Explanatory alphabetical list of Romano-British place-names
Part 3: C
Part 3b: Cj to Cz
[For information as to which names are included in this list and which not, and an explanation of the abbreviations employed, click on Alphabetical List menu provided above]
CLANOVENTA see CANTIVENTI
CLAUSENTUM
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(Celt) |
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(AI) |
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(Mod) |
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Claducendum |
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Clausentum |
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Meonstoke/Exton |
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(Iter VII) |
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(Hampshire) |
Note:
This name has caused scholars some difficulty. Rivet and Smith think the name may be a development of original Clavisentum and suggest two possible roots for the clavi element, one of them hypothetical British clavo, taken to mean 'nail'. They see sentum as being derived from hypothetical Celtic sento, taken to mean 'path', the name as a whole perhaps then meaning 'nailed path' or 'hewn path', perhaps with reference to a causeway or quay.
In the past it has been believed that Clausentum was at Bitterne or, if not there, then at Wickham in Hampshire. But either location would require modification of at least one of the mileages given in Iter VII. However, there can be no justification for modifying the mileages given in Iter VII if it can be demonstrated that the mileages could be correct as they are. The important point to note is that the mileages in Iter VII are apparently not distances along roads, but distances as the crow flies. The following table makes this clear.
Iter VII distance Distance as the crow Error
in Roman miles flies in Roman miles
Chichester (Regno)
Winchester (Venta) 30 29.5 +0.5
Silchester (Galleva) 22 22.9 -0.9
London (Londinio) 44 45 -1
Of course it all depends on whether one measures from town-centre to town-centre or from town- periphery to town-periphery. The above distances as the crow flies are town-centre to town-centre. But the errors as shown in the table are very small, especially when one bears in mind that the 0.5 error between Regno and Venta is spread over two stages, namely Regno to Clausentum and Clausentum to Venta, and the error of 1 between Galleva and Londinio is also spread over two stages, namely Galleva to Pontibus and Pontibus to Londinio. The errors are certainly substantially smaller than the errors if one considers journeys along the known road network in that region. The mileages actually given in Iter VII indicate, then, that Pontibus was on a straight line between Silchester and London and halfway between them, which would appear to locate Pontibus not at Staines, as is currently believed, but in Runnymede Park in Egham (it is possible that the name has nothing to do with bridges - Pont may originally have been Bond, meaning 'high hill summit'). Likewise the mileages actually given in Iter VII indicate that Clausentum was on a straight line from Chichester to Winchester, 20 Roman miles from Chichester and 10 Roman miles from Winchester. This would mean that Clausentum was on the river Meon in the Meonstoke/Exton area. So far as the writer is aware no traces of a Roman fort or Romano-British settlement have been found in the Meonstoke/Exton area, though there have been found remains of buildings thought to be villas or temples. But of course Clausentum is the name of a Celtic settlement, so if there was no Celtic settlement at Meonstoke/Exton then the name must have been transferred to that locality from a Celtic settlement somewhere else in that region. The most likely candidate is the hillfort on Old Winchester Hill, about two kilometres east of Meonstoke. That hillfort stands on the summit of a steep hill, so the Celtic name had probably been Claducendum, where the Clad and cend elements both mean ‘steep hill summit’. All that will have happened, over time, is that the intervocalic first d was omitted (a fairly common change in Romano-British place-names), the c changed to s (compare Ravenna’s Gabrocentio → the Gabrosenti of the ND), and the second d changed to t (also a fairly common change in Romano-British place-names) to yield the Clausentum of Iter VII.
Note that the name Claducendum indicates that the hill-fort on Old Winchester Hill was at one time occupied by a people using the hill-letter l1 but was taken over by the Atrebates, who used the hill-letter n2. The term Atrebates is used broadly here so as to embrace also the groups later referred to by Ptolemy as the Belgae and the Regni. All three groups, if indeed they were separate groups at that early date, appear to have used the hill-letter n2 (see 'Ptolemy’s Celtic tribes in Britain').
