The companion hero to Brutus in Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain, was Corineus. He was also a Trojan but like Brutus was not born in Troy and joined forces with Brutus before he reached Albion or Britain. The Ravenna Cosmography has a probable memory of his name in the form Purocorinaeus, an evident error for Durocorinaeus. Duro means strength or stronghold and corinaeus is a remarkably similar spelling of the name Geoffrey gives several centuries later; that is Corineus (ie his stronghold). The Ravenna list place names are featured in another article in this series called A Roman tour of British Place Names in which the possible Roman fort at Morwenstow is a possible site, one mile south of Cornakey and Cory; which perhaps convey a memory of the name.
Another similar Romano-British place name is Durocornovium which is Wanborough in Wiltshire. This lies a few miles SSE of Cirencester or ancient Corinium which again appears to convey a memory of the same name Corineus. Corinium has horned god effigies and iconography which suggests that Corineus is in fact another name for the Gaulish god Cernunnos. In Celtic, corn and cern means horn and at Cerne Abbas in Dorset the Giant with his enormous phallus is clearly the horned god personified, armed with a huge club. Geoffrey's Corineus was armed with a large axe and the forest god in the Welsh Mabinogion tale Lady of the Fountain, like the horned god Dagda in Ireland, both wielded huge clubs, which we know from Gaulish iconography symbolised the thunderbolt. Corineus may have been a human, but he shared both the name and characteristics of a god. This feature, whereby a man or woman shares the same name and characteristics as a deity is fairly common in Indo-European history. Gerald J Larson Myth in Indo-European Antiquity p124, notes that Greek kopuvn, staff or club, was cognate with kepauvos meaning thunder. This is probably cognate in turn with Cernunnos. Nonnos (Dionysiakon VI,I,165) states that Zagreous or Dionysus, son of Zeus and Persephone, was called kereon brephos or the horned infant (ie a bull) and while still an infant, Zagreous climbed upon Zeus's throne and brandished the thunderbolt. Hence, kereon means horn, cognate with kepauvos as thunder. Around Totnes itself are several similar names. Corringdon and Corringdon Ball is Correndon 1284, Corndon 1282 and Correndon Ball 1575. This and Corndon further north on Dartmoor cannot mean corn because they are on Dartmoor where corn isn't grown. Cornwood was Cornehude 1086, Curnwod 1262. Cornworthy was Corneorda 1086, Corneworthi 1205. Further afield are several Corndon and similar names, such as Corneal at St Dominick in Cornwall, Cornhale 1305, and of course Geoffrey's claim for Cornwall itself being named from Corineus, hence the Cornovii tribe, people of the horned god.
A lost Cornwode manor 1086 was in Barnstaple Hundred. Also in Devon were lost place names, Curnbroke 1291 and Corndich 1297. In Inwardleigh Parish, North Devon, is Curworthy, Corneurde 1086, Curewrthi 1219. Devon Place Names explains such names as Old English ceorh or churn or as corn meaning crane (cf Irish corr meaning crane), but the Ravenna name Durocorinaeus and Corinium for Cirencester, make this less likely and the Cornovii/Cornwall spelling underlines this. Corndon Tor on Dartmoor has three cairns which might imply that the Tor was called Carneddau originally, meaning cairns in Welsh. Cairn or carn itself, is from the same root as corn in British meaning horn, with its origins in the same horned deity. However, it is remarkable that all the earliest spellings are consistently corn, which makes it seem likely that corn meaning horn was the original spelling.
