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Arduaravenatone

Identification: the river Okement + Torridge downstream of the confluence of the two rivers

The order of names in the Ravenna Cosmography appears to indicate that Arduaravenatone was the Roman fort at Okehampton in Devon. But Arduaravenatone is a river-name transferred by the Romans to the fort, so it must have been the then name of the river Okement. It is a river-name of the kind comprising a river-suffix, in this case venatone, attached to a place-name, in this case Arduara, so there must have been a Celtic settlement called Arduara somewhere along the course of the river. The Ard of the place-name is an old-style element meaning ‘hill-summit’. The place-name appears to be that of the hill-top settlement on Castle Hill, just west of Woolleigh Barton, though the waterway is today called the Torridge at that point. It is thus clear that the Celts applied the name Arduaravenatone to the Okement and that part of the modern Torridge downstream of the confluence of the two rivers. The upper reaches of the modern Torridge must therefore have had some other Celtic name. The river-suffix venatone comprises the river letters b (changed to v) and t. One sees this river-suffix, in slightly modified form, in the Bide part of modern Bideford, on the river Torridge. Bideford is given as Bedeford in the Domesday Book and Bede is just a shortened form of venatone with the v changed to b and the t  to d. One may deduce from the above that the English settlement called Bedeford was founded, and named, before the river-name changed to Torridge. Note that the settlement on Castle Hill is bounded by very steep slopes on its northern and southern sides, so it is likely that the Celtic place-name was Carduara, where Card is an old-style element meaning ‘steep hill summit’. It is then conceivable, but by no means certain, that the river-name Carduaravenatone was shortened (by the deletion of internal letters) to Cavenat and then Cavenat → Canent → Cament → Okement.

 

 

 

[This page was last modified on 03 August 2020]

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Velox

Identification: the river Brit

 

Velox is a river-name of the kind in which a river-element - here Ve, a modification of the river-letter b and present also in Vedra and Veromo - is used as a prefix to a place-name, in this case Lox, the same name as Ravenna's Loxa (165) at Exley Head, Keighley, Yorkshire (this identification is explained in Chapter 15: Navione to Alavna). Note that the river-letters corresponding to the hill-letters l and s of Loxa (x=cs) are t and b, both of which are present in the river-name Brit, the t  coming after the b in Brit because the l  of Lox is l2 . It may be noted that the Loxa at Exley Head stood above the river now called the Worth, which will originally have been Bort, a river-name in the river-letters b, r and t, the same river-letters as are present in Brit. Likewise the place called Uxella was adjacent the river now called the Parrett, which will originally have been Baret, again with the river-letters b, r and t. A trace of the name Loxa may perhaps have survived in Asker, the name of the tributary which joins the river Brit at Bridport.

 

 

[NB. For further discussion of Velox see Updates: 22 August 2015. Detailed information as to the different river-letters and as to how they were combined to form compound river-names, together with information as to the four categories of Celtic river-names, is given in Chapter 19: The Rivers of Roman Britain. Detailed information as to the different hill-letters is given in Chapter 1 and information as to how the hill-letters were combined to form compound place-names is given in Chapter 2]

 

[Navigating tip: simply close this window to return to Chapter 19, if that is where you came from. Click on Next below to go back to the notes for Cunia. Click here on Romano-British place-names to go to the Contents page] 

 

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Trisantonis

Identification: The river Arun

 

Apparently the river Arun used to be called the Tarrant, so the identification of the river Arun as the Trisantonis seems quite safe.

The river-name Trisantona, as applied to the Trent which flows into the Humber, appears to comprise a river-element tr, made up of the river-letters t and r, and a place-name element santon, a very slightly modified version of Ravenna’s Sandonio at Sandon, on the river Trent (this identification is discussed in Chapter 13: Cironium to Sandonio). That may well be correct, at least for that river Trent, but it does not follow that the name Trisantonis was formed in this way in all cases. It may be that there was at one time a river-name of the form Trisan, rather like Derben (explained under Dorvantium), but using the river-letter s rather than b, and at some stage those who coined inversion-type place-names in the hill-letter l2 added their river-letter t to the end of Trisan to yield the new river-name Trisant, this then acquiring the ending onis. River-names of this kind then have the river-letter t at the beginning and end of the name proper, exactly as in Derbentione and Derventione, and in the modern river-names Dart, Tweed and Teviot. Thus, when Celtic river-names were assigned to various categories in Chapter 19: The rivers of Roman Britain, Trisantonis was treated as a river-name comprising only river-letters (apart from the ending n in the middle of the name and at the end). This is because it is perhaps unlikely that there was a place called Sandonio close to all rivers now called the Trent, even though sand is just a topographical compound referring to a location on the top of raised ground - it is the same compound as the lind of Lindum, the lond of Londinium (97) and the mand of Manduesedo, but using the hill-letter s rather than l or m. It is in any event possible that the place-name Sandonio is actually derived from the river-name Trisantona/Trisantonis.

