_,) “The Yarrow,” Scotland. (See p. 10.)

From Ur, “Water,” (_Jeniseians_, in Siberia,) and Our-on (_Greek_), terms connected with the previous Hebrew words; “Ur-us,” the Ouse, Britain.

Thus it will be seen that the various inflections of the Hebrew word A.r. have been completely preserved in the names of the different rivers in each of the Celtic countries of Britain and Gaul.

Lamu, “the Sea,” (_Tungusian._) Lam, “the Sea,” (_Lamutian._) Limnē, a Lake, “Poetically, the Sea, the Ocean, which seems to be the most primitive sense; also anciently, as it would appear, the Estuary of a River,” Schneider (_Greek_). At the mouths of the rivers that flow into the Black Sea lakes are formed, which are called “Limans.”(84) Hence “Leman-us Lacus” in Switzerland.

Lim-ēn, a Haven, (_Greek_,) connected apparently with the last word, Limnē (_Greek_). “Lemanæ” vel Portus “Leman-is.” Lyme, in Kent, where Cæsar first landed.

Jura, a long Mountainous ridge in ancient Gaul. Jura, a long Mountainous Island (Scotland). “Jur-jura,” an important chain of Mountains in the North of Africa. Gora (_Russian_), Ghiri (_Sanscrit_), a Mountain.

In the foregoing examples Celtic words having an affinity to the Latin frequently occur, employed in a manner that shows they could not have been borrowed by the Celts from the Romans. Thus we have the names Ar-_mor_-ici, Ebro-lacum, names in which terms like the Latin “Mare” and “Lacus” are naturally blended with other Celtic words which are quite unlike the Latin!

I conceive the evidence adduced in the previous pages must serve to place beyond all doubt the truth of the propositions illustrated in this Section, viz., that the language of the primitive Celts of Europe and the British Isles originally consisted of a combination of the Welsh and Irish, and other living Celtic dialects, united with many words and forms preserved in none of those dialects, but traceable in the Hebrew, the Greek, and the languages of other ancient and distant nations.

The uniformity that presents itself in the ancient local nomenclature of all the Celtic countries is a very remarkable and instructive feature, of which an adequate conception can be formed only by an examination of the Roman Maps. The identity of names, for example, is found to be as complete when the Roman Maps of Gaul and Britain are compared, as we meet with in examining the Maps of two English Counties! To this rule Ireland, as far as we can judge from the imperfect nature of the information transmitted to us, formed no exception. These facts lead to the inference that the Celts must have diffused themselves, within a comparatively short interval of time, over all the regions of Europe of which the Romans found them in possession! Had the process of diffusion occupied a great many ages, there must have been a commensurate change in the Celtic language, which would have displayed itself in the local names of the more distant regions. But no such difference occurs, the local nomenclature of Britain, for instance, being identical with that of Switzerland and Spain!