[The entry for Clausentum was last modified on 04 December 2020]
CLAVINIO
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(Celt) |
(Rav) |
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(Mod) |
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Clavinio |
Clavinio (29) |
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Charterhouse |
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(North Somerset) |
Note:
Rivet and Smith thought this name might be a corruption of Glevum at Gloucester and should perhaps be associated with the Coloneas which comes after Alavna (32) in the Ravenna list.
But Clavinio appears to be a straightforward topographical name in which the element Clav means 'steep hill slope'. The name is entirely appropriate for the earthwork at Charterhouse known as the 'Amphitheatre'. This stands on a steep, south-facing slope just northwest of the Roman fort and town at Charterhouse. That earthwork is not likely to have been originally built as an amphitheatre by the Romans since that would be a very odd place to build an amphitheatre, high above the town and on a steep slope. That earthwork is most likely to have been built by Celts long before the Romans arrived in that area. Most probably the earthwork was called Clavinio and the name was simply transferred by the Romans to their fort and town. Note that Charterhouse is aligned with the preceding four names in Ravenna, namely Omiretedertis at Martock (the name having been transferred from the hill-fort on nearby Ham Hill), Lindinis at Dundon Hill (though the name in Ravenna might refer to a Roman post at the foot of the hill), Canza (=Cantia) at Henton (the name referring to the steep, high hill at Henton) and Dolocindo at Westbury Camp (this standing at the top of a steep hill, which is what the name Dolocindo indicates).
CLEVO see GLEBON COLONIA
CLINDUM
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(Celt) |
(Rav) |
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(Mod) |
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Clindum |
Clindum (160) |
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Clint |
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(North Yorkshire) |
Note:
Rivet and Smith see this name as a corrupt form of Ptolemy's Lindum of the Damnoni. It is, however, clear from the order of names in Ravenna that Clindum was not in Scotland. In addition, whilst there are several cases where the initial letter of a Celtic name is missing in the Ravenna form of that name, it is not usual for Ravenna to add a letter to the beginning of a name.
Clindum appears to be a straightforward topographical name in which the old-style element nd, meaning 'hill summit', is qualified by the earlier old-style element cl meaning 'steep hill'. The order of names in Ravenna appears to indicate that Clindum was at Clint, to the NW of Harrogate. However, whereas the modern village of Clint is near the foot of a steep hill, the Romano-British name refers to a location on the summit of that hill.
COCCIO
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(Celt) |
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(AI) |
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(Mod) |
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Lucolacocsion |
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Coccio |
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Wigan |
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(Iter X) |
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(Greater Manchester) |
Note:
Jackson proposed a derivation from hypothetical cocco, taken to mean 'red'.
As explained in the entry for Coccuveda the element Cocc in that name is derived from a topographical compound including hill-letters. This may also be true for the Cocc of Coccio. Wigan stands on the river Douglas and the original Roman post is thought to have been on a hill overlooking the river. Now, Douglas may originally have been a river-name of the kind having a river-prefix, here the river-letter t, changed to d, attached to a place-name. In river-names of this kind the latest or the only river-letter in the river-prefix is usually the river-letter used by the tribe which lived in the area concerned at the time when the river-name was coined. This suggests that in the present case the latest element in the place-name uses the hill-letter l (corresponding to the river-letter t). We would thus be looking for a river-name somewhat of the form ToLUCoLACoCSION (the linking vowels between the elements being shown lowercase). With deletion of letters (a very common change in Romano-British place-names) from the place-name Lucolacocsion one obtains the form Coccio. With deletion of letters from the river-name Tolucolacocsion one obtains the form Touclas which, with the minor changes t→d and c→g, yields the modern river-name Douglas. Note that the part cocsion of the place-name Lucolacocsion would yield the name Coccio directly with the change cs→cc. Changes of this kind are fairly common in Romano-British place-names (for other examples see Alphabetical List/changes in names over time, 7). Note further that all three elements Luc, lac and cs of the place-name Lucolacocsion refer to a steep hill, the l of Luc being l2, that of lac l1. The use of the hill-letter l2 suggests that the territory of the Setanti tribe extended at least as far south as Wigan, since the Setanti appear to have used the hill-letter l2 (see notes for Setantiorum harbour).