If Corineus was a memory of the horned god Cernunnos, then it might explain his role as a giant slayer of Gogmagog and the mighty axe he carried being similar to the giant club of the horned god. Corynaeus in Virgil was a Trojan priest who shares none of these gigantic attributes and fights the Rutulians with a burning brand from his altar in Book XII of The Aeneid, in quite a human guise.. If Corineus was taken from The Aeneid,why then, did he not draw on the more obvious names Troyes and Paris as Trojan names in his history? The fact that so many place names around Totnes ,in a period predating Geoffrey, support the basis of his history that Brutus and Corineus came to this area, is now indicated by the above evidence, at least from the viewpoint of the Indo-European standpoint that these articles have proposed. The more this evidence mounts up, the more conundrums it throws up. Remember also, that the Romans themselves could have had a motive for being jealous of the British- Trojan link, which is why in Nennius the British version which agrees with Geoffrey, more or less, is paralleled by a pro-Roman version which claims Brutus was a Roman consul; as in Virgil, and that the British descended from the Roman race. Clearly someone before AD800 had an axe to grind and providing some support for the existence, at that time of Geoffrey's lost source, the Liber Vetustissimus; which may, incidentally, be the Good Book of Oxford, named as a source in the introduction to Gaimar's L'Estoire des Engleis (History of the English) 1136-7 and contemporary with Geoffrey's Historia.
Friday 15 October 2010
Wednesday 13 October 2010
Brutus and Bretona in the Totnes area
In recent years, the precise meaning of many ancient Celtic and Indo-European words has become apparent. Each word may have several meanings, so caution is advised, but in the case of 'bretona' being judgement,(Zeitschrift fur Celtische Philologie Vol 55 Xavier Delamarre pp 21-44 2007) we are on fairly safe ground.
Within a few miles of Totnes is an unusual concentration of possible and definite bretona place names.(All place names are from Devon Place names in the English Place Name Society Volumes unless otherwise stated). Ashburton- Essebretona 1086 Aisbernatonam c1150,Aisbernetune c13th, Eispreton 1185, Esperton 1187 Aspernetune c13th shows evidence of the British mutation from b to p, as well as berna being a British variant on bertona/bretona, likewise signifying judgement. An earlier form of the stream name was aescburnam lande 1008-1012 Crawford Charters 23, which might imply that Ashburton was called ash stream, but the problem with this interpretation is that the field name Darbrittan, by a crossroads at SX772669 just to the south of Ashburton. appears to be pure British; Dar meaning oak and Brittan meaning Bretona or judgement (seat), which at such a crossroads would be entirely appropriate and implies that this particular crossroads is likely to have been a prehistoric crossing point. Furthermore, Darbrittan provides direct evidence of British word order, IE oak judgement rather than old English judgement oak In any case, Esse or Asse can be a British word. Caer Asse is found in an archaic reference in Culhwch and Olwen in the Welsh Mabinogion while Esse or Esus is an ancient Celtic root word meaning lord or divine and even giving rise to our word essence or essential. Aesc as ash is not necessarily out of context here, given the Nordic myth of the ash tree Yggdrasil as the world tree and the Gaulish version of Esus cutting down the world tree in the Paris and Trier inscriptions, Ass means god in Norse, hence the Aesir were the gods and sharing the same Indo-European roots as Esus, lord or divine. Ashprington was Aisbertona 1086, Aspruntona 1088, Aysprington(e) 1143, Asperyngton 1316. In Ashprington parish was a manor called Aesbertona (Watkins History of Totnes p13) which presumably was near the village somewhere.. This may have been a variant spelling of Washbourne which was Waseborna 1086, Wasseburn(e) 1238, perhaps providing evidence of a British and Saxon version of the name existent at the same time., Harburton was Herburnat 1108, Herbernat1109, Herburton1158, Hurbreton 1333; leaving an element of doubt that , as with Ashburton/Darbrittan, 'bern' and 'burt' may not be Saxon burn as stream, but variants on bretona Both Harberton and Harbertonford share this characteristic. Both of these places, Harberton and Harbertonford, are sited on the River Harbourne, but as bourne simply means seasonal stream, it is clear that 'har' or 'ar' is the original form. Hazard Hill, by this same river, is a neolithic