Explanatory alphabetical list of Romano-British place-names

 

Part 8: M

Part 8a: Ma

 

[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]

 

 

MACATONION

(Celt)	(Rav)				(Mod)
Macatonion	Macatonion (61)				Dymock
or					(Gloucestershire)
Demacatonion

 

Note:

Rivet and Smith appear to follow Richmond and Crawford in preferring the form Magalonium, this being thought to include a hypothetical river-name Magalona, taken to mean 'noble river', Magalonium then meaning 'place on the noble river'.

 

But the macat of Macatonion appears to be a straightforward inversion-type topographical element meaning 'hill steep high'. On the assumption that the first Roman fort stood where the centre of the modern village lies (and it is assumed here that the name does indeed refer to a fort), the hill or slope in question is presumably that which goes down to the river Leadon from the fort. The modern name Dymock may just be a rearrangement of Macat, with the t changed to d and the c to ck.

It is, however, much more likely that the name was transferred to Dymock by the Romans from a nearby Iron-Age hillfort. The nearest appears to be Haffield Camp (SO 723 339) about four kilometres northeast of Dymock. The hillfort stands on the summit of a steep, high hill. Ravenna does sometimes omit the initial consonant of Celtic place-names (see Alphabetical List/Changes in names over time, paragraph 8), so the Celtic name may have been Demacatonion, meaning 'summit of hill steep, high'. Modern Dymock is then presumably derived directly from the Demac part of the old name.

 

[The entry for Macatonion was last modified on 29 July 2020]

 

 

MAGIOVINTO

(Celt)			(AI)		(Mod)
Magiovinto			Magiovinto		Dropshort Farm
			(Iter II)		(Milton Keynes)
			Magiovinio
			(Iter VI)
			Magionvinio
			(Iter VIII)

 

Note 1:

Jackson thought the first element of this name might be hypothetical British magio, probably meaning 'great'. He, and others, appear to consider the second element obscure.

 

Magiovinto is normally identified as the Romano-British town close to Dropshort Farm, on the A5 just outside Milton Keynes. The name appears to be a straightforward topographical compound in the hill-letters m and n, where the inversion-type elements mag and vint respectively mean 'hill steep' and 'slope of hill high'. The name is thus entirely appropriate for the location. The hill in question is that which rises up to Little Brickhill, identified in this study as Ravenna's Iaciodulma (95), the Celtic form of which may have been Inacisodulno. The hill-letter n in Inacisodulno and Magiovinto corresponds to the river-letter l in Lovat, the name of the river flowing past the Romano-British town (the river also being known as the Ouzel). Magiovinto is presumably the earliest of the forms given in the AI, the t simply having changed to i in the forms given in Iter VI and Iter VIII. The Iter VIII form also shows an intrusive n.

 

Note, however, that Magiovinto was probably the name of the hill-fort now known as Danesborough, to the NNE of Little Brickhill. That hill-fort stands not on the summit of a hill but on the slope, on the hillside, and the slope below the hill-fort is certainly steep. The hill-fort is thought to have been occupied from the first century BC to the first century AD (see, for example, the Pastscape website of Historic England), which would tie in well with the form of the name - both elements mag and vinto are inversion-type and the changeover from old-style to inversion-type names appears to have taken place during the second half of the second century BC. The Romans may have moved the inhabitants of the hill-fort down to the new town which they built at Dropshort farm and they may simply have transferred the name of the hill-fort to the new town.

 

Note 2:

Example of intrusive letter - n

 

[The entry for Magiovinto was last modified on 06 August 2020]

 

 

MAGIS

(Celt)				(ND)	(Mod)
Magnis				Magis	Carvoran
					(Northumberland)

Note 1:

Rivet and Smith see this name as being derived from hypothetical British magos, taken to mean 'field, plain' originally, and later 'market', the meaning of the name then being 'at the plains'. They tentatively locate the ND's Maglone at Old Carlisle and Magis at Burrow Walls.

