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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 January 2013
Payne Knight, no mean name among philologers, after a masterly and convincing proof, that neither Zenodotus nor Aristarchus, the great critics of the Alexandrian school, could be acquitted of the charge of “scarcely credible ignorance” of the primitive form of the Homeric language, thus proceeds :—
“The grammarians and critics of Alexandria were all guilty of the same fault. They never investigated the original sources of the language, but classed among anomalous dialects and poetic licenses every thing that was not in unison with their own usual style of speaking. In their age there existed many clews to the inquiry, which have now disappeared, but which, at that time, might easily have been found in written records, and in the rude and semi-barbarous languages of Italy and other countries adjacent to Greece. Had any one, however, suggested to Aristarchus that the true form and character of the Homeric dialect was to be extracted from the Latin, Tuscan, or Oscan languages, he would in my opinion have been as much astonished as if he had heard of the claims of the Irish antiquary, who affirmed that the Homeric poems had been translated furtively from the “Gaelic into Greek.”
page 494 note 1 Prolegomena, p. 35.
page 497 note 1 Much error, both in History and Geography, would have been avoided, had the names by which nations denominated themselves been alone used to designate them. Welsh was the general name by which the German tribes designated all the Roman provincials whose territories they invaded, but especially the Italians.
page 498 note 1 It is my intention to write the words as they sound to the ear, not as they appear disguised in the modern spelling of the Welsh, a spelling which has done more to throw the language into obscurity, and render its very appearance disgusting to the eye of a civilized man, than all other causes put together. It not only has done this, but has absolutely served to render it more abstruse to the Cumri themselves. The vowel w, equal in power to the double o in wood, I shall retain, and ü with two points over it, to represent the sound ee. The soft sound of the d I shall leave unmarked, as it was in the older writers.
page 499 note 1 “Antiquissimus Italiæ populus.’ Lib. i. cap. 17.
page 499 note 2 “Gens antiquissima Italiæ.” Lib. iii. cap. xiv.
page 499 note 3 ὀι ομβςιϰοι εθνος εν τοις πανυ μεγα ϰαι αςχαιν. Lib. i.
ομβςα γενος γαλα⌉ων ϰαι σαλπιων. Jzetzes, Lye. cap. 199.
To these may be added the testimony of the Historical Fragments ascribed to Varro : “Ex his venisse Janum ceu Ogri et Gallis progenitoribus Umbrorum.” Ed. Lugd. 1560.
page 499 note 4 Book i. cap. 94.
page 499 note 5 Herod. Lib. iv. cap. 49.
Εϰ δε της ϰα⌉υπεςθε χυςας ομβςιϰων Καςπις πο⌉αμος ϰαι αλος Αλπις πο⌉αμος, πςος βυςην ςεον⌉ες ανεμον, ϰαι ὀυ⌉οι εϰδιδουσι ες Ισ⌉ςον
page 499 note 6 Page 6.
page 499 note 7 Lib. 3. cap. 14. “Tercentum eorum oppida Tusci debellasse referuntur.”
page 500 note 1 The Ligurians were themselves Ambrones, or Ombro-nes, as is evident from the story told by Plutarch in the life of Marius :—“The Ambrones came on crying out Ambrones, Ambrones; this they did either to encourage each other, or to terrify the enemy with their name. The Ligurians were the first of the Italians that moved against them, and when they heard the enemy cry Ambrones, they echoed back the word, which was their own ancient name.” The English reader may not know that the Cumrian name for England is to this day Loiger or Liguria.
page 501 note 1 Strabo, vi. 248.
page 501 note 2 Cramer's Italy, vol. ii. p. 92.
page 502 note 1 In the chapter on the Sabelli and Sabini, vol. i
page 502 note 2 Same chapter.
page 503 note 1 Lib. ii. p. 49.—Ζηνοδο⌉ος δε Τςοιζηνιος, συγ⌈ςαφευς Ομβςιϰου εθνοῦ ς, αυθιγενεεις ἰστοςει το μεν πςωτον οιϰησαι πεςι την ϰαλουμενην Ρεα⌉ινην, εϰειθν ὐπο Πελασγων εξελαθεντας, εις ταυτην αφιϰεσθαιτην γην ενθα νυν οιϰουσι, ϰαι με⌉αβαλον⌉ας αμα τῳ τοπῳ τουνομα Σαβινους εξ Ομβςιϰων πςοσαγοςευθηναι.
page 504 note 1 Solin. Pol. Hist. cap. 8.
Absolvit Umbros Gallorum veterum propaginem esse.
page 504 note 2 Virg. Serv. p. 724, near the end of the twelfth book.
