THE SECOND WINTER MEETING. XXxiii. 



Pope's book, The Old Stone Crosses of Dorset, since published at 

 the Chiswick Press. 



(iii.) " The meaning of ' Durnovaria' and ' Durotriges.' " By 

 Captain Acland : 



I heard recently that the derivation of the words Durnovaria and Durotriges 

 had nothing whatever to do with " water," and I am grateful for the opportunity 

 of asking the members of the Field Club to share this unlocked for pronounce- 

 ment with me, to listen to the evidence, and perhaps to restore me to the ancient 

 faith. As there may be some present to-day who have not the opportunity of 

 reference to the many different books on this subject, I may say briefly that 

 without exception, so far as I know, every writer has traced these words in their 

 derivation to a connection with water. Whether we turn to the writings of 

 Stukeley, Warne, Hutchins, the late Rev. W. Barnes, or Henry Moule, we 

 find them all of one opinion, viz., that the first syllable both of Durnovaria and 

 Durotriges is derived from the Celtic word Dwr, water, or Dwrn, the diminutive. 

 (See Warne ' Ancient Dorset." p. 209; Barnes' " Ancient Britain," in Arch. 

 Journal, Vol. XXII. ; and H. Moule " Old Dorset," p. 63.) Without making any 

 further comments I will now read the statement which is meant to UDset all these 

 eminent authorities. It is by the Rev. Edmund McClure, Secretary to the 

 S.P.C.K. He says in a letter, or series of letters, to me, " The association of 

 Dwr and Water belongs to a pre-scientific age, and all the Dwr theories from 

 Camden down to comparatively lately are pure nonsense ; no modern philologist 

 would give it a moment's consideration, for this reason. The word for water 

 among the Celtic tribes in the time of the Romans was Dubron, plural Dubra, 

 and in the locative plural Dubris, the ancient name of Dover. This word is 

 represented later as Dobor or Durbr, and only in modern Welsh as Dwr. It is 

 clear that this modern form, Dwr, could not appear in place-names which belong to 

 a time when Dubron was the word for water." "Now as to the first element in 

 Durno-Varia (the form in the Antonine Itinerary, 486, 15), the only existing 

 Celtic word with which it can be equated, is represented in the modern Irish 

 Dorn, the Welsh Dwrn, the Breton Dorn, and in all these dialects it 

 means 'fist,' and verbs formed from it, 'to fight with the fists.' " Varia is 

 not uncommon in Celtic place-names on the Continent, and corresponds 

 with the Welsh "Gwarse," which means "games," "sports." "Durno- 

 Varia" would thus mean "fist-sport" or " wrestling matches," and this 

 would lead to the inference that there was an amphitheatre there when 

 there was nothing but a rough camp for the Roman troops, i.e., before 

 there was a waUed town ; the important thing in the eyes of the native would 

 thus be the " fist-sports," and the amphitheatre was the striking thing in the 

 imagination of the natives." As to Duro-triges. Duro, or Duron, appears in 

 hosts of Celtic place-names both here and on the Continent, and is well known to 

 mean " stronghold " or "fortress." "Duro-triges" would thus mean "fort- 

 dwellers," people who lived in strongholds, like Maiden Castle, and not in the 



