and their Historic Teachings. 



65 



from its later Italian form " peligrin-o " our word "pilgrim " ; an 

 interesting example enough as shewing how the two now distinct 

 words "foreigner " and "pilgrim," came originally from the same 

 source. 



Then of course there is the river Avon — a generic name for 

 " water " in the Celtic dialect — which by the way has supplanted the 

 old river-name Bladon. Hard by is a place, or rather district, now 

 called Ampney, but in Domesday spelt " Omanie," and formerly 

 " Amney." The former part of this name is most probably a con- 

 traction of " Avon." In words common to the Latin and the 

 Welsh, the letter " m " in the former, frequently became " v" in 

 the latter. Thus the Latin "fimus" is the Welsh "fivv"; and 

 " temin-us in like manner becomes " ter^yn. " Moreover, as Lhuyd 

 tells us, " Avon " was also written " Amon." In any case the name 

 Am-ney can hardly fail to remind us of the Latin " am-iiis" (=a 

 river), and if in one place more than another we might expect to find 

 traces of the Romans in local names it would be here, where we are 

 in the immediate neighbourhood of Roman roads, and Roman settle- 

 ments. There is a hamlet near Foxham, bearing the name Avon, on 

 whose banks it is situated : and close to Tetbury we have a place 

 called Avening, a word which, from its Anglo-Saxon form ' 1 JEfen- 

 ingas" can only mean the dwellers or settlers " near the Avon." 



Again, there is the Isis which flows by Cricklade, one form of 

 a very common Celtic word for " water," and which occurs also 

 in so many other forms, as Ash — Usk—Exe — Ouse — and the like. 

 In the place-name Eisey, which is close by Cricklade, you have the 

 river-name slightly modified. Ash-brook is an alternative name of 

 one of the Amneys ; and no doubt Ash-ton in this neighbourhood 

 means the " village by the water." From a similar source come the 

 former portions also of the following names : — Wash-port, near 

 Lidiard Miliicent ; Wash-burn, the name of a mill close by Somer- 

 ford Keynes ; and Gauze-brook, close by Hullavington. 



Then also in the former part of Coles-burn and Cors-ton you 

 have the Celtic names of streams. In the Malmesbury Charter 

 we have entries such as the following: — "amnis qui Cors-broc 

 vocatur," and "rivulus qui Corsa-burn vocatur." Hence from old 

 vol xxi. — no. lxi. i> 