Sane Umbros veterum Gallorum propaginem esse refert.
page 504 note 3 Origines, lib. 9, cap. 2.
page 505 note 1 Strabo, book v. p. 214
page 505 note 2 Strabo, p. 217.
page 505 note 2 Strabo.—Το δε Αςιμινον Ομβςιϰων εσ⌉ι ϰα⌉οιϰια ϰαθα πες ϰαι ἡ Ραουεννα.
page 505 note 3 Book xi.cap. 18.
page 506 note 1 Festus, under Troja.
page 506 note 2 Book v. p. 212.—Πεςι των Ενε⌉ων δι⌉⌉ος εσ⌉ι λογος, ὁι μεν γας, ϰαι αυ⌉ους φασι Κελτων ειναι αποιϰους, των ομωνυμων, Παςωϰεανι⌉ων.
page 506 note 3 Book v. p. 195.—Του⌉ους οια τους ουενε⌉ους οιϰισ⌉ας ειναι των Αδςιαν.
page 506 note 4 Τα δε πςος τον Αδςιαν. ηδη πςοσηϰοντα, γενος αλλο πανυ το παλαιον διαϰα⌉εσχε. Πςοσαγοςευον ται δε ουενε⌉οι. τοις εθεσι ϰαι τῳ ϰοσμϰ βςαχυ διαφεςον⌉ες Κελ⌉ων, γλωηη δ᾿ αλλοιᾳ χςωμενοι.
page 507 note 1 Strabo.—ὀμοχγλω⌉⌉ους ου παν⌉ας, αλλ᾿ενιους μιϰςον παςαλλα⌉⌉ον⌉τας ταῖς λωσσαις.
The γλω⌉⌉η αλλοια a of Polybius is not, as is well known to every scholar, “another language,” as it has been inaccurately translated, but a “variety in dialect.”
page 508 note 1 Hujus civitatis est longè amplissima auctoritas omnis oræ maritimæ, quod et naves habent Veneti plurimas, quibuscum in Britanniam navigare consueverunt; et scientia et usu nauticarum rerum cæteros antecedunt; et in magno impetu maris, atque aperto, paucis portubus interjectis, quos tenent ipsi, omnes fere, qui eodem mari uti consueverunt, habent vectigales.—Com. Bell. Gall. lib. iii. cap. 8.
page 508 note 2 Especially their chain-anchors and sails of finely tanned leather.
page 509 note 1 Erant ejusmodi fere situs oppidorum, ut posita in extremis linguis promontoriisque, neque pedibus aditum haberent, quum ex alto se æstus incitavisset, quod bis semper accidit horarum xii. spatio; neque navibus, quod, rursus minuenti æstu naves in vadis afflictarentur. In utraque re oppidorum oppugnatio impediebatur. Ac si quando, magnitudine operis forte superati, extruso mari aggere ac molibus, atque his ferme moenibus adæquatis, suis fortunis desperare cœperant; magno numero navium appulso, cujus rei summam habebant facultatem, sua omnia deportabant, atque se in proxima oppida recipiebant, ubi se rursus iisdem opportunitatibus loci defendebant—Com. Bell. Gall. lib. iii. cap. 12.
page 509 note 2 See Pugh. Diet, under the words.
page 509 note 3 P. 201.
page 510 note 1 Quod summa auctoritas antiquitus erat in Æduis.—Cæsar. Lib. i. 43, Ut omni tempore totius Galliæ principatum Ædui tenuissent.
page 510 note 2 Triad 2 and 34, &c.
page 510 note 3 Galli se omnes ab Dite patre prognatos prædicant, idque ab Druidibus proditum dicunt.—Cæsar, Lib. vi. cap. 17.
page 511 note 1 Imprimis quod Æduos fratres consanguineosque sæpenumero ab Senatu appellatos, videbat.—Lib. i. cap. 43.
page 511 note 2 Docebat etiam quam veteres, quamque justæ causæ necessitudinis ipsis cum Æduis intercederent: quæ Senatûs consulta, quoties, quamque honorifice, in eos f'acta essent.—Lib. i. cap. 43.
῾Ων εσ⌉ιν ἑν πςος Ρωμαιους εχον συγγενειαν ϰαι φιλιαν την μεχςι των ϰαθ᾿ ἡμας χςονων διαμενουσαν.—Diodorus Siculus, Lib. 4. p. 210.
