lage’ 
ee ee ee eS ee ee 
49 
not one station only, but several stations on the wall. Thus, 
following the Gaelic source, we have :— 
Aballaba = The town on the bank. 
Gabrosentis = The fortress on the river. 
Axelodunum = The fortress on high ground. 
Olenacum = The station on the hill. 
All of which are certainly more general in their terms than we 
should have wished ; and hence, as such, the possibility of arriving 
at a just decision is rendered doubly difficult. But this difficulty, 
great as it is, is still further increased by the fact that such deriva- 
tions are not derived from one stock, but from two. I of course 
refer to the Gaelic and Cymric branches of the great Celtic stock. 
Granted, however, that allocations were made on the strength of 
etymology, we shall evidently have to decide, in the first place, 
whether a// the towns, or how many, owe their names to this 
method ; and, in the second place, from which of the two stocks 
the derivation has been made. 
Clearly, it is assumed by those who have engaged in etymological 
speculations, that the names of a// the towns have been so given ; 
i.e., in accordance with some geographical or other local feature in 
the immediate vicinity of such station. Now-a-days new towns 
are constantly coming into existence in different parts of the world, 
and their names, far from being etymologically derived, are the 
familiar names of the old country. Had the old Roman soldier 
no such sentimental ideas—no such love of home—no dwelling 
on old associations in his new home in a foreign country? Surely 
such names as Uxellodum, Segodunum, Aballo, Alicana, Condate, 
Mediolanum, etc., speak strongly in favour of this love of home. 
Can we wonder, then, at the uncertainty of this method? But 
this uncertainty can be shown in a still clearer light ; for not only 
do the authorities of each separate school differ in every allocation 
they make, but even when two or more allocations are made from 
the same stock, the same uncertainty exists—there are as many 
different names resulting as there are derivations. This may be 
better understood from the following table, where the first set of 
derivations are from the Gaelic, and the second from the Cymric, 