 

[NB. Detailed information as to the different river-letters and as to how they were combined to form compound river-names, together with information as to the four categories of Celtic river-names, is given in Chapter 19: the rivers of Roman Britain. Detailed information as to the different hill-letters is given in Chapter 1 and information as to how the hill-letters were combined to form compound place-names is given in Chapter 2]

 

[This page was last modified on 15 November 2022]

 

[Navigating tip: simply close this window to return to Chapter 19, if that is where you came from. Click on Prev below to proceed to the notes for Cunia and Velox. Click on Next below to go back to the notes for Raxtomessasenna. Click here on Roman-British river-names to go to the Contents page.]

 

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[NB  This page previously related to the rivers Cunia and Velox, but has now been subdivided. Click on Prev below left to go to the new page for Velox] 

 

Cunia 

 

Ravenna takes its readers on a journey clockwise round Britain starting with the river Traxula, the Axe in Devon. Near the end of the list appears the name Raxtomessasenna, the Adur (or possibly the Ouse). West of the Adur comes Ptolemy’s Trisantonis, the Arun, and further west still Ravenna's Velox, the modern river Brit. Logically, then, Ravenna’s Cunia should be a river between the Arun and the Brit. It is not at all clear which river might have been the Cunia. However, it was suggested in Chapter 11: Roman place-names in central southern England that Ravenna’s Onna (40) may have been in the vicinity of Horsebridge on the river Test, and that the name may originally have been Conda or Conva. There are locations in that area which would suit either form and it is just possible that the Romans would have transferred the name of the fort to the river, now the Test, the river-name being given as Cunia in Ravenna. 

 

[NB. Detailed information as to the different river-letters and as to how they were combined to form compound river-names, together with information as to the four categories of Celtic river-names, is given in Chapter 19: the rivers of Roman Britain. Detailed information as to the different hill-letters is given in Chapter 1 and information as to how the hill-letters were combined to form compound place-names is given in Chapter 2]

 

 

 

[Navigating tip: simply close this window to return to Chapter 19, if that is where you came from. Click on Next below to go back to the notes for Trisantonis. Click here on Romano-British place-names to go to the Contents page.]

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Raxtomessasenna

Identification: the river Adur or the river Ouse (East Sussex)

 

Richmond and Crawford indicate that all three of the Vatican, Basle and Paris manuscripts of the Ravenna Cosmography give the form Raxtomessasenna, but nonetheless they split the name up into Raxtomessa and Senua, treating these as two different river-names. But it is likely that the manuscripts do in fact give the correct form. Raxtomessa is a land-name and senna was probably originally serna, this being a river-suffix in the river-letters s and r corresponding to the hill-letters r and m in Raxtomessa. The full name means ‘Raxtomessa river’. The name Raxtomessa refers to a location on raised ground, bounded by a steep slope and overlooking a river (for an explanation of the essa-ending see Chapter 4: place-names with an essa-type ending). The river-letters corresponding to the hill-letters r, s and m of Raxtomessa (the x stands in for cs) are s, b and r. It would appear that the b was at some stage dropped altogether, leaving the river-letters s and r. Apparently the river Adur was previously called the Sore, so it is clearly possible that the Raxtomessasenna was the Adur.  The Celtic fort or settlement called Raxtomessa may have been at Old Shoreham, if there is a steep slope down to the river there, or further upriver, where there is no shortage of steep slopes as far as Steyning/Upper Beeding.

 

But note another possibility. If the river-name Ouse, a river a little east of the Adur, is a genuine old name and not a relatively modern creation, then the name could be derived from the river-suffix serna, just as the Yorkshire Ouse is believed to be derived from the Celtic river-name Isur. In this case the Raxtomessaserna could have been the East Sussex Ouse and the Celtic settlement called Raxtomessa, at the top of a high, steep hill and overlooking the river, could have been in the Newhaven area, where there are high, steep hills on both sides of the river, or a little further north at or close to Lewes, where there are also high, steep hills close to the river. The most likely candidate would be the Iron Age hill-fort on Mount Caburn, which does indeed stand at the top of a high, steep slope and overlooks the river Ouse.

 

[NB. Detailed information as to the different river-letters and as to how they were combined to form compound river-names, together with information as to the four categories of Celtic river-names, is given in Chapter 19: the rivers of Roman Britain. Detailed information as to the different hill-letters is given in Chapter 1 and information as to how the hill-letters were combined to form compound place-names is given in Chapter 2]

 

[Navigating tip: simply close this window to return to Chapter 19, if that is where you came from. Click on Prev below to proceed to the notes for Trisantonis. Click on Next below to go back to the notes for Novia. Click here on Romano-British place-names to go to the Contents page.]

 

  1. Novia
  2. Lemana
  3. Rutupis/Rutupie
  4. Sidumanis