settlement which at 1086 was called Haroldesore, retaining this base of har or ar.The personal name Harold here is doubtful, given the fact that Harberton, with its chapel already in existence by AD909 or earlier, does not share this form of the name. Har is a known deformation from Anglo-Saxon Hearg meaning temple or shrine; a possible reference to this Neolithic sacred hill, as so often with prehistoric sacred sites, being still sacred to the British or Anglo Saxons after the Roman period. Alternatively, the h could have been added to an earlier ar which could be British; ard meaning height for example, referring to this same sacred eminence. Harberton would then simply translate as the bretona or judgement place on the river Ar. Harbourne near the source of this river, is a further example of this river name; although it doesn't necessarily prove that 'Ar' itself was the ancient name of the river, but chances are it is. A field name on the East Allington tythe map is rendered as Britton Hill about 1840, doubtless another ancient place of judgement in the South Hams. A further possible example is Wilburton to the west of Ermington for which an earlier form bretona may be feasible, although normally 'bur' 'would normally imply earthwork in old English. The History of Clawton by Rev. H Harvey 1939, notes a Bretina Field in this North Devon parish, indicating that this was a fairly common Devon British place name. Halsbretona or Halberton near Tiverton,was a 1086 manor in mid Devon (The Devonshire Domesday p92). Bratton Clovelly was Bratona in 1086, while Bratton Fleming in North Devon was Braton(e) or Brotone; again possible Bretona names.
Another possibility, is Lamerton near Tavistock. This was Lamburnam c 970 and Lambretona 1086. It reveals a similar process as with aescburnam and Essebretona for Ashburton, with the objection to the Anglo-Saxon meaning being the pure British Darbrittan Field in the same parish. The position is complex, but, once again, the stream name; now Lumburn, could be either English meaning lamb or British meaning hand. If it was originally Lem or Leam, then it would be British elm, IE the elm(tree) justice seat The hand of justice is not impossible, unless another meaning is intended, but lamb stream may also be possible and as noted earlier, burnam can mean justice in British or stream in English; you take your pick;. I personally feel that the evidence of Btitish Darbrittan means that Bretona is the true meaning and burnam is really justice not stream and its use as stream in Saxon boundary charters may be a confusion from its original meaning, or simply apply to the stream and not to the village itself., but I would welcome any other opinion which could shed light on the true meaning of these names. Even if burnam is stream, this still doesn't prove that Bretona is not the ancient name, because it is curious that, as with Harberton and Harbourne; both the stream and the bertona/bretona names are used along the same stream. More examples need to be studied to reach any decisive conclusions.
The Anglo Saxon version of Bretona translates as Damer/Domer, from the same root as doomster, doom meaning fate as in judgement, especially divine judgement. Damerham in Hampshire-Domra Hamme c.880, Dobreham 1086, means enclosure of the judges and as 2 large neolithic burial chambers have been found there and the churchyard is itself of great antiquity; this name is highly significant. Here in South Devon is another possible doomster name; Dammers Meadow by the River Dart 100 yards or so SW of Buckfastleigh Church. Naturally it may mean literally dammers, ie the damming of the river, but I've not come across a similar precedent for such a version of this name, so its status as a judgement seat remains probable. Another possible domra name locally is Damers End in the village of Denbury, but how ancient this name could be, is unclear for the moment.
On the River Tamar near Plymouth, is a further possible example. Tamerton Foliat was Tambretona 1086, although caution is advised here, because it is possible that in this case Tambre is a variant form of Romano-British Tamaris found in the Ravenna Cosmography. However, the more likely explanation is that this is a bretona on the River Tamar and if this is the case it would be evidence that Saxon burnam as stream at Ashburton and Lamerton, may not be correct, given the fact that here, the Tamar is a full blown river with its attendant bretona name unless, of course, burnam meant judgement or its meaning in Saxon was wider than stream, or that the stream that flowed through the village was also called Tam(ara).