Οἱ δε Εδουοι συγγενεις των Ρωμαιων ονομαζον⌉ο.—Strabo, l. 192.
page 511 note 3 Book i. ver. 427; see also tbe testimony of Sidonius Appolltnaris to the same effect.
page 512 note 1 Lib. 9. 36.
page 512 note 2 Oratio pro Balbo.
page 512 note 3 Lib. 9. cap. 4.
page 512 note 4 Vol. i. 254.
page 512 note 5 Do. 252.
page 513 note 1 Vol. i. p. 113.
page 514 note * Strabo Πςω⌉οι των ταυ⌉ῃ πςοηλθον πςο ϛ την φιλαν ϰαι σνμμαχιαν.
page 514 note † Sidon. Apollinar. Poem. 62.
page 514 note ‡ Tacitus, 21. Jam vero principum filios liberalibus artibus erudire et ingenia Britannorum studiis Gailorum anteferre, ut, qui modò linguam Romanam abnuebant, eloquentiam concupiscerent, hide etiam habitus nostri honor et frequens toga, paullatimque discessum ad de linimenta vitiorum porticus et balnea et conviviorum elegantiam; idque apud imperitos humanitas vocabatur, cum pars scrvitutis esset.
page 516 note 1 Lib. 8. cap. 1.Πςλασγος δς βασιλενσας του⌉ο μεν ποιησασθαι ϰαλυβας επενοηϰεν, ώς μη ςιγουντες ϰαι υεσθαι τους ανθςωπονς.
page 516 note 2 See the Macedonian Glossary at the end of Steph. Thes.
page 517 note 1 Paus. lib. i. cap. 28.
Τῃ δε αϰςοπολει πλην ὁσον ῳϰοδομησεν αν⌉ηςο Μιλτιαδος πεςιβαλεῖν το λοιπυν του τειχους Πελασγους. οιϰησαν⌉ας πο⌉ε υπο την αϰςοπολιν φασι γας Αγςολαν ϰαι ὐπεςβιον. πυνθανομενοε δε ὁι⌉ινες ησαν ουδεν αλλο εδυναμην μαθεῖν η Σιϰιλους οντας Αϰαςναςνανιαν με⌉οιϰησαι.
page 517 note 2 Αγςα-capture, e. g. πυς-αςγα, a smith's forceps, and λα.ας, a stone, ὐπες, exceedingly, and Βια, force.
page 519 note 1 “This word and aw, are in the composition of a great many words which relate to fluidity.”—Ow. Diet.
For the sake of the general reader if such should read so far, it should be mentioned that the Cumrian w is pronounced like the English oo in good, and that the y following it merely iotacizes the oo.
page 519 note 2 A river in Picenum, now called Fiumesino (Flumen Æsinum).
page 519 note 3 Not far from Bononia, now called Ronco.
page 519 note 4 The Adige. Observe the tendency of the v or w to become g, aev-um, Age, &c.
page 519 note 5 Now Isaro, near Crotona. Æs, water,—ar, mountain.
page 519 note 6 Now Natisone, not far from Aquileia.
page 519 note 7 Now Ausa, not far from Ariminum. Wys apparently compounded with aper.
page 519 note 8 A branch of the Po. Pad-wys, water of the Pad, called by Polybius Padoa. Now called the Po de Primano.
page 519 note 9 Osa, retains its name, a small river not far from Cosa.
page 519 note 10 Is, now Issa, between Petilia and Velia.
page 519 note 11 Ausar, now Serchio, near Pisæ.
page 519 note 12 The Tarentine stream, so celebrated by poets, now called Galeso. This, among many others, may be quoted as a proof of the indestructibility of names, except by the absolute extermination of the inhabitants. The Dorians of Tarentum gave it the name of Eurotas, after their own Laconian stream; and, in the days of Polybius, it was, as we are informed by him, more generally termed the Eurotas. But as Greek influence declined, the original name prevailed, and the Galaesus has been immortalized in many a poet's verses. Assuredly, it is not owing to chance that the two words meant the same thing, the one in the Cumrian, the other in the Greek language. Ευ-ςω⌉-ας, the fair stream; Gâl-wys, fair water. In Owen's Dictionary, we find the following explanation: Gâl, “clear,” “fair.”
Avon reawg ai hynt hîr mewn gwaündîr gâl.
A river running with its course long in meadow-land fair.
Here, perhaps, I ought to add, that the Bradanus, the largest stream which falls into the Tarentine Gulf, still called the Bradano, has its representative in the Guildford river in Surrey, which bore both the generic name “Wey,” and the specific one Brad-an. The specific name has, however, I understand, perished among the people, although retained in history.
page 521 note 1 Now L'Avenza, near Luna.
page 521 note 2 Now Savone, in Campania, after the manner of the Gallic Savona now Saone; originally it was Avon Ara, the Slow River, (Vide *Cassar's description of it. Lib. i. cap. 12.) in time the specific name perished, the generic remained.
page 521 note * Flumen est Arar, quod per fines Æduorum et Sequanorum in Rhodanum influit incredibili lenitate, ita ut oculis in utram partem fluat judicari non possit.—Ara means “slow.”
page 521 note 3 Now Aufente, in Latium.
