20 PROCEEDINGS OF THE COTTESWOLD CLUB 



however, we must place the fact that the dialects of Celtic 

 varied, and that which prevailed in the districts with which 

 we are dealing showed some affinities with Cornish, which 

 are not found in standard Welsh. One of them is the 

 eliding of the sound of "g," as already mentioned — so 

 that the Cornish form of the Latin " legionis " would be 

 " leon." As the place was a colony, and so specially 

 connected with the " Legio Secunda," and as the Latin 

 name of the village across the Usk has remained un- 

 changed till our own time (Ultra Pontem) the probahilities 

 are strong that Caerleon is thus derived. Not only did 

 the Roman occupation leave its impress on Caerleon and 

 Caerwent in the circumstance that each of these places 

 was a seat of learning, an " academy" in Saxon times ; 

 but the Legionary City was the Archbishopric afterwards 

 removed to " St. David's." Thus in Gaul, each adminis- 

 trative centre under the Romain domination became the 

 seat of a bishopric, so that the whole of the present 

 ecclesiastical districts of France have been moulded by the 

 Roman occupation. 



The most curious of all the results of the Roman stay 

 in Caerleon, is however, the rise of the legend of King 

 Arthur's Round Table. As has already been mentioned, 

 the Cotteswold Club visited the amphitheatre, which still 

 forms a conspicuous feature in the green meadows outside 

 the old city wall. It is a depression of considerable 

 depth, slightly oval in form ; but the strange thing about 

 it is, that it is known locally by the name of " King 

 Arthur's Round Table." As there are many spots in 

 widely separated parts of England that bear the name of 

 " Arthur," we must be prepared to seek the clue to their 

 nomenclature in some mis-translation of a [)recedent 

 British name, probably descriptive of some physical 

 feature in the landscape. Thus we have King Arthur's 

 Castle, at Tintagel, in Cornwall, where "Ard" or "Arth" 

 means " high," the word Tintagel itself meaning in a still 