Combretonio in Iter IX of the Antonine Itinerary (Convetoni in the Peutiger Tables), is Baylham House Suffolk,TM 1152. This appears to be a Bretona name for a Romano British settlement and 'com' is probably the root of Cymry, the Welsh name for themselves, originally *Combrogio' comrade or company, hence company of judges. Likewise Brettenham on the River Breton in Suffolk appears to be Bretona and even more striking is that Brettenham in Norfolk, east of Thetford, is a known Iceni tribal settlement and probably another judgement site. Other examples are found in Gaul and Britain and even the name Britain itself, whether from Brutus or not, is clearly linked to the Indo-European concept of judgement based on truth (uiros also meaning man and truth whereby Indo-European man and truth should ideally be synonymous).
As for Brutus himself, striking evidence for his name can also be found near Totnes. Furthermore, both of these names lie on prehistoric route ways which lead directly through these settlements on the way to Totnes. The first is a branch of the so called 'Roman Road' or Harpers Hill, which is a direct continuation of Totnes High Street, itself a prehistoric ridge road, which ascends steeply from the prehistoric ford on the site of the medieval bridge, just above the present bridge.From Harpers Hill, the road branches, one route trending towards Stanborough Hillfort and the South coast and the other passing via a series of ford names; not all on streams and thereby implying this is British/Welsh ffordd as opposed to Anglo-Saxon ford; although doubtless, both words share the same root. This ancient route follows the ridge to Belsford then on to Langford and Diptford or the deep ford. At Butterford(Brutesfort1088 in Watkin History of Totnes p13,Botreford 1086) it branches again; one route passing along the ridgeway to the ancient settlement of Elintona 1086, now Yealmpton and the other to the ridgeway skirting Dartmoor , to Brisworthy earlier Brutereswurdam (circa 1100-1200). Brytenesworh 1270, Brutenesworthy 1303, with the interesting form Bryten reminiscent of Britain itself. Prydain is the Welsh/British version of Brutus/Britain and agrees with the earliest Greek version Prettanike in the 6th century BC. The name may survive at Pridhamsleigh near Buckfastleigh, Prideaux south of Yealmpton and Priddy on the Mendips in Somerset.
Brutus may be a Trojan name and it is certainly Roman, but it is evident from these potential bretona and brut names clustered around Totnes and the ancient routes leading to the town, that they share the same credentials as British versions of the name. Ancient Trojan may or may not have been an Indo-European language, but Greek, Roman and British/Celtic certainly were. Trojan names like Brutus, Aeneas, Corineus, Priam, Helenus and Julius sit comfortably within an Indo-European setting, which does suggest that,unless they are Greek interpretations of the Trojan originals, Trojan was an Indo-European language. Given the fact that it lies in the Indo European heartland of Asia Minor and we know Hittite was itself an early written Indo-European language incorporating most of Asia Minor, then the chances are Trojan was likewise Indo-European. That being the case, then the name Brutus may well have its etymology in similar root words in British. Brud for example means prophecy in Welsh, brut in Welsh, means history, although this may be under the influence of the name Brutus himself with reference to the Bruts which were renditions of the British histories of Geoffrey of Monmouth given in Welsh; like Brut y Brenhinoedd for example, meaning History of the Kings. Bru in Welsh means belly or womb, proving how intrinsic its basic meaning was, and bri,brig, brigi, brigantes meaning high (goddess or tribe etc) is likewise an important root word. Brigi was Brigit, the Irish goddess who was daughter of the Dagda and who gave her name to the important tribe of the Brigantes in Northern England. Brigit was also known as Bride. By process of d-t mutation, this allows for Brite, hence Brute and Britain/Britomartis/Artemis/Diana.
All this has profound implications for the connections between Brutus, the Roman born Trojan and bretona as judgement, foundation principle of Celtic/Indo-European society. Indo-European myth makes it clear that the foundation principle of the tribe or nation was justice or truth. If the king was not truthful especially in judgement, the goddess of the land who married him withdrew her favour; the land became unfruitful and barren, crops failed and eventually this king would be deposed by the people and replaced by one who was chosen by the goddess because they were truthful. Brutus was chosen by the Goddess Diana/Artemis to found Britain for this very reason.
