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Arthurian Names: Arthur

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

William A. Nitze
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Extract

As Heinrich Zimmer—GGA (1890), p. 818, n. 1—saw correctly, the name Arthur is the regular derivative of the Lat. Artorius in Brythonic. Thurneysen—ZCPh, xx (1933), 136—remarks: “Zimmer hatte gesehen, dass Arthur die regelmässige britannische Entwicklung von lat. (Artor oder) Artorius sein kann”, the long Lat. o becoming u in Celtic.

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 64 , Issue 3 , June 1949 , pp. 585 - 596
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1949

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References

1 For Arthur as a Welsh prince, a British prince, and an Irishman of unknown rank, all in the seventh century, see Bruce, Evolution of Arthurian Romance, 1,6.

2 But the MLat. forms vary: William of Malmesbury, De Rebus Geslis, i, 8, has Artur, gen. Arturis; Henry of Huntingdon, Historia Anglorum, ii, 18, Arthurus; and Geoffrey of Monmouth, Historia Regum Britanniae, ed. Griscom, p. 426, Arturus (celeberrimum uirum ilium arturum). In neither Marie nor Wace does Arlurs (with an -s) occur; though after vs. 12274 in Wace Arthur is general, according to Arnold. In Floriant et Florete, ed. Williams, vs. 997, Artui rimes with lui.

3 See Pio Rajna, Rom., xvii (1888), 161 and 355.

4 Thurneysen remarks: “Die Bausteine zu seiner Erklàrung liegen bereit, sind aber noch nicht richtig zusammengefugt.”

5 According to Faral, Légende Arthurienne, i, 73, the Chartres MS., already interpolated, represents an earlier text than that chosen by Mommsen. This he dates as later than 687. But Lot, Nennius et l'Historia Brittonttm, i, 79 says “ne saurait avoir été composée avant 774.”

6 Inscriptions 1919 and 12791 read as follows (the sign “7” means Cenlurioni; restorations are in italics; see Malone, p. 370) :

Dis L. Artorks Costus. 7 leg. Ill Gallicae. item 7 leg. VI Ferratae. item 7 leg. Manibus II Adiutricis item /eg. V Macedonicae. item primo pilo eiusdem praeposito classis Misenatium . praef. leg. VI Victricis. duci leg. cohort, alarum Britaniciraarum adversus Arraoricanos . pxoeuratori centenario provinciae Libumiae iure gladi. vivus ipse sibi et suis

L. Aitorius

Caste primipilaris

Leg. V Macedonicae

[praep CI Mis pr]

aefecms legionis

VI Victricis

7 See Collingwood and Myres, Roman Britain, p. 128.

8 The L. vallum means, of course, “rampart.” For the use of it to designate the “ditch” south of the Hadrian wall, see Collingwood and Myres, pp. 124 and 133.

9 Cf. Zimmer, p. 525, and ZFSL, xii (1890), 238, n. 1.

10 Blenner-Hassett, “The English River Names in Lawman's Brut”, MLN, lv (1940), 373–378, treats other river names.

11 Cf. Parry, ed. Vita Merlini, pp. 18 ff.

12 See now Helaine Newstead's comment, PMLA, lxiii (1948), 811.

13 The Welsh Gododdin, ed. Ifor Williams, vss. 1241–1242, refers to a warrior who “glutted the black ravens on the rampart of the city, though he was no Arthur.” Jackson—Antiquity, xiii (1939), 25–34—thinks the Gododdin was “the work of a contemporary poet of the late sixth century.” This would give us a very early reference to “Arthur.” The poem is an elegy of the British warriors killed at Catraelh, which, according to Williams, would be Catterick (Bede's Cataracta), and probably the Cataractonium on the Roman road connecting the Hadrian limes with York. Carriden at the eastern end of the Antonine Wall has also been suggested. Cf. Chadwick, Growth of Literature, i, 43.

14 Gildas mentions the limites, but attributes one to the British, the other to the Romans; on this see Faral, Leg. Arthur., i, 25, and Lot, SchoepperleStudies, pp. 236–240. Wace, Brut, ed. Arnold, vss. 6168 ff., mentions Un mur firent sur un fossé, evidently Hadrian's murus.

15 See R. Fawtier, La Chanson de Roland, pp. 168 ff.

16 A. de Courson, Cartulaire de Redon, p. 19.

17 See E. K. Chambers, Arthur of Britain, p. 36. No attempt is made in this article to interpret Arthur's name as that of a god; see Rhys, Arthur. Leg., p. 48, and more recently A. H. Krappe, Speculum, xx (1945), 405–415.

18 Thurneysen says: “Ein Urahne wird an jenem Feldzug [against the Armoricans] teilgenommen und einen Sohn nach dem Höchstkomandierenden benannt haben. Von diesem hat dann der Arthur des 5. Jh.s seinen Namen ererbt” (p. 137).