PROCEEDINGS OE THE COTTESWOLD CLUB 19 



been suggested that the name "x\ust" passage is a corruption 

 of Augusti, in " Trajeetus Augusti" — that is the crossing 

 place of the " Augustan," or second legion. It may be 

 remarked, while laying no store on this etymology, that it 

 is in accordance with the general tendency of the western 

 Celtic dialect to sujjpress the "g"- thus in Cornwall the 

 miners of a generation ago, always pronounced "engine" 

 and "angel" as "Inyan" and " Ain-yel." Similiarly the 

 town in North Italy has changed from Augusta to 

 " Aosta." 



This settlement of Caerwent, however, could not have 

 finally secured the conquest of the Silures, for about the 

 vear 80 the Roman General and Engineer, Julius Fron- 

 tinus, was charged with the task of subduing them. In 

 this he succeeded, and it must have been as a sequence ot 

 this conquest that the head-quarters of " Legio Secunda 

 Augusta " were removed from Glevum to Isca Silurum ; 

 that is, that C^aerleon became the [)ermanent camp of the 

 legion till nearly the close of the Roman occupation of 

 Britain. 



In re[)ly to a question, Mr Bellows said that the reason 

 the Romans called the tow^i Isca was that the true 

 pronunciation is nearer this than Usk, the " u " in Welsh 

 being sounded as " e." The word Esk, in Scotland is the 

 same and means " water." The Exe was also called Isca 

 by the Romans, but owes its native form to a peculiarity 

 of the Devon dialect, which transposes the "sk." Thus 

 from " Pysq " the Cornish for witchcraft or sorcery, 

 we have the Cornish " Piskie," a sprite ; but the Devon- 

 shire folk make this "Pixie." In the same way they make 

 " Esk " into " Exe." 



The name Caerleon, it is scarcely to be doubted, is a 

 corruption of Cair-legion. This has been disputed by an 

 eminent Welsh scholar, on the ground that the Welsh 

 language has a word of its own for legion, which would 

 have been used, and not the Latin form. As against this, 

 B2 