page 521 note 4 Now the Vomano in Picenum.
page 521 note 5 In the Pomptine Marshes.
page 521 note 6 A tributary of the Liris; evidently the Beaver (Fiber) Stream.
page 521 note 7 Still called Clitunno. That the Clit is a separable prefix is apparent from its being joined with ernum also, a very common topographical affix, as Clit-ernum. The word is apparently synonymous with the Scotish and Welsh Clyde, which means in Cumrian “warm,” clüd, a term equally applicable to the Italian and British rivers.
page 522 note 1 Dwr, pronounced Door, is the common name among the Cumrian tribes for water, river, sea. The two Duriæ, tributaries of the upper Po, are still called Doria Baltea, and Doria Riparia. The Turia, a small tributary of the Tiber, about six miles from Rome, is not recognised by modern geographers. The Stura still retaining its ancient name, is also a tributary of the upper Po. In the Sussex Adur, and the Kentish Stour, we still retain the original appellations. There was also a river in Latium, called both Astura and Stura, now Store.
page 522 note 2 Now Timia, in Umbria.
page 522 note 3 Still called Tinna, in Picenum. Both synonymous with our Tyne, and with another Italian Tinea, a tributary of the Var.
page 522 note 4 Cramer, Vol. i. p. 191, has the following observation :—“A short distance from the lake Prilis brings us to the mouth of the Ombrone, anciently Umbro, one of the most considerable rivers of Etruria. It is represented as navigable by Pliny, and its name, as the same writer observes, is indicative of the Umbri having once been in possession of Etruria.” The strength of the argument is doubled, by the occurrence of a second Umbro in Etruria, not far from Arretium, called by Cramer, Ambra, but written Umbro in the Peutingerian tables. The British Humber, or Humyr, is evidently the same name, and equally conclusive of the presence of the Umbri in Britain.
page 522 note 5 Truentum, now called Tronto, is in Picenum. The Traens,not far from Sybaris. bears the modern name of Trionto. They are both evidently the same word; the first being the Latinized, and the other the Hellenized form. The Greeks seem, as I shall have further occasion to remark, to have formed imaginary nominatives, in order to reduce the Italian names to the analogy of their own declensions. The Saxon name of the great river Trent was Tre-onta, as well as Trenta; a form which identifies the British with the two Italian streams, Tronto and Trionto. If these be compared with the Alpine Druentia, and the British Derventio, the modern Derwent, it will probably be inferred, that they were all originally the same word.
page 523 note 1 Probably the same as the Gallic Liger (now Loire), especially if it be compared with the Saxon Leire (now Soar), the river of Leicester, originally Leger-ceaster, or Ligora-ceaster.
page 523 note 2 Near Gabii, now Farfa, evidently the British Wharfe.
Varro, de Lingua Latina, liber V. cap. 6. “Sed de Tiberis nomine anceps historia, nam suum Etruria et Latium suum esse credit, quòd fuerunt qui ab Thebri vicino regulo Veientum dixerunt appellatum Thebrim. Sunt qui Tiberim priscum nomen Latinum Albulam vocitatum literis tradiderunt.” Compare the same author de Re Rustica, Lib. iii. cap. 1. “Lingua prisca et in Græcia Æoleis Bœotii sine amatu vocant collis Tebas; et in Sabinis, quo e Græscia venerunt Pelasgi, etiam nunc ita dicunt.”
page 524 note 1 A high hill in Ischia so called, for the same reason as the Acro-Corinthus was called επωπη. See Stephan. de Urbibus, under the word.
page 524 note 2 The height above the Arvnian lake.
page 524 note 3 “;It seems allowed that the Greek term Pausilypus was applied to the ridge of hills which separates the Bay of Naples from that of Pozzuoli, probably on account of its delightful situation and aspect.”—Cramer's Italy, page 173.
page 524 note 4 A hill near the Neaethus.
page 524 note 5 In Latium.
page 524 note 6 In Etruria.
page 524 note 7 Near Marrubium.
page 524 note 8 On the Via Sublacensis.
page 524 note 9 In Liguria.
page 524 note 10 Among the Sabini not far from the source of the Nar, Tetricus and Severus are supposed at present to be represented by the high peaks of the Sibilla, among the loftiest in the Apennine ridge. The Poets are very fond of alluding to the meaning of the name when they knew it. Hence
“Nam quæ nivali pascitur algido.”—Hor. Od. lib. i. 21.
And,
“Qui Tetrici horrentes rupes montemque Severum.”—Virg. Æn. vii. b. 714.
page 525 note 1 “Et locus difficillimus est ε⌉υμα, quod neque his fere societas cum Græca lingua, neque vernacula ea, quorum in partum memoria adfuerit nostra.”—Lib. vi. de Lin. Sat. cap. 5.
