IS BADBURY RINGS. 



subjugation of the Kelts. The third or exterior area of 

 may bo the work of the Saxons. AVi- liavc no facts at hand to 

 supply any definite ground of opinion on these points ; they must 

 be left to individual consideration. 



But we may, I think, gather some indications from the nomen- 

 clature which Badbury has borne. Its original Keltic name seems 

 to have been simply the syllable Bad or A-bad (the abode, 

 habitation, city, town, &c.) ; a pure Gaelic word, I believe, derived 

 from the connate Sanscrit, a-bad, as in Hyder-a-bad, Alla-habad, 

 Aurcngabad, &c. The elision of the letter A gives at once the 

 Gaelic etymon bad (abode, &c.), applied to this ancient abode, 

 fortress, Oppidum. The Roman seems to have preferred a name of 

 his own making, made up of words which still carry us back to 

 pre-Roman times ; the name Vindocjladia seems to be compounded 

 of the Keltic words Gwyn (bright, clear), Gledd (green sward, 

 grassland, &c., glade (Note 1). This name is found in Antonine's 

 Itinerary XV., applied to some station on the Roman Way between 

 Sorbiodunum and Durnovaria, In vol. iv. of our Field Club, 

 p. 123, 1 have contributed a paper on Iter Antonini XV., wherein I 

 have ventured to put forth certain reasons that lead me to think 

 the name Vindogladia may be truly assigned to Badbury. The 

 suggestion remains, of course, sub judice (Note 2). 



The Saxon, as usual, made a name according to the genius of his 

 language. He took the Gaelic vocable Bad for his prefix, finishing 

 his invention with the suffix berg or berig (\ii\\, town, &c.), and has 

 thus given us BAD-BURY and its variants, Ban-bury, Baddan-berig. 



Of the successive occupants of Badbury, the notices that have 

 reached us are few and scanty, but are still important. 



1. The Kelts have left but few evidences, so far as we know, of 

 their connexion with the work ; their presence is to be found 



NOTE 1. Rev. W. Barnes, B.D., in vol. iv. of Field Club, p. 73, in & 

 paper "On Iter XVI. of Antoninus," which is Eic. de Cicestr. version of 

 Iter XV. Antonini. 



NOTE 2. " Some Observations on Iter XV. of the Itinerary of 

 Antoninus : On Vindogladia ; and a Plea for Badbury. " Vide pp. 130 133. 