[The entry for Coccio was last modified on 13 February 2021
COCCUVEDA
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(Celt) |
(Rav) |
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Lacerocomaguvetusuron |
Coccuveda (186) |
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(a river) |
Note:
Williams suggested derivation from a hypothetical root cocco, taken to mean 'red', plus an element veda, apparently taken to mean 'appearance', the name as a whole thus meaning 'red appearance', this being a reference to the red colour of the river Coquet when in spate.
Coccuveda is a river-name which the Romans transferred to a fort built on the banks of the river Coquet, most probably in the Sharperton area, though no trace of such a fort has yet been found. Coccuveda is in fact derived from the absurdly long Celtic river-name Lacerocomaguvetusuron, the then name of the river Coquet. This is a river-name of the kind comprising a river-suffix, here tusur, attached to a place-name using one or more hill-letters, here Lacerocomaguve. Note that the river-letters t, s and r in the river-suffix correspond to the hill-letters l, r and m in the place-name and that they of course occur in precisely the same chronological order within the river-suffix as the hill-letters in the place-name. Note further that Lacerocomaguve will have been the name of the Iron Age promontory fort at Brinkburn Priory, within a loop of the river Coquet. The place-name, modified to Maromago, was transferred to the Roman fort at Learchild, further up the Roman road known as the Devil’s Causeway. The place-name comprises three inversion-type elements lac, roc and mag all meaning ‘hill steep’, and indeed the drop down to the river Coquet from the promontory fort is very steep. If we rewrite the long river-name as [La] c [er] oc [oma] guvet [usuron] and delete the letters in brackets we obtain the form Cocguvet. This form, with the common changes g → c and t → d and the addition of an ending a, gives us Coccuveda.
It may be noted in passing that if we rewrite the long river-name as [Lacero] co [ma] guve [t] usuron and delete the letters in brackets we obtain Ravenna’s name for the river Coquet, Coguveusuron.
[The entry for Coccuveda was last modified on 23 January 2021]
COGANGES
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(Celt) |
(Rav) |
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(ND) |
(Mod) |
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Mucoganges |
Coganges (141) |
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Concangios |
Chester-le-Street |
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or |
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(Durham) |
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Lucoganges |
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Note 1:
Rivet and Smith took up an idea of Birkhan regarding names somewhat similar to Concangios - Birkhan suggested derivation from a hypothetical Celtic root konkos or kankos taken to mean 'horse'. Rivet and Smith suggest, then, that Concangis might be an ethnic name meaning 'horse people'. However, the Celtic name of Chester-le-Street clearly did not begin with Co, so we can be quite sure that the name has nothing to do with konkos, kankos or horses.
The name Coganges has the c or g meaning 'steep' in three places, so it seems quite clear that we have here a topographical name referring to a location adjacent a steep slope - and indeed the fort stands on a bluff overlooking the river Wear and the Cong Burn. The gan and ges of the Ravenna form are both old-style elements meaning 'steep hill' and so the intial C must be part of a third element having the same meaning, but the hill-letter is missing. Turning now to Vedra, the then name of the river Wear, this comprises the river-letter b (changed to v), t (changed to d) and r, these corresponding to the hill-letters s, l and m. The hill-letter s is already present in the ges element of Coganges, so it is probable that the first element of the place-name included the hill-letter l or m. But note that if the first element of the place-name were an old-style element, then the b (changed to v) could not be the first river-letter in the river-name. This must therefore be a case where the first element of the place-name was an inversion-type element but the corresponding river-letter was still applied in the old-style manner, as explained in Chapter 19: The Rivers of Roman Britain. In other words the first element of the place-name must have been of the form Muco or Luco (the u is not significant - it could be replaced by any other vowel), thus giving a Celtic name of the form Mucoganges or Lucoganges. The initial Mu or Lu must then have been dropped or lost at some stage to leave the Coganges of Ravenna.