The name Apenninus may safely be merged in the Cumrian form Penninus, an appellation by which both the god who was worshipped at the pass of the Great St Bernard (Alpes Penninæ), and the god whom the Umbrian shepherds adored in the vicinity of Iguvium, was called. The spot is marked in the Peutingerian Tables as the temple of Jupiter Penninus. The Cumrian Pen is the English head chief summit, and is still used as a common word. “Penin” is the capital of a pillar, and was doubtless applied to designate the highest peaks among the hills. I am inclined to reckon Le-Pinus as another form, especially as the town Pinna, in the high Apennines, is now called Penne.
page 525 note 2 Varro, in talking of Pecudes, writes (De Re Rust. lib. 2. cap. 1.), “Annon in mari terraque ab his regionum notæ? in mari, quod nominarunt a capris Aegæum pelagus, ad Syriam montem Taurum, in Sabinis Canterium montem.” “Have not the characteristics of regions, both by sea and land, been derived from them? was not the Ægean Sea derived from Αιγες ? the mountain near Syria from Ταυςος? and that in the Sabini, from Cantherium, ‘a beast of burden ?’” Now, if it can be shown that the learned antiquary is wrong in the first, it may be inferred that he may be also mistaken with respect to the last. Now from Αισσω, “I rush violently, I spring,” came Αιξ, “a goat, a springing animal,” and аιξ, “impetuosity.” From this second Αιξcame Αιγις, “ an impetuous squall of wind,” as may be seen in the compound Κα⌉αιγις, thus defined by Aristotle, “Τωγ γεμην βιαιων πνευμα⌉ων χα⌉ων χα⌉αιγς μεν ε⌉ι ανωθεν τυπ⌉ον εξαιΦνης.” Of the violent winds, the χα⌉αιγις “a blast suddenly strikes from above.” The Ægean is therefore not the Goat Sea, but the Squally Sea, a name which, all who know it say, it well deserves. Hence also in Homer, Αιγιος, the epithet of Homeh's Jupiter, the Storm-restrainer, not the Goat-skinholder, as later commentators interpreted the word. Mount Taurus was not named after “the Bull,” but from Tor, one of the most universally diffused names for a bold and aspiring peak. Canterius Mons, also, has nothing to do with a “gelding,” but was named, on the same principle as many other hills, from “Can,” or Canus. white, and Terra (originally Tera), land; or, in the Cumrian form, from the same words, “Cantir,” from “Can,” white, and Tîr, land.
page 526 note 1 Mons Ciminus was a long and lofty ridge in Etruria, the passage of which (at least if we credit the annals of the Fabian family) formed an era in the history of early Rome. I have already observed that the M of the Romans was more of a vocal than consonantal letter. Hence, this same name of a hill, when applied to the range of hills in the south-east of France, and written Κεμενος by the Greeks, and Cebenna by the Latins, still keeps its original sound in the French Cevennes. But in the language of the modern Cumri (see Owen's Diet.), Cevyn (pronounced Ceven, pi. Cevenau), is “a ridge, as Cevyn o dîr, a ridge of land, a long extended mountain.” From the same root comes Ceba, now Ceva, a town and district of Piedmont; the Cevin or Chevin Hills, in Yorkshire; and the Cheviot Hills, called formerly Chevy, the well-known ridge between Scotland and England. To these may be added the ancient Si-Cimino, a mountain of Liguria.
page 526 note 2 Cumerium Promontorium, now Monte Comero, a bold headland in Picenum, till commemorating the possession of that district by the Cumri, under their true name, and a record as lasting as the Mont-Gomeri, in France, and the Comri Isles, in the Frith of Clyde, probably in all cases the last retreat of the bravest spirits of) vanquished district.
page 527 note 1 Cunarus. This name is supposed to have been attached to the highest peak of the Apennines, the modern Monte Corno, or il Gran Sasso d'ltalia. And the etymology strongly confirms the conclusions of comparative geographers, for Cun-Ar means the chief hill. (See Owen's Dictionary, under the words.) Cûn, “a leader or chief.” Ar-an, “a high place, alp. It is the name of several of the highest mountains in Britain.” Ar itself is not used as a noun, but as the preposition “above, upon,” is in constant use.