This is perhaps best explained by an ancient Greek name for Artemis/Diana, which is Britomartis. Diana was thereby instructing her own namesake Brutus to find Albion later Britannia because her mother Leto had come from northern climes, from Hyperborea which is likely to have been Britain. Her brother Apollo every year returned to Hyperborea, with its great circular temple described by Diodorus Siculus in the !st century BC, making it likely it was British Stonehenge or Callanish. Therefore Britomartis or Artemis was as much a British goddess as Greek one.
Virgil's Aeneid book VI mentions Brutus, a Roman consul, who was the ancestor of the one who assassinated Julius Caesar. While discussing famous Italians from history, The Sibyl of Cumae tells Aeneas: 'Do you also want to see the Tarquins and the proud spirit of Brutus their avenger, and the fasces returned to the people? Brutus is the first who will receive the power of a consul and the cruel axes- a father who in the name of liberty the beautiful- will call down punishment on his sons for plotting to renew the wars. Sad man ! However posterity interprets those actions,love for his country and a boundless thirst for praise will prevail.
This refers to Lucius Junius Brutus, who was first Roman consul about 500 BC. He gained the trust of the Tarquin kings by feigning slow wittiness. Brutus in Latin means dullard, which is a curious name to give to an early leader of the Roman republic. The Tarquins underestimated him as a potential threat. He accompanied the Tarquins sons on a trip to the oracle of Delphi in Greece. The sons asked the oracle who would be the next ruler of Rome. The oracle replied the next person to kiss his mother would become king. Brutus interpreted mother to mean earth, so he pretended to trip and kissed the earth.
Naturally it has been claimed that Nennius, about AD 800 drew on this source for his reference in his Historia Britonnum to a Roman consul named Brutus which became the source for Geoffrey's Brutus coming to Britain. This is possible, but there is an obvious problem with this proposal which is if this was the case, given the fact that Virgil's Aeneid was a well known source to medieval historians, why would anyone make the elementary mistake of confusing the period of the Tarquin rulers c500 BC with the far earlier period of the Trojan incursion into Italy and later Albion or Britain? Furthermore, why would Ptolemy have named a tribe of Trinovantes as noted in another article in this series, in AD150, along with Nennius's reference to London as Troy Novant or New Troy? This is a conundrum which is not easy to answer and whether or not, Geoffrey invented his Brutus myth, including a similar trip to a different oracle in Greece, we will have to leave open for the moment. As Nennius already gives the bare bones of the Brutus myth in AD800, it seems reasonable to conclude that these Bretona and possible Bretona names are crucial to our understanding of the meaning of this myth and whether, perhaps a Trojan named Brutus really did land at Totnes.
Within a few miles of Totnes is an unusual concentration of possible and definite bretona place names.(All place names are from Devon Place names in the English Place Name Society Volumes unless otherwise stated). Ashburton- Essebretona 1086 Aisbernatonam c1150,Aisbernetune c13th, Eispreton 1185, Esperton 1187 Aspernetune c13th shows evidence of the British mutation from b to p, as well as berna being a British variant on bertona/bretona, likewise signifying judgement. An earlier form of the stream name was aescburnam lande 1008-1012 Crawford Charters 23, which might imply that Ashburton was called ash stream, but the problem with this interpretation is that the field name Darbrittan, by a crossroads at SX772669 just to the south of Ashburton. appears to be pure British; Dar meaning oak and Brittan meaning Bretona or judgement (seat), which at such a crossroads would be entirely appropriate and implies that this particular crossroads is likely to have been a prehistoric crossing point. Furthermore, Darbrittan provides direct evidence of British word order, IE oak judgement rather than old English judgement oak In any case, Esse or Asse can be a British word. Caer Asse is found in an archaic reference in Culhwch and Olwen in the Welsh Mabinogion while Esse or Esus is an ancient Celtic root word meaning