 

However, it would appear that Old Carlisle and Burrow Walls could be fitted in to the ND list more comfortably amongst the names coming down the west coast, i.e. together with Congavata (Bowness-on-Solway), Axeloduno (Maryport) and Gabrocentio (Hard Knott). The ND list comes over from Chester-le-Street via Bowes and Brough-under-Stainmore to Kirkby Thore. It then goes via Maglone and Magis to Longovico at Lanchester. It seems much more likely, then, that the list heads north after Kirkby Thore to go via Whitley Castle to Carvoran, and then east along the Stanegate in the direction of Lanchester. If this is correct then Magis will just be a modified form of Magnis at Carvoran. No copying error need be involved here as the name Magnis may simply have developed to Magis by the time the ND was compiled. That the two names Magnis and Magis date from different historical periods seems clear, since the ND indicates that Magnis was manned by an old-fashioned cohort and Magis by a new-fangled numerus.

 

The magn element originally in Magis is an old-style element in the hill-letters m and n, where gn means 'steep hill'. The Roman fort at Carvoran stands at the top of a steep slope on the east side of the Tipalt Burn.

 

Note 2:

Example of deletion of internal letter - n

 

[The entry for Magis was last modified on 12 May 2019]

 

 

MAGLONE

(Celt)				(ND)	(Mod)
Maglone				Maglone	Whitley Castle
					(Northumberland)

Note:

Rivet and Smith appear to regard this name as being derived from hypothetical mag or magal, taken to have the general sense 'great, noble', the name as a whole perhaps meaning 'high, outstanding place' or 'noble place'.

 

But, as it stands, the name appears to be a topographical compound in the hill-letters m and l, the old-style element gl meaning 'steep hill'.

 

The name is commonly associated with the Roman fort at Old Carlisle, presumably on the basis of an inscription found there and including the text Vik Mag. This text is traditionally expanded to read Vikenses Maglonarum, though there can be no guarantee that this is correct. And indeed the name Maglone is not entirely inappropriate for Old Carlisle, since there appears to be a steep drop down from the fort to a stream which flows past the western side and part of the northern side of the fort. Nonetheless the present writer identifies Whitley Castle as Maglone. For the reasons for this see Magis. And the Roman fort at Whitley Castle is most certainly located on a steep hill.

 

[The entry for Maglone was last modified on 12 May 2019]

 

 

MAGNIS¹

(Celt)	(Rav)			(ND)	(Mod)
Magnis	Magnis (130)			Magnis	Carvoran
					(Northumberland)

Note:

Rivet and Smith see this name as being derived from hypothetical British magno, apparently taken to mean 'stone, rock'.

 

The magn of Magnis is, however, just an old-style compound in the hill-letters m and n, where gn means 'steep hill'. The Roman fort at Carvoran stands at the top of a steep slope on the east side of the Tipalt Burn.

 

[The entry for Magnis was last modified on 12 May 2019] 

 

 

MAGNIS²

(Celt)	(Rav)		(AI)		(Mod)
Magnis	Magnis (57)		Magnis		Kenchester
			(Iter XII)		(Herefordshire)

Note:

Rivet and Smith see this name as being derived from hypothetical British magno, apparently taken to mean 'stone, rock'.

 

The magn of Magnis is, however, just an old-style compound in the hill-letters m and n, where gn means 'steep hill'. Magnis will have been the name of the hill-fort in Credenhill Park Wood, a little to the northeast of the Roman fort (and later town) at Kenchester (cf. Noviomagno, the name of a new settlement down below Magno, the Maiden Castle hill-fort in Dorset). That hill-fort in Credenhill Park Wood is at the top of a steep hill. The name of the hill-fort was simply transferred by the Romans to their fort (later, town) at Kenchester. 

