TOPOGRAPHICAL ETYMOLOGY. 83 
the kinsdom. A third purely British name is ABER- 
GLASTON. Wherever ABER occurs, it indicates the conflu- 
ence either of two rivers, or of a stream with a lake or the 
sea; the succeeding part of the word being either the 
name of the smaller river, or some characteristic feature 
in the locality. The confluence of the river BRuE with 
the lake or swampy grounds of that period could not have 
been far from the site of the present town. Hence ABER 
forms a part of the name; and GLAas-ToN would either 
describe the river Brue flowing with clear “blue waves” 
into the meares: or more probably would apply to the 
“oreen sward” in the neighbourhood of the confluence. 
The words admit of being rendered either way. In Saxon 
times, the ABER was dropped from GLASTON, and BYRIG 
was added. 'Thus we have Lleycınzabjnız of the Saxon 
Chronicle, and Glastonbury of the present day. 
We must not leave Glastonbury without a visit to 
WEARY-ALL-hill, for here we have a curious and inter- 
esting example of the corruption of an old word, from the 
prevalent and very natural desire to call things by names 
which have a meaning to those who use them. The origin 
of tlıe name, even in its present form, dates a long way 
back. Thus, in “A little monument to the once famous 
Abbey and Borough of Glastonbury,” published a.n. 1722, 
the writer says, that “he was told by the Innkeeper, that 
St. Joseph of Arimathea and his Companions marched, 
from the place where they landed, near the town, to a hill, 
and there, being weary, rested themselves, which gave the 
hill the name of Weary-all-hill”* This ineident is, no 
doubt, a comparatively modern addition to the older legend 
of St. Joseph of Arimathea, and was suggested by the old 
* The History and Antiquities of Glastonbury, etc. by T. Hearne, 
=.A., mdeexxi. 