There is an intrusive n in the ND form Concangios and the element ges has been modified to gios, probably by people who did not know that ges was in fact a topographical element with meaning.
Note 2:
Example of initial letter omitted - m or l
Example of intrusive letter - n
COLANICA
| (Celt) | (Rav) | (Mod) | ||||
| Colanisca? | Colanica (195) | Westerwood | ||||
| (North Lanarkshire) |
Note:
Williams referred to a hypothetical root qel, taken to mean ‘hill’, and another hypothetical (s)gel, taken to mean ‘cut’. Richmond and Crawford appear to have preferred the ‘hill’ derivation. Jackson indicated a connection with Welsh celain meaning ‘corpse’ and referred to a hypothetical tribal name Colanion from the same stem as celain.
Colanica is indeed a puzzling name, but it may just be a compound with the old-style element col meaning ‘steep hill’, the hill-letter n and an ica ending. But the ica ending is unusual. In the case of Olerica at Maryport it would appear that the ending had earlier been isca, and this may also be true of Colanica. It is true that where the hill-letter s is used in place-names in that region it is normally used in an old-style manner, as in Subdobiadon (Kirkintilloch), Becsesse (Celtic name of the Bowden Hill hillfort but transferred to Seabegs as Begesse), Becsa (Celtic name of the Cockleroy hillfort but transferred as Pexa to Mumrills), and probably in Mugulesde (apparently the Celtic form of Ugueste at Stirling). But the fact that the Romans adopted the names Becsesse and Becsa suggests that the hillforts on Bowden Hill and Cockleroy were still occupied when the Romans reached that part of Britain. In other words there were still s-people in that region around AD79 and so it is at least possible that these people had taken over a settlement at or in the vicinity of Westerwood and added the isca-ending to the old name of the place, somewhat like Colan or Colanion. The isca-ending would refer to the very steep drop just north of Westerwood. If this reasoning is correct then the n in Colanica is not likely to be the hill-letter n. It is more likely to be just part of the ending of the name when it existed in the Col form. Note that the stream flowing west-east to the north of Westerwood is the Bonny Water, but it is not clear if this is an old river-name and so not clear whether the initial B is the river-letter b corresponding to the hill-letter s in isca.
[The entry for Colanica was inserted in the list on 27 April 2019]
COMBRETOVIO see CONBRETOVIO
CONBRETOVIO
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(Celt) |
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(AI) |
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(Mod) |
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Combredovio |
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Conbretovio |
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Coddenham |
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(Iter IX) |
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(Suffolk) |
Note 1:
This name exists in the forms Conbretovio and Combretovio. Taking the latter form Jackson saw a derivation from hypothetical British com, taken to mean 'together', and hypothetical brit, seen as a derivative of hypothetical ber, taken to mean 'carry'. The name is thus thought to mean '(place on the) bearing-together', thus 'confluence'. Rivet and Smith pointed out that 'confluence' in names of this kind normally refers to a confluence of rivers, though in the present case it might refer to a meeting of roads. One assumes, however, that the Celtic name existed long before the Roman roads were built in that area.