lord or divine and even giving rise to our word essence or essential. Aesc as ash is not necessarily out of context here, given the Nordic myth of the ash tree Yggdrasil as the world tree and the Gaulish version of Esus cutting down the world tree in the Paris and Trier inscriptions, Ass means god in Norse, hence the Aesir were the gods and sharing the same Indo-European roots as Esus, lord or divine. Ashprington was Aisbertona 1086, Aspruntona 1088, Aysprington(e) 1143, Asperyngton 1316. In Ashprington parish was a manor called Aesbertona (Watkins History of Totnes p13) which presumably was near the village somewhere.. This may have been a variant spelling of Washbourne which was Waseborna 1086, Wasseburn(e) 1238, perhaps providing evidence of a British and Saxon version of the name existent at the same time., Harburton was Herburnat 1108, Herbernat1109, Herburton1158, Hurbreton 1333; leaving an element of doubt that , as with Ashburton/Darbrittan, 'bern' and 'burt' may not be Saxon burn as stream, but variants on bretona Both Harberton and Harbertonford share this characteristic. Both of these places, Harberton and Harbertonford, are sited on the River Harbourne, but as bourne simply means seasonal stream, it is clear that 'har' or 'ar' is the original form. Hazard Hill, by this same river, is a neolithic settlement which at 1086 was called Haroldesore, retaining this base of har or ar.The personal name Harold here is doubtful, given the fact that Harberton, with its chapel already in existence by AD909 or earlier, does not share this form of the name. Har is a known deformation from Anglo-Saxon Hearg meaning temple or shrine; a possible reference to this Neolithic sacred hill, as so often with prehistoric sacred sites, being still sacred to the British or Anglo Saxons after the Roman period. Alternatively, the h could have been added to an earlier ar which could be British; ard meaning height for example, referring to this same sacred eminence. Harberton would then simply translate as the bretona or judgement place on the river Ar. Harbourne near the source of this river, is a further example of this river name; although it doesn't necessarily prove that 'Ar' itself was the ancient name of the river, but chances are it is. A field name on the East Allington tythe map is rendered as Britton Hill about 1840, doubtless another ancient place of judgement in the South Hams. A further possible example is Wilburton to the west of Ermington for which an earlier form bretona may be feasible, although normally 'bur' 'would normally imply earthwork in old English. The History of Clawton by Rev. H Harvey 1939, notes a Bretina Field in this North Devon parish, indicating that this was a fairly common Devon British place name. Halsbretona or Halberton near Tiverton,was a 1086 manor in mid Devon (The Devonshire Domesday p92). Bratton Clovelly was Bratona in 1086, while Bratton Fleming in North Devon was Braton(e) or Brotone; again possible Bretona names.
Another possibility, is Lamerton near Tavistock. This was Lamburnam c 970 and Lambretona 1086. It reveals a similar process as with aescburnam and Essebretona for Ashburton, with the objection to the Anglo-Saxon meaning being the pure British Darbrittan Field in the same parish. The position is complex, but, once again, the stream name; now Lumburn, could be either English meaning lamb or British meaning hand. If it was originally Lem or Leam, then it would be British elm, IE the elm(tree) justice seat The hand of justice is not impossible, unless another meaning is intended, but lamb stream may also be possible and as noted earlier, burnam can mean justice in British or stream in English; you take your pick;. I personally feel that the evidence of Btitish Darbrittan means that Bretona is the true meaning and burnam is really justice not stream and its use as stream in Saxon boundary charters may be a confusion from its original meaning, or simply apply to the stream and not to the village itself., but I would welcome any other opinion which could shed light on the true meaning of these names. Even if burnam is stream, this still doesn't prove that Bretona is not the ancient name, because it is curious that, as with Harberton and Harbourne; both the stream and the bertona/bretona names are used along the same stream. More examples need to be studied to reach any decisive conclusions.