It would be easy to extend this examination with the same success to Garganus, Gurgures, Gurgunium, Massicus, and many others. But, as I only wish to give a specimen, the above may suffice.
page 529 note 1 A comparison of these two names with Col-Latium, Pa-Latium, &c. will shew that Ca is a separable prefix. Compare also the rare coin, published by Sestini. and bearing the inscription Palacivm, ascribed to the Sabine Palantium, from which, according to Variso (Ling. Lat. IV.) the Palatine hill derived its name.
page 529 note 2 For the same reason compare Mars Martis, the God, and the river Marta in Etruria; also Ma-mertium.
page 530 note 1 Purus ager, Ca-meren incola turba vocat.—Ov. Fast. 581.
page 530 note 2 Compare A-meria in Umbria.
page 530 note 3 Compare Merinum, near Mons Gargânus, in Apulia.
page 530 note 4 Compare with the English Sil-Chester, Caer-silin, Sil-innæ isles, Carsula, an island of the western coast of Britain, mentioned by the geographer of Ravenna.
page 530 note 5 Called by the Greeks Agylla. Caerè is to this day a common name in Wales.
page 530 note 6 Another Acemæ in Cisalpine Gaul is now called Gherra.
page 530 note 7 Nu-ceria means New town; an old town in Welsh would be Hengaer, from hên, sen-ex, Nola, in an inscription given by Lanzi, was Nu-flan, where the F supplies the place of the aspirated 1, New-Lan, or in modern Welsh, Llan-Newyd. Thus also Latius ager is in an inscription ager Tlatie on the same principle.
page 531 note 1 Vol. i. p. 209.
page 531 note 2 Gle-Mona in the same vicinity proves that Cor Moaes is made up of Cor and Mona.
page 531 note 3 Compare this word with Car-sula, and Carseoli, and Ca-silum, and with Sul-Môn-e
page 533 note 1 One paper has been already read by me on the Tuscan language, bvit will not be published till the second is finished. It certainly is not Greek, and the Cumrian words in it are not numerous, not more, indeed, than a dominant tribe might be supposed to have borrowed from their vanquished subjects.
page 534 note 1 Supposed to have been situated on one of the summits of Algidus The adjective Carventana, necessarily implies the existence at some period of a Caer-went, or Car-venta, in the vicinity.
page 534 note 2 On coins this name, in Oscan characters, is Trebint-im; similar names, both in Wales and Cornwall, will occur to persons acquainted with the locality.
page 534 note 3 I place Bene-vent-um under this head without scruple, without paying deference to the story mentioned by Livy, Pliny, and Festus, that before it became a Roman colony it was called Male-vent-um; because we have coins of this city bearing the Oscan inscription “BENEVENTOD,” a proof that such was its name before it received a colony from Rome, and because there was another Bene-ventum between Brixa and Verona, in Cisalpine Gaul, and Bennaventa* in Britain. I may also add, that I look upon such words as Tarentum, &c. as pure Italian, and that it was the Greeks who formed imaginary nominatives, like Taras, &c. to suit their own fables. Pausanias informs us that Tarentum was “a very considerable and opulent town before the arrival of Phalanthus and his Spartans.”
page 534 note 4 The Celtiberi were undoubtedly Cumri; Diodorus Siculus even calls them bv the name, των δε χιμβςων οι Λουσι⌉ανοι, &c.; but I have nothing to do with Spain at present.
page 534 note * Now Daventry.
page 535 note 1 See Owen's Dict. under Gwenhwyson.
page 535 note 2 It is curious that the hundreds so well known under the name of Chiltern, were in the Saxon period written “Clitern.” The word is “Clûd-wern,” warm-wood.
page 535 note 3 From these examples we see that the Cumrian Gw, of the radical word Gwern, became V, as in Privemum, F, as in Prifernum, or totally disappeared, as in Aternum. Priv-wern means primitive or chief wood, Ti-fernum Tŷ-wern, wood house.
page 536 note 1 Avon or Awn, a river.
page 536 note 2 Gwent, Gwyr Gwent.
page 536 note 3 Gelli, Groves, Welsh name of the “Hay,” the town.
page 536 note 4 Ul, water. Compare this Ver with Vero-lamium, Vero-metæ, &e. in Britain
page 536 note 5 Din the Town.
page 536 note 6 Compare the Welsh Vale, Festini-og in north Wales.
page 536 note 7 The district of water.
page 536 note 8 Cennium, Cevenæ, ridges, range of hills.
page 536 note 9 There still remain many coins of this town bearing the epigrapli TIANO.
page 537 note 1 This word, compared with Re-ate, shows that the Te was a separable prefix; and the several coins bearing the inscription TIATI, proves that its primitive form was Ti.
page 537 note 2 Now Pavia, probably gave its name to the Ticinus river, the Tessino.
page 537 note 3 The meaning of Ti-ora, “Ty. oera,” is “coldest house,” a fit name for its situation.
page 537 note 4 These names, compared with Ves-bula, will shew that Tre is a separable prefix, and if Lanzi (page 508, vol. ii.), is right in affirming, on the faith of inscriptions, that the citizens of this town were called TREBALAces, as the Brutii are called by ENNIUS Brutaces, it will necessarily follow that the name of the city was originally Tre-bala (see Bala in the list of roots). The epithet Balinea, is confirmative of this explanation.