 

[The entry for Magnis was last modified on 22 September 2019]

 

 

MAIA

(Celt)	(Rav)				(Mod)
Maga, Mada, Mala	Maia (154)				Fingland Ridge
or					(Cumbria)
Magia, Madia, Malia

 

Note:

Richmond and Crawford suggested a derivation from hypothetical British maios, comparative of hypothetical maros, the sense of the name being 'larger (one or ones)', and Rivet and Smith suggested that this might refer to the size of promontories (Bowness contrasted with Drumburgh).

 

Maia appears within a group of Ravenna names which actually defines the Trajanic frontier, so Maia was presumably the Trajanic fort up on Fingland Ridge. The Ravenna name after Maia, Fanococidi, would then be the Flavian fort at Kirkbride, simply incorporated in the Trajanic frontier as its most westerly fort. If one assumes that the i of Maia was originally some other letter, then the Celtic name may have been Maga, Mada or Mala, where mag means 'hill steep', mad means 'hill summit' and mal is just a compound in the hill-letters m and l. If, on the other hand, one assumes that there was originally a consonant between the a and i of Maia then the Celtic name might have been Magia, Madia or Malia.

 

 

MAIO

(Celt)	(Rav)				(Mod)
Malio, or	Maio (120)				Workington
Matio, or					(Cumbria)
Macio

 

Note 1:

Richmond and Crawford suggested derivation from hypothetical British maios, comparative of hypothetical maros, the sense being taken to be 'larger (one or ones)'. Rivet and Smith thought this might refer to the size of promontories (Bowness contrasted with Drumburgh), though this is presumably because they equated Ravenna's Maio with its Maia, which they identified as Bowness-on-Solway.

 

The vowel combination aio is rather unusual, so one suspects that there was an additional consonant in the original Celtic name. Now, the fort at Workington stands at the western end of an area of high ground, so the name is probably topographical, the m of Maio being the hill-letter m. The name of the nearby river Derwent includes the river-letters t (changed to d), r and b (changed to v and then to w), the corresponding hill-letters being l, m and s. The hill-letter l is chronologically later than the m, so the name of the fort may have been Malio. But the name of the fort may alternatively refer to the height or steepness of the raised ground to the east, so the name may have been Matio (the t meaning 'high') or Macio (the c meaning 'steep'). But whatever the intervocalic consonant was, it was at some point omitted, thus leaving the Maio of Ravenna.

 

Note 2:

Example of omission of internal letter - l, t or c.

 

 

MAMCUNIO/MAMUCIO  see  MANTIO

 

 

MANDUESEDO

(Celt)			(AI)		(Mod)
Manduesedo			Manduesedo		Mancetter
			(Iter II)		(Warwickshire)

Note:

This name is generally considered to be derived from hypothetical British mandu, taken to mean 'small horse, pony', and hypothetical essedo, taken to mean 'war-chariot', the name as a whole perhaps meaning 'horse-chariot'.

 

Manduesedo, however, appears to be a straightforward topographical compound in the hill-letters m, n and s, where the old-style elements nd and sed both mean 'hill summit'. The name must therefore have been that of the Roman fort built up on high ground on the western side of the river Anker, the name later being transferred to the civilian settlement on Watling Street, on the other side of the river. It seems most likely, however, that the name was originally that of the nearby Oldbury hillfort and was simply transferred by the Romans to the fort which they built at Mancetter.

 

It is likely, however, that the initial M is used in an inversion-type manner and that the name of the Oldbury hill-fort was just Anduesedo. Manduesedo, meaning 'hill called Anduesedo', may then have been a new Celtic settlement (replacing the hill-fort) built on low ground at the foot of the hill. The later Roman fort will then have taken its name from that new settlement.

 

 

MANTIO

(Celt)	(Rav)		(AI)		(Mod)
Mandio	Mantio (109)		Mamucio		Manchester
or			(Iter II)
Masandion			Mamcunio
			(Iter X)

Note 1:

Rivet and Smith see Mamucium as the correct form, and Jackson considered this form to be derived from hypothetical British mamma taken to mean 'breast; round, breast-shaped hill'.

