WHAT'S IN A NAME? 



55 



roots. Garzt'^rough, gives the names : Gave, Garonne, Gers, Giron, 

 Guer, in France. yi/(=white, furnishes the rivers Allen, Elwin; 

 Allwen {Al don, white afon) ; in France the Aulne, the Ellee, the 

 Aisne ; dhu, black, we trace in Douglas ; llevn, smooth, or linn, still, 

 in Lincoln (deep pool) ; tam, spreading, quiet, in Thames; arv, vio- 

 lent, in Arve, Erve, Arveyron, Ariege; cam, crooked, in Camlez 

 (crooked dale), and clith, strong, in Clyde, Clisson, and Clitumnus. 



It is indeed a curious fact that a unique river-name is hardly 

 to be found, and as they nearly all exhibit a Celtic origin, we are 

 enabled thus to prove the wide diffusion of the Celtic race. 



For antiquity and immutability, the names of mountains and 

 hills come next in value to the names of rivers. The modern Welsh 

 or Brezonec names for the head, the brow, and the back, are pen, 

 hryn, and cefn (keven). We find these words in a large number 

 of mountain-names. They are found in Chevin ridge ; Les Cevennes 

 and the Chien; in the Brandon, Brenner, Brandenburg, La Penne, 

 Penmarch, Penard, Hennebont = Tete de Pont ; Geneva = the head 

 of the river ; and the name of the Gallic chief Brennus,* etc. 



The position of ancient Celtic strongholds is frequently indi- 

 cated by the root dun; Spanish duna; English dozuii ; French dune; 

 Welsh dinas. Hill-fortresses existed on the bold isolated crags of 

 Yverdun, at Thun, Autun, Lugdunum (lake fort), Lyons, Laon 

 (Laudunum, the capital of the Merovingian kings) ; Melun (Melo- 

 dunum or meall dun=hill-fort) ; Verdun (fir-dun) or man's fort. 

 No country in the world seems to have had so many Celtic hill- 

 fortresses as France. 



Rhos (rus in Latin, of rush, the characteristic moorland plant) = 

 a moor, together with ros, a Gaelic word for headland or prominent 

 rock, is of common occurrence — Rossberg, Rosa, Kinross, Montrose, 

 Rostrenen (Brittany), Rosporden, Roz-Landrieux. Craig, a rock, so 

 common in Welsh names, is the name given to the barren boulder- 

 covered region between Aries and Marseilles: La Crau; Crach 

 (Britt). Tor, a projecting rock, is found in Mount Taurus, Tyrol, 

 Thorigne, Torce, etc. Ard, high, great, forms part of hundreds of 

 names. In combination with den, a wooden valley, it gives us the 

 name of the forest of Arden in England, Les Ardennes and Bor- 



* That Brennus sacked and burnt Rome in 391 B.C. and only consented 

 to leave Italy on the paying of a ransom of a thousand pounds of gold. As 

 it was being weighed out, the Roman tribune complained of some unfairness. 

 Brennus thereupon threw his heavy sword into the scale; and when asked 

 the meaning of the act, replied that it meant "Vae victis " — the weakest must 

 go to the wall. 