Conbretovio/Combretovio is, however, an acceptable topographical name, though the t must originally have been a d. The initial Con/Com is an old-style element meaning 'steep hill'. The element bret involves the hill-letter r qualified by b and t, both of which mean 'high', though b is used in old-style names and t in inversion-type names. The initial con/com is an old-style element, so the second element of the name will also be old-style, i.e. the b is correct. The t will thus have been a d originally, thus yielding the name Conbredovio/Combredovio, where the bred element means 'high hill summit'. The problem is that this name is not appropriate for the site of the Roman forts and settlement at Baylham House farm, on the east side of the river Gipping at a point SW of Coddenham. There is high ground immediately NE and E of the site, so the original Conbredovio/Combredovio, presumably a Celtic settlement, may have been up on that high ground. But an even better location for a place of that name would be at Coddenham village itself, two miles or so to the NE, where the high ground called Broom Hill is bounded by fairly steep sides on its E, S and W sides. Moreover Iter IX gives the distance from Ad Ansam to Conbretovio as 15 Roman miles, and on the assumption that Ad Ansam was at Stratford St. Mary, as is widely believed by scholars, the distance to Conbretovio suits Coddenham better than Baylham House. In addition, it is argued elsewhere on this website that Sitomago was in the Holton/Halesworth area, further to the NE in Suffolk. Even if we take it to have been at Halesworth, nearer to Baylham House than is Holton, the distance from Sitomago to Conbretovio again suits Coddenham better than Baylham House. Moreover, whilst Margary is a little vague as to the precise routes of the Roman roads in that area, it would appear that Coddenham is on road 34b and must be very close to the route of 3d going up to Caistor St. Edmund. All of these points lead the present writer to conclude that there must have been a Roman post of some kind at Coddenham as well as at Baylham House (but not necessarily at the same time), though of course the place-name gives no indication as to the nature of that post.
Another possibility is that the t of Conbretovio was originally a c, brec being a transitional element meaning 'high hill steep'. In this case the place-name might well apply to Baylham House, though this does not explain why the Iter IX distances suit Coddenham better than Baylham House. A final possibility is that the name was originally Conbrevonio, where brev is an old-style element meaning 'high hill slope'. This name would also be appropriate for the Baylham House site.
Regarding the Con/Com part of the name, Com is more likely to be original since it is consistent with the other East Anglian names Camborico and Camuloduno.
Note 2:
Example of d → t
CONCANGIOS see COGANGES
CONDECOR
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(Celt) |
(Rav) |
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(ND) |
(Mod) |
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Condecor |
Condecor (144) |
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Conderco |
Benwell |
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(Tyne & Wear) |
Note 1:
Conventionally Conderco is regarded as the correct form and is considered to be derived from a hypothetical Celtic root com meaning 'with' together with a verb-root which Holder gives as hypothetical derc or derco taken to mean 'to see', the sense of the name then being something like 'with a wide view', or 'place with a wide view'. It may be noted that Benwell is up on the top of high ground and offers a wide view in all directions.
But Ravenna's Condecor is a straightforward old-style topographical compound in which the old-style element cor meaning 'steep hill' is qualified by the earlier old-style element cond meaning 'steep hill summit', the name as a whole simply referring to the location of Benwell at the top of the steep slope on the north side of the river Tyne. The erc of the ND form could be an inversion-type element meaning 'hill steep', but then the elements of the name would be in the wrong order - the qualifying cond should then be to the right of erco within the name. There can thus be no doubt that Ravenna's Condecor is the earlier of the two forms available to us and that ecor has simply been rearranged to give the erco of the ND form. This may have happened just because erco was a meaningful word or element in the language of the troops based at Benwell, whereas ecor was not, but it may simply be that erco was considered more pleasant to the ear than ecor.
But note that Condecor had probably been the name of an Iron Age hillfort somewhere in the vicinity of Benwell and the Romans simply transferred the name to a Trajanic frontier fort which they built at Benwell itself, the name later being applied to the Hadrianic Wall fort at that site (see Chapter 20, 3.7 and Chapter 21, 2.4.1 (b)).
Note 2:
Example of rearrangement of letters within name
[The entry for Condecor was last modified on 29 July 2022]
CONDERCO see CONDECOR
CONGAVATA
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(Celt) |
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(ND) |
(Mod) |
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Concanata |
|
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Congavata |
Bowness-on-Solway |
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(Cumbria) |
Note 1:
Rivet and Smith identify Drumburgh as Congavata and take the correct form to be Concavata, this being Latin for 'hollowed out, scooped out', perhaps with reference to the shape of the coastline or some other natural feature. They do point out that a Latin name would be wholly exceptional amongst the forts forming the defensive line in that region.