 

Mantio appears to have been a Flavian fort, so it is possible that this fort was abandoned at some time and then, sometime later, a new fort was built on the site and given the name Mamucio/Mamcunio. Whether the new name had anything to do with breasts is debatable - confusion of n and m did occur in other names during medieval copying and the letters t and c are sometimes interchanged. It is thus entirely possible that the Mamc of Mamcunio was originally Mant, as in Ravenna's form. The change of the ending from io to unio would not appear to be of great significance. Note that there is a variant spelling Mancunio for the AI's Mamcunio. It does seem most likely, then, that the development was Mantio → Mancio → Mancunio, the second letter m in both AI forms just being the result of n/m confusion during medieval copying.

 

Ravenna's form may be correct as it stands, the m being the hill-letter m and ant being an inversion-type element meaning 'hill high'. However, the Manchester fort is described as being up on a bluff, so it seems more likely that the Celtic name had been Mandio, where and is an old-style element meaning 'hill summit'. But there is apparently no evidence of an Iron Age settlement on that bluff, so the place-name must have been transferred to Manchester from some other location in that region. Mandio was probably the name of the promontory fort known as Castle Steads, Bury (NGR: SD 797 130), higher up the river Irwell. The fort is up on high ground adjacent the river.

It is possible that the modern river-name Irwell is derived from a Celtic river-name of the form Irbelena, where the river-letters r, b and l correspond respectively to the hill-letters m, s and n. It thus seems possible that the Iron Age fort was in fact called Masandion, which, with loss or omission of intervocalic s and the common change d → t, was transferred by the Romans as Mantio to the fort which they built downstream at Manchester.  Irbelena  will have changed to Irwell with b → v → w.

 

Note 2:

Possible d → t

Possible confusion of n and m

Possible interchange of t and c

Example of modification of ending - io to unio

 

[The entry for Mantio was last modified on 02 February 2024]

 

 

MAPORITON

(Celt)	(Rav)				(Mod)
Maboridon	Maporiton (163)				Bramham
					(North Yorkshire)

Note 1:

Rivet and Smith see this name as being derived from hypothetical British mapo meaning 'boy, youth; son' and hypothetical ritu meaning 'ford', Maporiton thus meaning 'the young man's ford' or 'son's ford'.

 

The above seems somewhat far-fetched. Maporiton appears to be a topographical name, but it has been altered. The p will have been a b originally and the b meaning 'high' comes before its hill-letter. The b thus belongs to the hill-letter r in the name and not to the m. But then borit is impossible, since t also means 'high', and a hill-letter cannot be qualified by both b and t. The t must therefore have been a d in the original Celtic name, the name thus being of the form Maboridon, where borid is an element like the name Bereda (the fort at Plumpton Wall) - it simply means 'high hill summit'. Maboridon is thus a straightforward topographical compound in the hill-letters m and r and was the name of an Iron Age hillfort or settlement at the top of a high hill. There was apparently no hillfort in the immediate vicinity of Bramham, the nearest being some six kilometres away at Barwick-in-Elmet. But wherever Iron Age Maboridon was the Romans will have transferred the name to a Roman post at Bramham. For the reason for identifying Bramham as Maporiton see Home/Chapter 15, Part 2, 11.

 

Note 2:

Example of d → t

Example of b → p

 

[The entry for Maporiton was last modified on 12 May 2021]

 

 

MARCOTAXON

(Celt)	(Rav)				(Mod)
Marcotacson	Marcotaxon (224)				Castle Craig
					(Perth and Kinross)

 

Note:

The first part of this name is thought to be derived from hypothetical British marco or marca, taken to mean 'horse'. For the second element Williams suggested a derivation from hypothetical tag, taken to mean 'to rule, order, array', the name as a whole then perhaps meaning 'horse array', or perhaps, as Rivet and Smith suggest, 'assembly point for cavalry' or 'horse-trading fair'.

