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Dunum was a Latinized name of a place in ancient Ireland and the name of at least two recorded settlements there, one in the far north, one in the far south.[1][2] The southerly settlement is attributed in ancient print as the original site or namesake of Rathdrum in County Wicklow.[1] The northerly is attributed to the settlement of Downpatrick in County Down,[2][3] which the Irish called Dunedh, and also Rath-keltar[2] or Rath-Keltair,[4] because it was the castle of Keltair, son of Duach – Rath- meaning castle – and was quoted as that in the Will of Saint Patrick.[4]
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As a word, Dunum is very similar to words for fortifications and measurements, and sometimes used as a suffix or prefix in placenames to note the presence of fortification.[5] It was a word for hill with ancient Gauls, Britons, and Saxons.[4] It is also a latinization of the word "dun", separately evolved on the continent, but to the same meaning – a fortification or a hill – in several languages, particularly Gothic.[6] As such, variations of this placename are one of the most commonly recurring naming group for places in Ireland and an identifiable feature in placenames both in Britain and throughout much of Europe.[7] It is similar in meaning to the Old English dün meaning "down", "hill" or "mountain" and used in such English place names as Ashdown, Bredon and Snowdon.[8]
Use of Dunum in placenames may indicate a Belgic origin for some of the tribes of Ireland.[6] It was the name of the chief town of the Cauci, an early Irish tribe documented by Ptolemy in the second century, who may have been Belgic, and were related to the Chauci from what is now northern Germany.[6][9]
Further reading
edit- The Geography of Claudius Ptolemy, hosted by the University of Chicago
References
edit- ^ a b c Vallencey, Charles (1786). Collectanea de Rebus Hibernicis, Volume 3. Dublin: Luke White. p. 340.
DUNUM, a city and capital of the Menapii mentioned by Ptolemy; it was seat of the chiefs of Cuolan, and called by the Irish Rathdruim. It is still remaining and gives name to the adjacent town of Rathdrum in the county of Wicklow.
- ^ a b c Vallencey, Charles (1786). Collectanea de Rebus Hibernicis, Volume 3. Dublin: Luke White. p. 340.
DUNUM, an ancient city or fortress in the north of Ireland, mentioned by Ptolemy, and called by the Irish writers Dunedh and Rath-keltar, it was situated near Downpatrick.
- ^ Vallencey, Charles (1786). Collectanea de Rebus Hibernicis, Volume 3. Dublin: Luke White. p. 335.
DONUM, or Dunum, an ancient city mentioned by Ptolemy, and thought by Cambden and some others to de the present city of Down, from the dun or fort near it, and formerly the residence of the chieftains of the country; but a number of the ancient Irish raths or castles were named Dons, Duns and Dins.
- ^ a b c Beatson, Robert (1806). A Political Index to the Histories of Great Britain & Ireland, Volume 3. London:Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, Paternoster-row.
Dunum (Downe) was anciently called Aras Celtair, as also Rath Keltair, in much the same sense; the one signifying the house, and the other the castle or fortification of Celtair, the son of Duach; from whence Flaherty, out of a quotation from the Will of Saint Patrick, calls it Rath Keltair Macduach, or the Castle of Keltair, the son of duach. It took the name of Downe from its situation on a hill. For Dunum, among ancient Gauls, Britons, and Saxons, denoted a hill or rising situation; nor hath Dunum any other signification among the Irish.
- ^ "The Celtic Tribes of Britain (Tees Bay)". Roman Britain Organisation. 18 July 2024.
Dunum Sinus (Tees Bay) between modern Hartlepool and Redcar. The name may be translated as 'The Bay of the Fortification' but it is uncertain as to which fortified settlement is meant.
- ^ a b c Jamieson, John (1841). Dr Jamieson's Scottish Dictionary, and Supplement. In four volumes. Vol. 1. Edinburgh: William Tate. p. xx.
As the names of many Belgic towns end in Dun or Dinum, Mr. Chalmers attempts to show that the Belgae must have been Celts, because "Dunum and Dinum are the latinized form of Dun and Din, which, in the British and Irish, as well as in the ancient gothic, signify a fortified place;" (and further two paragraphs)
- ^ "Chapter I: The Celts in Ancient History - Celtic Place-names in Europe". Internet Sacred Text Archive.
- ^ Ekwall, Eilert (1960). The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place Names. Oxford University Press. p. 153.
- ^ Diefenbach, Lorenz (1839). Celtica I. sprachliche Documente zur Geschichte der Kelten; zugleich als Beitrag zur Sprachforschung überhaupt (in German). Stuttgart, Drud und Berlag von Imle & Liefching.