It seems quite clear, however, that Congavata is a Celtic topographical name, but it has been slightly modified. The original name will have been Concanata, this being a compound with the old-style element con meaning 'steep hill' and the transitional element canat meaning 'steep hill high', both elements referring to the steep seaward-facing slope at Bowness (there are no high, steep hills at Drumburgh). One sees the element canat with slightly different spelling in Cunetione, Gabrocentio, Cantiventi and Durcinate.
Note 2:
Example of n → v
Example of c/g interchange
CONOVIO see CANUBIO
CORDA
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(Celt) |
(Rav) |
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(Mod) |
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Corda |
Corda (171) |
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|
Leicester |
Note:
Williams suggested a hypothetical root kerdho, taken to mean 'herd, host', the place-name then perhaps meaning 'hosting-place' or 'tribal centre'. Rivet and Smith suggest that Corda might be a corrupt form of Coria, this itself being taken to mean 'hosting-place, tribal centre'.
Corda, however, assuming the spelling is correct, is simply a topographical name with the element cord meaning 'steep hill summit'. From the order of names in Ravenna Corda appears to be an early name for Leicester. It may be that there was an early fort on top of the high ground which stretches into Leicester from the east and southeast. The later tribal capital built on lower ground by the river will then have been the Rate or Ratae which is known from several sources. What is not clear is whether Rate/Ratae is a name quite distinct from Corda, or whether Corda lost its initial C and orda changed to Rate, the change from d to t being known in other Romano-British place-names.
CORIELOPOCARIUM
| (Celt) | (Rav) | (Mod) | ||
| Lobocarion | Corielopocarium | South Shields? | ||
| (142) | (South Tyneside) |
Note:
Rivet and Smith appear to see Corielopocarium as being the same name as Corstopitum at Corbridge. This is unlikely to be correct. Firstly, Ravenna lists Coritiotar at Corbridge (see the entry for Coritiotar) and Corstopitum is derived from Coritiotar. Secondly, Ravenna has come all the way up from Decuaria at Brough-on-Humber, along Margary roads 80a and 80b, to Chester-le-Street and is about to list forts from Wallsend over to the Solway. It seems unlikely that Ravenna would jump west to Corbridge after Chester-le-Street. It is much more likely that the list makes the short onward journey from Chester-le-Street to South Shields, and then continues with Serduno at Wallsend.
Most British Celtic tribal names are based on topographical place-names and Corie, whatever the precise spelling, appears to be an element which the Romans applied to a tribal centre, presumably the place where the tribal chief lived. In the present case, then, the topographical place-name will have been Lobocarion, the Romans called the people the Lobocari, or, with the common b→p change, the Lopocari, and they called the tribal centre Corielopocarium. Lobocarion is a topographical compound in which the old-style element bocar, meaning ‘high steep hill’, qualifies the hill-letter l used in the inversion-type manner. One sees the initial l also in Lincobigla (later Lincovigla, at Lanchester) and Lucoganges (later Coganges, at Chester-le-Street). In all three place-names the initial hill-letter l appears to be l2. It might even be possible that the modern name The Lawe, referring to the area of South Shields where the Roman fort is located, is actually derived from the Lob part of Lobocarion.
[The entry for Corielopocarium was inserted on 09 February 2021]
CORINIUM see CIRONIUM DOBUNORUM
CORITIOTAR
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(Celt) |
(Rav) |
|
(AI) |
|
(Mod) |
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Coritisotar |
Coritiotar (177) |
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Corstopitum |
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Corbridge |
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(Iter I) |
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(Northumberland) |
Note 1:
Rivet and Smith follow Richmond and Crawford in seeing Coritiotar as a corruption of Coria Votadini, though their suggested process by which Coria Votadini changed into Coritiotar is somewhat complicated and unconvincing. They do not in fact associate Coritiotar with Corstopitum (they identify Inveresk as Coritiotar), though the order of names in Ravenna leaves little room for doubt that the two names do in fact relate to the same place. The Corstopitum form has long caused scholars difficulty. It is generally regarded as being corrupt, though there seems to be no general agreement amongst scholars as to how it might best be restored.