 

The order of names in Ravenna indicates that Marcotaxon was on or close to the Ruthven Water, a tributary of the river Earn in central Scotland. Marcotacson is a topographical compound in the hill-letters m, r and s. The earliest element of the name is acs, meaning 'steep hill', then came the inversion-type element arcot, meaning 'hill steep high', and finally the hill-letter m. Note that the river-letters corresponding to the hill-letters m, r and s are r, s and b, and the r and b appear, with the b changed to v, in the modern river-name Ruthven (the en just being a name-ending). Presumably the Celtic river-letter s changed to th at a date later than the Roman occupation. The place-name as a whole refers to a location adjacent a steep, high hill, and there are several places on the banks of the Ruthven Water which appear suitable for such a name, possibly Damside and certainly Auchterarder and Kincardine Castle. It is probable, however, that the name was that of the hill-fort now known as Castle Craig, just south of Pairney in Perth and Kinross, and was simply transferred by the Romans to a fort which they built nearby, close to the Ruthven Water. 

 

Note that it is possible that the hillfort had been called simply Acson  and that Arcotacson was a new Celtic settlement (replacing the hill-fort) built on low ground at the foot of the hill. That new settlement will later have been taken over by the Damnoni (who appear to have used the hill-letter m) and the still later Roman fort took its name - Marcotacson (Ravenna's Marcotaxon) - from the Damnonian settlement.

 

[The entry for Marcotaxon was last modified on 26 June 2020]

 

 

MARGIDUNO

(Celt)			(AI)		(Mod)
Margiduno			Margiduno		Croxton Kerrial
			(Iter VI, VIII)		(Leicestershire)

Note:

Rivet and Smith appear to follow Jackson in seeing a derivation from hypothetical marga, taken to mean 'marl', the meaning of the whole name then being 'marly fort', i.e with an earthwork of marly soil. Coates sees a derivation from hypothetical mrogi, taken to mean 'boundary', the meaning of the name then being 'boundary fort'.

 

Margiduno, however, appears to be a straightforward topographical name in the hill-letters m, r and n, where the inversion-type elements arg and dun respectively mean 'hill steep' and 'summit of hill'. The name is entirely appropriate for Croxton Kerrial, where there is a peninsula of land extending northwards from the Roman road (Margary 58a), that peninsula being bounded by steep slopes on its E, N and W sides. It is traditional, however, to identify Margiduno 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.

 

 

MARIDUNUM

(Celt)		(Ptol)	(AI)		(Mod)
Maridunum		Maridunum	Muriduno		Carmarthen
			(Iter XII)

Note:

The first element is normally considered to be derived from hypothetical British mori, taken to mean 'the sea', and the second element is thought to be Celtic dunon, from hypothetical dunos, which is thought to have meant 'hill' originally and to have taken on the meaning 'fort' later. The meaning of the name is thus taken to be 'sea fort'.

 

But Maridunum will have been the name of the Iron Age hillfort on Merlin's Hill, a little to the east of Carmarthen, and was simply transferred to Carmarthen by the Romans. It seems highly unlikely that the place-name has anything to do with the sea. Moreover, Ptolemy assigns Maridunum to the Demetae  tribe and the Demetae used the hill-letter m (see Chapter 27). It thus seems quite clear that the m of Maridunum is the hill-letter m used in the inversion-type manner. This appears to be borne out by the only other place-name Ptolemy assigns to the Demetae, Luentinum. This name is not yet entirely clear (there is a consonant missing between the u and the e) but the final element of the name is an inversion-type place-name element in the hill-letter n₂  (nt means 'hill high') as is the dun element of Maridunum (dun means 'summit of hill'). And the first letter of Luentinum is the hill-letter l  (though this might originally have been an m, at some stage subjected to the l/m interchange). The structure of the name Luentinum is that of an inversion-type topographical place-name, so it is probably safe to assume that Maridunum is also an inversion-type topographical place-name, the earliest element being dun, using the hill-letter n₂. The hill-letter r was then added in the inversion-type manner and finally, as noted above, the Demetae added their hill-letter m, also in the inversion-type manner.