The Anglo Saxon version of Bretona translates as Damer/Domer, from the same root as doomster, doom meaning fate as in judgement, especially divine judgement. Damerham in Hampshire-Domra Hamme c.880, Dobreham 1086, means enclosure of the judges and as 2 large neolithic burial chambers have been found there and the churchyard is itself of great antiquity; this name is highly significant. Here in South Devon is another possible doomster name; Dammers Meadow by the River Dart 100 yards or so SW of Buckfastleigh Church. Naturally it may mean literally dammers, ie the damming of the river, but I've not come across a similar precedent for such a version of this name, so its status as a judgement seat remains probable. Another possible domra name locally is Damers End in the village of Denbury, but how ancient this name could be, is unclear for the moment.
On the River Tamar near Plymouth, is a further possible example. Tamerton Foliat was Tambretona 1086, although caution is advised here, because it is possible that in this case Tambre is a variant form of Romano-British Tamaris found in the Ravenna Cosmography. However, the more likely explanation is that this is a bretona on the River Tamar and if this is the case it would be evidence that Saxon burnam as stream at Ashburton and Lamerton, may not be correct, given the fact that here, the Tamar is a full blown river with its attendant bretona name unless, of course, burnam meant judgement or its meaning in Saxon was wider than stream, or that the stream that flowed through the village was also called Tam(ara).
Combretonio in Iter IX of the Antonine Itinerary (Convetoni in the Peutiger Tables), is Baylham House Suffolk,TM 1152. This appears to be a Bretona name for a Romano British settlement and 'com' is probably the root of Cymry, the Welsh name for themselves, originally *Combrogio' comrade or company, hence company of judges. Likewise Brettenham on the River Breton in Suffolk appears to be Bretona and even more striking is that Brettenham in Norfolk, east of Thetford, is a known Iceni tribal settlement and probably another judgement site. Other examples are found in Gaul and Britain and even the name Britain itself, whether from Brutus or not, is clearly linked to the Indo-European concept of judgement based on truth (uiros also meaning man and truth whereby Indo-European man and truth should ideally be synonymous).
As for Brutus himself, striking evidence for his name can also be found near Totnes. Furthermore, both of these names lie on prehistoric route ways which lead directly through these settlements on the way to Totnes. The first is a branch of the so called 'Roman Road' or Harpers Hill, which is a direct continuation of Totnes High Street, itself a prehistoric ridge road, which ascends steeply from the prehistoric ford on the site of the medieval bridge, just above the present bridge.From Harpers Hill, the road branches, one route trending towards Stanborough Hillfort and the South coast and the other passing via a series of ford names; not all on streams and thereby implying this is British/Welsh ffordd as opposed to Anglo-Saxon ford; although doubtless, both words share the same root. This ancient route follows the ridge to Belsford then on to Langford and Diptford or the deep ford. At Butterford(Brutesfort1088 in Watkin History of Totnes p13,Botreford 1086) it branches again; one route passing along the ridgeway to the ancient settlement of Elintona 1086, now Yealmpton and the other to the ridgeway skirting Dartmoor , to Brisworthy earlier Brutereswurdam (circa 1100-1200). Brytenesworh 1270, Brutenesworthy 1303, with the interesting form Bryten reminiscent of Britain itself. Prydain is the Welsh/British version of Brutus/Britain and agrees with the earliest Greek version Prettanike in the 6th century BC. The name may survive at Pridhamsleigh near Buckfastleigh, Prideaux south of Yealmpton and Priddy on the Mendips in Somerset.
