The sun., 1888-02-26

the Cloyd in Wales. the Clyde. and several
other streams In Ireland"
Proceeding next to the names OF mountains
and hills, the author points out that the moo-
ern Welsh words pen thead) and cetu, pro-
nounced Keven tridge) is found In England in
Chevin HILL Chsvening. Chevington, and the
Cheyiot Hills. The highest hill in Bucking-
hamshire Ia called Pen, and the same root Is
encountered in Penard, Penhill. Penshurst.
Penrith. Pencord, Penrhyn, Penrhos, Pembroke,
the Grampians, tho Pentland Hills. Gem
(headl. Gaelic form Of the same word is found
in Kennard, Kenmore. Kinross In scotiand;
Kinsale and Kenmare In Ireland. SO, too
whenever we come In England on the Celtic
root dun thill fortress) we must recognize IN
ancient Celtic stronghold. The Romans made
It dunum. and the modern Welsh word for the
same thing is dinas Pen Dinas in Cornwall
Is now Pendennis. Londunum the fortified hill.
on which St. Pauls Cathedral now stands. Is
now written London. The same root.
dun, Is found also In Dunstable. Dunkeld, Dunn.
fries, and Dumbarton tthe fort OF the Britons,.
The Saxons took It from the Celts. but in ac-
oordance with the genesis OF their language,
they used 1t as sufix rather than as prefix
We have instances In the names OF Huntingdon
Farringdon. Clarendon. &C." Finally. Prof.
Roemer specifies number OF proper names
In which survive such Celtic words as ard d(high
greatl tre tplace or dwellingl man tdistrict)
and nant tvalleyL Man will be recognized In
Manchester. the Menai Straits the Isle OF Man.
and several Cornish names
II.
II now We look in the English language foi
the vestiges Of the long Roman occupation OF
Britain We find only four common nouns,
namely, street. port. tralL and mile and the pre-
fixes or suffixes which occur in proper names
to wit strat, steat chester. cester. casr car and
coin. The origin Of those words Is Tor the
most part obvious but We find the mutations
which they underwent described on pages l29-
13l. THE Roman strata or paved roads be-
came the Saxon streets, and this word street
often enables US to recognize the lines OF
Roman road. which. straight as an arrow
course. connect tho chief strategic positions In
England. Thus. we have Waiting street.
Ermin street. Stone street. Icknield street,
Ryknied street. DC. The Westmoreland
Mountain. called High street. derives it's
name from tho Roman road which crosses 1t
at height Of 2700 feet. Even where tho
Roman roads have become obliterated. We may
oftcn trace the direction BY means OF the
names OF towns which proclaim the position
they occupied In the great lines OF communtca-
tion. Such are the nsmes OF Stratton. Stretton,
Stratford. Stretford. Streathsm. STRATEGY. Ard
wick le street, Chester le street. dc"
Wherever in Q modern local name we como
on . modification OF tho Latin word castra
(oampl we know that here was once the per-
manent station OF q Roman garrison. The
changes which the word castro undergoes cor
respond to the local variations OF dialect Thus
1t Is chester in Wessex. Essex. Sussex. as In
Dorchester; caster in the Anglian districts. as
in Doncaster; cester In Meroia las in Leicester).
where there was fusion OF Saxons and
Angles As you approach the Welsh frontier
tho c or ch becomes r. as In Exeter, which In
Camden's time was still written Excester. Once
across tho Welsh border the also disappears.
and we encounter the Cymric forms caer and
car. The Latin word colonid meets US in the
sufIlx OF Lincoln. and perhaps in the prefix OF
Colchester. That tho word port ihaven) Is OF
Latin origin the author thinks proven by tie
fact that Portsmouth was called Portus Mag
nus by tho Romans. He also deems 1t indis-
putable that the English word ,oau was de-
rived from tho Latin pallun trampart) natural
lied among the Britons. and which still exists
In Welsh under the form 0,cal he shows how
tho wall Of Hadrian. which ran from Newcastle
to Carlisle. can still be traced BY the memorial
Names beginning at Wsllsend. the eastern ter
minus. and passing through Benwell. Heddon-
on-the-Wall. Welton. Wallshields. Walltown.
Thirlwall. Old WALL Wsllby. with Wallend and
Walthead at the western termination. II TO the
above enumerated forms Of strata. cdsh'um.
colonia portus, and yallun, 'we add the word
mile. which is derived from tho Latin mile
passus or mile passuum Ia thousand paces).
the Roman measure OF distance. We have about
all that remains Of five hundred years OF Roman
rule on the map OF England"
We have seen how slight was the infusion OF
Celtic and Roman words In that part OF the
English vocabulary which is found in diction-
aries. Notwithstanding the considerable traces
Of tho state OF things preceding the saxon In
vasions which may still be detected on the
map Much moro considerable are the Access
sions due to Scandinavian conquests and col
onizstions, though 1t is often difficult to
discriminate these from Northumbrian
survivsls OF AnRlian dialects. We see.
however. on page 174. that the au-
thor Is inclined to accept the dictum OF
yigfusson that the following English words
are Of undoubted Scandinavian origin: Ale,
anger, bay bark tof q treel. billow. blush,
bondsmsn. boon. booth. both. breadth, broth,
cake. call. cast. clip. CROP depth. dream. droop
dwell earl. egg. elder fellow. FIR. fat nay. fit
bO6tcEs SEOIu, HOW'LL Boiu' Buot uaiE' uoppS
heel. height. husband, hustings. Ill. kid. knife
knot. law. loft low. mock. meeting. muggy
odd. ransack, rash, rein (deerl. root. rot, same
scsnt, snoro. scrape seat. shallow. skill. skin
skull, sky, sly. sneak. spoil, spoon. steak
strand. swain. take. task. thrall, thrash. thrift
ugly. walrus. wand. want. width, wing. wont
wrong" On the other. geographically descrip.
tive names Of Scandinavian origin are yer,
1 numerous and easily identified. Thus thu
Danish SUNK by. which originally meant 6
farm or dwelling" but which came after
ward to denote a village" 10 encountered nc
less than six hundred times north OF Waiting
street. and but very seldom on the south OF it
| 30 with the Danish prefix kirk Ia church,: We
| find this In the names Of no less than sixty
eight places In the Danelaxh. while in the
Saxon portion Of England ws meet 1t scarcel,
once. 1t may be we'll to hero remind the reader
| as Prof. Roemer docs on pago l60. that the
DAnelagh, or Danish district. by agreement be
tween Alfred and Guthrum. renewed BY I'D
mund and Anlsi in e4i. was divided from thu
Saxon kingdom BY line passing along tht
Thames the Lea. and the Ouss. and then fol
| lowing the course OF Waiting street. the komar