O'Eeilly — Milesian Colonization relative to Gold-mining. 59 



€runa (Corona), and 'Groyne' by the English, is said to have been 

 founded by the Phoenicians. The Torre de Hercules, on the site of 

 a Phoenician pharos, which rises one mile north-west of the town, was 

 repaired by order of Trajan." It is worth noting that, as regards the 

 name, the English term " groyne," mentioned by O'Shea and others, is 

 ■descriptive of the form of the harboiu'. Thus Wedgewood, in his 

 ■" Dictionary of English Etymology," p. 184, gives for " gi'oin " : — 

 1, "Snout of a swine," and 2 (Metaphor), 0. Er. "Grroing," cape, 

 promontory, tongue of land jutting out into the sea, hence English 

 " groin," a wooden jetty built into the sea for the purpose of letting 

 gravel accumulate against it for the defence of the coast. Erom the 

 same source is the old name of " The Groyne," erroneously supposed to 

 be a corruption of Coruiia. 



Ifow the form of the land which makes the port of Coruna, 

 represents such a projection or " groin," hence the name was probably 

 intended to be descriptive, and as it may also have had a Celtic origin, 

 it is worth noting that the dictionary of the Gselic language (1828) 

 gives the verb Grunnaichidh, "to sound the depth" ; "find the ground 

 or bottom," in other words "to find soundings." Coruiia, or Cruna, 

 or Gruiia, would therefore have been the point of the great bay, where 

 "soundings" could be advantageously found. In O'lleilly's 

 Dictionary, '■'• granaigliam'^'' is "to gTOund," "sound" (Sc), and 

 '■'■ grunnf'' is "the ground," bottom foundation. The derivation given 

 by O'Shea (" Corona^'") offers no reason of itself, and is not accounted 

 for by him. As regards Latin, a better etymology is offered by the 

 word columna - a column (in reference to the Pharos), this by the re- 

 placement of the I by r, common in Spanish derivatives, would become 

 corumna = Corunna = Coruiia. H. Gadow, ^^ In Northern 8pain^''' 

 gives an example of the change in the case of the name, " [Nuesti'a 

 Seiiora de Cluniaca" corrupted into Crunego. The important point 

 for the object of the present paper, is that La Corima may be taken as 

 corresponding to the ancient Brigantium, or Brigantia, said to have 

 been founded by Breogan ; and that it is suificiently ancient to be 

 reputed to have been founded by the Phoenicians, while the fact of a 

 Pharos having been erected there by them would point to its having 

 been a port of great importance for the navigation of these coasts and 

 seas. As a position for commercial entei-prise, it presents manifold 

 advantages, above all its excellence as a harbour of safety, so that in 

 the hands of a maritime nation or people, such as the Phoenicians, a 

 very active trade could be continuously carried on from it, not only 

 with the different ports of the western coast of the peninsula, but also 