Brutus may be a Trojan name and it is certainly Roman, but it is evident from these potential bretona and brut names clustered around Totnes and the ancient routes leading to the town, that they share the same credentials as British versions of the name. Ancient Trojan may or may not have been an Indo-European language, but Greek, Roman and British/Celtic certainly were. Trojan names like Brutus, Aeneas, Corineus, Priam, Helenus and Julius sit comfortably within an Indo-European setting, which does suggest that,unless they are Greek interpretations of the Trojan originals, Trojan was an Indo-European language. Given the fact that it lies in the Indo European heartland of Asia Minor and we know Hittite was itself an early written Indo-European language incorporating most of Asia Minor, then the chances are Trojan was likewise Indo-European. That being the case, then the name Brutus may well have its etymology in similar root words in British. Brud for example means prophecy in Welsh, brut in Welsh, means history, although this may be under the influence of the name Brutus himself with reference to the Bruts which were renditions of the British histories of Geoffrey of Monmouth given in Welsh; like Brut y Brenhinoedd for example, meaning History of the Kings. Bru in Welsh means belly or womb, proving how intrinsic its basic meaning was, and bri,brig, brigi, brigantes meaning high (goddess or tribe etc) is likewise an important root word. Brigi was Brigit, the Irish goddess who was daughter of the Dagda and who gave her name to the important tribe of the Brigantes in Northern England. Brigit was also known as Bride. By process of d-t mutation, this allows for Brite, hence Brute and Britain/Britomartis/Artemis/Diana.
All this has profound implications for the connections between Brutus, the Roman born Trojan and bretona as judgement, foundation principle of Celtic/Indo-European society. Indo-European myth makes it clear that the foundation principle of the tribe or nation was justice or truth. If the king was not truthful especially in judgement, the goddess of the land who married him withdrew her favour; the land became unfruitful and barren, crops failed and eventually this king would be deposed by the people and replaced by one who was chosen by the goddess because they were truthful. Brutus was chosen by the Goddess Diana/Artemis to found Britain for this very reason.
This is perhaps best explained by an ancient Greek name for Artemis/Diana, which is Britomartis. Diana was thereby instructing her own namesake Brutus to find Albion later Britannia because her mother Leto had come from northern climes, from Hyperborea which is likely to have been Britain. Her brother Apollo every year returned to Hyperborea, with its great circular temple described by Diodorus Siculus in the !st century BC, making it likely it was British Stonehenge or Callanish. Therefore Britomartis or Artemis was as much a British goddess as Greek one.
Virgil's Aeneid book VI mentions Brutus, a Roman consul, who was the ancestor of the one who assassinated Julius Caesar. While discussing famous Italians from history, The Sibyl of Cumae tells Aeneas: 'Do you also want to see the Tarquins and the proud spirit of Brutus their avenger, and the fasces returned to the people? Brutus is the first who will receive the power of a consul and the cruel axes- a father who in the name of liberty the beautiful- will call down punishment on his sons for plotting to renew the wars. Sad man ! However posterity interprets those actions,love for his country and a boundless thirst for praise will prevail.
This refers to Lucius Junius Brutus, who was first Roman consul about 500 BC. He gained the trust of the Tarquin kings by feigning slow wittiness. Brutus in Latin means dullard, which is a curious name to give to an early leader of the Roman republic. The Tarquins underestimated him as a potential threat. He accompanied the Tarquins sons on a trip to the oracle of Delphi in Greece. The sons asked the oracle who would be the next ruler of Rome. The oracle replied the next person to kiss his mother would become king. Brutus interpreted mother to mean earth, so he pretended to trip and kissed the earth.
Naturally it has been claimed that Nennius, about AD 800 drew on this source for his reference in his Historia Britonnum to a Roman consul named Brutus which became the source for Geoffrey's Brutus coming to Britain. This is possible, but there is an obvious problem with this proposal which is if this was the case, given the fact that Virgil's Aeneid was a well known source to medieval historians, why would anyone make the elementary mistake of confusing the period of the Tarquin rulers c500 BC with the far earlier period of the Trojan incursion into Italy and later Albion or Britain? Furthermore, why would Ptolemy have named a tribe of Trinovantes as noted in another article in this series, in AD150, along with Nennius's reference to London as Troy Novant or New Troy? This is a conundrum which is not easy to answer and whether or not, Geoffrey invented his Brutus myth, including a similar trip to a different oracle in Greece, we will have to leave open for the moment. As Nennius already gives the bare bones of the Brutus myth in AD800, it seems reasonable to conclude that these Bretona and possible Bretona names are crucial to our understanding of the meaning of this myth and whether, perhaps a Trojan named Brutus really did land at Totnes.
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