It is, nonetheless, possible that r is the earliest hill-letter in Maridunum so that the place-name may have existed in the form Ridunum before the hill-letter m was added in the inversion-type manner.

 

[The entry for Maridunum was last modified on 02 February 2024]

 

 

MAROMAGO

(Celt)	(Rav)				(Mod)
Lacerocomaguve	Maromago (180)				Learchild
					(Northumberland)

Note:

Rivet and Smith appear to see this name as a corrupt form of the tribal name Vacomagi. Ptolemy places the Vacomagi in Scotland, though scholars are not in agreement as to where in Scotland the tribe lived. However, the order of names in Ravenna appears to make it clear that Maromago was not in Scotland. Richmond and Crawford took Maromago at face value and saw a derivation from hypothetical maro, taken to mean 'great', and hypothetical mago, taken to mean 'plain', the name as a whole then meaning 'great plain'. They suggested that Maromago might have been at Inveresk or at a site in the Midlothian plain.

 

But Maromago is a topographical name, though one which has been modified. The name was transferred to the Roman fort at Learchild from the Iron Age promontory fort at Brinkburn Priory, on the river Coquet. Note that the promontory fort is only about one kilometre from the Devil’s Causeway, the Roman road to Learchild. The name of the promontory fort will have been Lacerocomaguve (discussed in more detail in the entry for Coccuveda), comprising three inversion-type elements lac, roc and mag all meaning ‘hill steep’, with an uve ending. If one rewrites this as La [ce] ro [co] maguve, deletes the letters in brackets and replaces the uve ending with a simple o, one obtains the form Laromago. The l/m interchange then yields the name Maromago (cf. Celtic Lelamon → Ravenna’s  Melamoni).

 

[The entry for Maromago was last modified on 23 January 2021]

 

 

MATOVION

(Celt)	(Rav)				(Mod)
Matovion	Matovion (207)				Cargill
(a river)					(Perth & Kinross)

 

Note:

Rivet and Smith see this name as a duplicate of Maulion, but prefer the form Matovion, seeing a derivation from hypothetical Celtic matu, taken to mean 'bear', the name then perhaps meaning 'bear-place'. Alternatively, they suggest the name might mean 'place of Matuvos', where Matuvos is a hypothetical name corresponding to the name Matuus, which is recorded in Latin sources.

 

But Matovion is actually a river-name, the then name of that part of the river Isla downstream from Cardean. It includes the river-letters m and t corresponding to the hill-letters n and l appearing in the name Ugrulentum, which was the fort upstream from Cargill at Cardean. The Romans simply transferred the name of the river to the fort which they built on the banks of the river at Cargill.

 

 

MAULION

(Celt)	(Rav)				(Mod)
Maculion	Maulion (202)				Malling
or					(Stirling)
Matulion

 

Note:

Rivet and Smith consider that the name Maulion might be corrupt, but if the name originally included an element Matu then it might be derived from hypothetical matu, taken to mean 'bear', the name then perhaps meaning 'bear place'. They do take the view, however, that the name is more likely to be based on a hypothetical personal name Matuvos, the meaning of the name then being 'place of Matuvos'.

 

Maulion appears, however, to be a topographical name, but there is a consonant missing between the a and the u. That consonant is most likely to have been a c or a t, thus giving a name of the form Maculion or Matulion, where mac and mat are inversion-type elements respectively meaning 'hill steep' and 'hill high'. Either form would be entirely appropriate for the location of the fort at Malling. Note that both forms would be consistent with statements made elsewhere in this study to the effect that m was the hill-letter used by the Damnoni, m being the hill-letter most recently added to the compound.