Concluding Remarks. 



275 



that in the territory of the Belgse (in which Wiltshire was included 

 the natives whom he found in the island differed in many respects 

 from the other Celtic tribes. It illustrates moreover the truth of 

 the observation made by Leibnitz : — " The names of places are the 

 most likely to perpetuate the remains of an obsolete dialect, and to 

 aid us in retracing the existence of extinct nationalities. The 

 things they designate survive, whilst men disappear altogether from 

 the scene, or become dispersed." 



(c) It will have been observed that, in suggesting the origin of cer- 

 tain Names, an opinion has been expressed that they have contained in 

 them the name of a stream, on which they are situated, now obso- 

 lete and forgotten. This is the case with regard to Idover, § 6, 

 Cricklade § 19, Calne 1 § 17. In the instances of Liddington § 

 27, and Warleigh § 33, we recovered the names of the streams 

 which gave name to them from Anglo Saxon charters, though 

 they have long lost their original designation. My conviction is 

 that many Names which puzzle us may ultimately be interpreted 

 in like manner ; that every stream great or small in olden days had 

 its own name ; and that when words end in lade and bourn 2 and 

 similar terminations, they frequently contain, as their principle 

 element, a word, now it may be quite forgotten or obsolete, which 

 once was the designation of a stream. Examples might be given 

 from the Anglo Saxon charters in abundance by way of shewing 

 how many streams have lost their original names. 



(d) The observations made under Lidiard (§ 26) will also have had 

 an interest for those who have followed with care the researches of 

 Dr. Edwin Guest on the history of the early settlements of our 

 English ancestors in this country. Allowing the correctness of his 



1 Since k the former part of this paper was printed, I have observed that in 

 Speed's map of Wilts the stream flowing through this town, now called the 

 Marden, is designated the Calne. 



2 This may be the case with the name Collingbottrn, applied to two villages 

 not far from Everley. The name is written in Domesday Colingeburne, and 

 Coleburne. Possibly the stream that flows through them may formerly have 

 borne the not unknown name of the Cole (see above § 9), and the longer form 

 may be the " clan name," and mean " the dwellers or settlers near the Cole," 

 just as Atening (§ 4) means the " clan settled near the Avon." It is, however, 

 right to add, that we meet with Cola (=C61e) as a personal name in the 

 "Wiltshire Domesday. 