page 538 note 1 Este is a common root in the names of places. See At-Este, Prten-Este, Greek, ασ⌉υ.
page 539 note 1 Quoted by Steabo Lib. v. page 244.
page 540 note 1 The whole of the inscription applicable to the case is the following:—
“Quintus. Aufidius. Mensarius. Tabernæ. Argentariae. Ad. scutum. Cimbricum. Cum. Magna. Vi. Æris. Cessit. Foro. retractus. ex. itinere. causam. dixit.” I owe this quotation to Thierry's history of the Gauls, vol. i. page 46.
page 540 note 2 Taciti Germ.
Sexcentessimum et quadragessimum annum urbs nostra agebat quum primum Cimbrorum anna audita sunt.
page 540 note 4 Mevania, a city in a plain (“Projecta in campis,” or, as Lucan describes it, “ubi se Mevania campis explicat,”) watered by the sacred river Clitumnus. Now, Mai, Cumricè, is a plain, and Man (in composition Van), a place, hence Meivan or Maivan, means “a city of the plain.” It is from the Saxons that we learn that Anglesea also bore this name; they called it Mon-ege, i. e. “Mona isle,” or Man. Cyn, i. e, “Chief spot,” from its holiness, and, as it appears, Meivan or Mevania, from its champaign character.
page 541 note 1 Spina, supposed to have been a Pelasgic city, was placed at the south-eastern mouth of the Po. Spina on the river Kennett, is still called Speen. As the Pelasgi gave the name to the one city, it might be inferred that they gave it also to the other; but it is far more probable that the same primitive race which named Spina before the visit of the Pelasgi, gave the same name to the British city.
page 541 note 2 These two words, together with the name of the river Cunetio, may serve to fix the original position of the Cunetes of Herodotus (iv. cap. 49.), “the Danube flows through all Europe, beginning from the Celtæ, who, after the Cunetes, are the most western inhabitants of Europe.”
page 541 note 3 These Morgetes, called also Morgentes, as may be inferred from their city, Μοςγενῖιον, at the mouth of the Symaithus, in Sicily, were one of the earliest Italian tribes, so denominated apparently from their position on the sea coast. Môr, sea, Gant, brink or side, compare Morgan-wg, in South Wales, Vor-ganium or Morganium in Aremorica. The Samnite Murgantia was, according to the coins, Murtantia.
page 542 note 1 Take, for example, the following examples:—
These and such changes never for a moment cause a scholar to confound two radicals, which change only on certain conditions and fixed principles. But when a language formed on such a principle breaks up, and a new one is reconstructed from its fragments, and perhaps that of others, we may expect to see such grammatical forms figuring in the new language as independent radicals; thus, under one of the above described forms, we have three English words:—
Bwyd, bait, either for a fish or horse.
Ei-Fwyd, his food.
Fy-Mwyd, my meat.
page 543 note 1 Notandum etiam, quod verba lingua Brittanicæ omnia fere vel græco conveniunt vel Latino.” Cambriæ Descriptio.
page 544 note 1 Humphrey Lhwyd (Humphrey Lloyd), to whom the original inhabitants of Great Britain, Ireland, and France, owe so much, states the question as plainly as the prejudices of the day would allow him. “Additions to Merionethshire in Camden.” “It seems to me the word Torques was Celtic before it was Roman. For although I acknowledge it to be derived from Torqueo, yet we also have the verb Torchi in the same sense; and seeing that both the British words Torch and Torchi are in all appearance derived from the common word Troi, i. e. to turn; and also that grammarians know not well whence to derive Torqueo, I know not but we may find the origin of it in the British Torch. Nor ought any one to think it absurd that I thus endeavour to derive Latin words from the Welsh, for there are hundreds of words in that language that agree in sound and signification with the Latin, which yet could not be borrowed from the Romans, because the Irish retain the same, who must have been a colony of the Britons long before the Roman conquest; and also that the Welsh or British is one dialect of the old Celtic, whence, as the best critics allow, the Roman tongue borrowed several words, and I presume, by the help of the Irish, which was never altered by a Roman conquest, it might be traced much farther. For instance, we must acknowledge these British words, Tîr, Awyr, Môr, Avon, &c. to have one common origin with those of the same signification in the Latin, Terra, Aer, Mare, Amnis; but seeing the Irish also have them, it is evident they were not left here by the Romans, and I think it no absurdity to suppose them used in these islands before Rome was built.”
page 544 note 2 With the exception of the road along the sea-shore from Chester to Carnarvon, which appears to have been merely the road to Ireland.