Coritiotar has nothing to do with the tribal name Corionototae, as the present writer at one time thought. There is simply a consonant missing between the i and the o of the name. The place-name is a compound of a transitional element and an inversion-type element (cf. Casataractonion, later Cataractoni at Catterick) with an ending ar. The transitional element Corit means ‘steep hill high’. The inversion-type element must have been sot meaning ‘hill high’. Ravenna has simply omitted the intervocalic s. At some stage the element oppidum was added to the name, thus yielding Coritisotaroppidum. If we write this as Cor [iti] s [o] t [ar] op [p] idum, delete the letters in brackets and then carry out the common change d→t we obtain the Corstopitum of the Antonine Itinerary. Note that excavation has revealed evidence of pre-Roman settlement on the same site as the Roman military complex at Corbridge (see, for example, the Pastscape website of Historic England). Note, too, that there are other examples of lengthening a name by the addition of a new element and then shortening the lengthened name by the deletion of internal letters (see paragraphs 11 and 11.1 of ‘Alphabetical List/Changes in names over time’). Note further that Coritiotar as it appears in Ravenna may actually have been the fort at Red House, a little to the west of the later military complex at Corbridge.
Note 2:
Example of addition of an element - oppidum - to a place-name
[The entry for Coritiotar was last modified on 09 February 2021]
CORSTOPITUM see CORITIOTAR
CREDIGONE
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(Celt) |
(Rav) |
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|
(Mod) |
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Credigone |
Credigone (200) |
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Duntocher |
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(West Dunbartonshire) |
Note:
Rivet and Smith see this name as an erroneous copy of Ptolemy's tribal name Creones. The argument runs that the name Creones was in one line of text and that the Latin word dicitur, perhaps with a correction dic written above it, or an abbreviation dr of it, was directly below Creones in the next line (dicitur being in the text "Iterum est civitas quae dicitur" which appears in Ravenna after Credigone), a copyist then introducing the correction dic, misread as dig, or an expansion of the abbreviation dr, into the middle of the name Creones. This is no doubt ingenious but quite unnecessary if in fact Credigone can be shown to be correct as it stands.
And indeed Credigone appears to be a straightforward topographical name in which the old-style element gon, meaning 'steep hill', is qualified by the earlier old-style element cred meaning 'steep hill summit'. The name Credigone thus appears to be in order as it is, so there is no need to assume that it is an erroneous copy of some other name. Ravenna's Credigone will have been the small, square fortlet at the top of the hill at Duntocher. That fortlet is early Antonine and will have been built as part of the preparations for the construction of the Antonine Wall, as explained in Chapter 22 (The Antonine Wall) of the Home menu. But the name Credigone was probably originally that of an Iron-Age hillfort, so if there had been no hillfort at Duntocher then Celtic Credigone must have been a hillfort on the summit of a steep hill somewhere in that region. The Romans will then have transferred the name to Duntocher. The name will have been retained by the Wall fortlet when this was built. It may well be the case that the tocher element of Duntocher is just the cred of Credigone rearranged, with the minor changes of c → ch and d → t.
But note that one may just have been the name ending and that there is a hill-letter missing, a hill-letter qualified by the g meaning 'steep'. In this case the place-name is most likely to have been Credigomone, bearing in mind that the Damnoni used the hill-letter m (cf. Cerma and Cermium).
[The entry for Credigone was last modified on 17 May 2021]
CROCOCALANA
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(Celt) |
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(AI) |
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(Mod) |
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Croconcalana |
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Crococalana |
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Ancaster |
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(Iter VI, VIII) |
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(Lincolnshire) |
Note:
Rivet and Smith, following Jackson, see the first part of this name as being derived from hypothetical British croco, taken to mean 'hill, mound; heap, stack, tumulus'. They see the second part of the name as perhaps being derived from hypothetical pre-Indo-European cala, apparently taken to mean 'rock', perhaps in this case with a derived meaning 'shelter' or 'habitation'. The name as a whole might then possibly mean 'tumulus-settlement'.
Crococalana appears to be a straightforward old-style topographical name, though it has lost its second hill-letter (after the co). But bearing in mind that in old-style place-names the hill-letters are arranged in chronological order going from left to right, with the earliest first, and the corresponding river-letters are arranged in the same order in river-names, it is possible to recreate the Celtic place-name. The earliest river-letter in the river-name Slea, the river at Ancaster (it appears nowadays to be called the Beck at Ancaster, but will earlier have been called the Slea, as it is downstream at Sleaford), is s, which corresponds to the earliest hill-letter r of Crococalana. The next river-letter in Slea is l, which corresponds to the hill-letter n, so we can be reasonably confident that the missing hill-letter in Crococalana is n, the Celtic place-name thus having been Croconcalana. The river-letter t corresponding to the hill-letter l in Croconcalana does not appear in the river-name, unless Slea was originally Sleta and the intervocalic t was dropped at some stage. Note that all three elements cr, con and cal of Croconcalana mean 'steep hill', and there are steep hills both north and south of the river at Ancaster. But note that Croconcalana was probably originally the name of the Iron Age settlement at SK 987 433, next to Castle Quarry just south of modern Ancaster. That settlement was close to the narrow, steep-sided valley actually called The Valley. It is presumably the steep, eastern side-wall of that narrow valley which is the steep hill referred to three times in the place-name Croconcalana. The name will have been transferred to the later Iron Age settlement built a little to the north, this new settlement later being romanised to become the Romano-British Crococalana referred to in the Antonine Itinerary.
Presumably the final ana of Croconcalana has survived as the initial An of Ancaster. It has in the past been conventional to identify Crococalana as a place on the Fosse Way. The writer's reasons for removing the Iter VI names from the Fosse Way are given in the entry for Ad Pontem.
[The entry for Crococalana was last modified on 09 July 2019]
CROUCINGO
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(Celt) |
(Rav) |
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(Mod) |
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Corucingolonion |
Croucingo (157) |
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Croglin |
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(Cumbria) |
Note 1:
The first part of the name is normally taken to be derived from hypothetical British crouco, later croco, given the meaning 'mount, tumulus', the name as a whole being thought to mean 'tumulus-place'.
Croucingo appears to be a topographical name comprising the old-style elements cr and cin both meaning 'steep hill', with a g meaning 'steep' left over. Presumably there was originally another hill-letter after the g, giving a Celtic name somewhat of the form Corucingolon or Corucingolonion. At this point Ravenna apears to be going from Brougham Castle to Nether Denton and between these two is a village called Croglin, standing on a river of the same name. Croglin stands at the foot of a very steep hill, so the name Corucingolonion would suit the location, though so far as the present writer is aware no Roman fort has been found there.
Note 2:
Example of omission of part of name
CUNETIO
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(Celt) |
(Rav) |
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(AI) |
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(Mod) |
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Cunetione |
Cunetzione (46) |
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Cunetione |
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Mildenhall |
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(Iter XIV) |
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(Wiltshire) |
Note:
Cunetio is traditionally accepted as the correct form. No generally accepted derivation has been offered for this name in the past, though Rivet and Smith appear to take the view that the name is a river-name transferred to the Roman settlement at Mildenhall.
Cunetione, however, appears to be a straightforward topographical name. Cunet is a transitional element meaning 'steep hill high'. Note that the Roman settlement (probably originally a fort) at Mildenhall stood on the lower slopes of a steep, high hill. The Romans transferred the place-name to the river at Mildenhall, now the Kennet. The element cunet appears in slightly different forms in other names, too, for example in Gabrocentio at Hard Knott, which is of course associated with a steep, high hill, and also in Durcinate and Concanata, the original spelling of the ND's Congavata.
[The entry for Cunetio was last modified on 09 April 2021]
CUNETIONE see CUNETIO
CUNETZIONE see CUNETIO