page 546 note 1 “Quidam putant, antiquitus fuisse separabilem afferuntque illud fragmentum.”—Caton. in originibus apud Macrobium, Lib. i. satur. cap. 14. Am-Terminum, Circa-Terminum, super quo tamen miras eruditi lites excitarunt.—Forcell. in loco. Hence we have a preposition in common use among the Cumri, which nevertheless had ceased to be so used in Rome long before the Romans invaded Britain.
page 546 note 2 An ancient word, which, like most other expressions which they did not understand, has been especially maltreated by commentators. I add Forcellini's account of it: “Am truo vel Amptruo, to turn round in the dance. Antiquum verbum ab Am, circum, et trua, quæ est instrumentum ad movendum vel agitandum. Significat motus et saltus quos edebant Salii sacerdotes in suis sacris. Horum enim qui primus erat, amtruare dicebatur, et qui post eum movebantur et saltitabant, invicem motus reddentes, redamtruare.” Cels. apud Festum, Redamptruare. Something analogical to the Strophe and Antistrophe of the Greek Chorus.
page 547 note 1 Servius, on the words “Auri, Aura,” has this observation: “Splendor auri,” Horatius. “Tua ne retardet Aura maritos,” i. e. Splendor. Hinc et aurum dicitur a splendore qui est in eo metallo.” Thus Varro also seems to have had access to some source of knowledge afterwards shut, when, under Aurora (Lib. vi. de Lin. Latina, cap. v.) he writes: “Aurora dicitur ante solis ortum, ab eo, quod ab igne solis tum aureo, aer aurescit.” Aureus is used to express brightness, without any reference to gold, as in “aurea Phœbe,” “aurea Venus.” And Manilius has even, “Aureus olor” (Lib. v. v. 383), “i. e.” adds Forcellini, “Nitidissimi et candentis coloris,” brilliant white. Perhaps also in the famous passage (Hor. lib. i. od. v.)—
aurea ought to be translated, “in all your brightness,” the same as Aurea Venus, “all smiles:” and aura, “a gleam of light,” the deceitful sunshine, ought to be contrasted with “aspera nigris æquora ventis.”
page 548 note 1 Once again let the reader be told, that the favourite vocal sound of the Cumri is that represented by wy, or oo-ee pronounced as diphthong The same word Bwyst, is in Corn. Buest, Ang. Beast.
page 548 note 2 Forcellini, under the word, “Sumptum etiam pro quovis nexu, quo aliquid conjungitur aut ligatur.”
page 548 note 3 Lib. vii. cap. 3.
page 548 note 4 Lib. i. tit. 13.
page 549 note 1 De Bello Gall. Lib. vii. cap. 73.
page 549 note 2 Virg. Eclogues, ii. b. 36.
page 551 note 1 De Bello Gallico, Lib. vi. cap. 14. Equitum ut genere opibusque amplissimus, ita plurimos circa se ambactos clientesque habet.
page 551 note 2 Etymologists would derive this from No, to swim, and refer to the Greek ὐδςος as an illustration, but the masculine, swimmer, is Natator, and Natrix is itself masc.; “Et natrix violator aquse.” See Forc. in verbo.
page 552 note 1 The Cumrian, like the Greek, aspirates the letter R at the commencement of a word.
page 552 note 2 Lib. iii. Saturn, c. 4.
page 552 note 3 De Natura Deorum, Lib. iii. cap. 29.
page 552 note 4 Lampridius in Vita, c, 5.
page 553 note 1 Suetonius in Ner. cap. 16.
page 553 note 2 Lib., x. cap. 20.
page 553 note 3 Lib. iii. od. 16. ver. 8.
page 553 note 4 Fast. v. 217. Lib. ii. Ex. Pont. Ep. 8. v. 5.
page 554 note 1 It is a constant practice to represent the Latin S, by the Cum. H, and vice versa, e. g—
Sērus, hwyr.
Sag-ura, hyg and hygan.
Sal, Halen.
Sol, Haul, &c.
page 554 note 2 See H. Llwyd's Brit. Etym. p. 283.
page 555 note 1 Maint in French (magnitude applied to numbers, in Cum. to size, two relations which continually interchange, as παυςοι, a few, parvus, small), is a derivative from Magnus, or some cognate form. Magnitas in French, would become Maint, as Magis becomes Mais, Pagus Pais, &c.
page 556 note 1 P. 194.
page 558 note 1 Cicer. Pro Milon. cap 7.
page 558 note 2 De Ling. Latin. Lib. v. 42.
In fine Cap. ix. 1–7.
page 560 note 1 Orat. adver. Lib. iii. 54.
page 562 note 1 Lib. et tit. 4. Leg. 27.
page 562 note 2 Lib. xxvii. tit. 8. Leg. 1.