Archaic England : $b an essay in deciphering prehistory from megalithic monuments, earthworks, customs, coins, place-names, and faerie superstitionsBayley, Harold
History
Archaic England : $b an essay in deciphering prehistory from megalithic monuments, earthworks, customs, coins, place-names, and faerie superstitions
Bayley, Harold
Archaeology; England -- Antiquities
The old Welsh poets commemorate what they term Three National Pillars of
the Island of Britain, to wit: "First--Hu, the vast of size, first
brought the nation of the Cymry to the Isle of Britain; and from the
summer land called Deffrobani they came (namely, the place where
Constantinople now is), and through Mor Tawch, the placid or pacific
sea, they came up to the Isle of Britain and Armorica, where they
remained. Second--Prydain, son of Aedd the Great, first erected a
government and a kingdom over Ynys Prydain, and previous to that time
there was but little gentleness and ordinance, save a superiority of
oppression. Third--Dyfnwal Moelmud--and he was the first that made a
discrimination of mutual rights and statute law, and customs, and
privileges of land and nation, and on account of these things were they
called the three pillars of the Cymry."[323]
The Kymbri of Cambria claim themselves to be of the same race as the
Kimmeroi, from whom the Crimea takes its name, also that Cumberland is
likewise a land of the Cumbers. The authorities now usually explain the
term Kymbri as meaning _fellow countrymen_, and when occurring in
place-names such as Kemper, Quimper, Comber, Kember, Cymner, etc., it is
invariably expounded to mean _confluence_: the word would thus seem to
have had imposed upon it precisely the same meaning as _synagogue_,
_i.e._, a coming together or congregation, and it remains to inquire why
this was so.
The _Kym_bri were also known as _Cyn_bro, and the interchangeability of
_kym_ and _kin_ is seemingly universal: the _Khan_ of Tartary was
synonymously the _Cham_ of Tartary; our _Cam_bridge is still
academically _Can_tabrigia, a _com_pact is a _con_tract, and the
identity between _cum_ and _con_ might be demonstrated by innumerable
instances. This being so, it is highly likely that the Kymbri were
followers of _King Bri_, otherwise King Aubrey, of the Iberii or Iberian
race. In Celtic _aber_ or _ebyr_--as at _Aber_deen, _Aber_ystwith,
etc.--meant a place of confluence of streams, burns, or brooks; and
_aber_ seems thus to have been synonymous with _cam_ber.
Ireland, or _Iber_nia, as it figures in old maps, now _Hiber_nia, traces
its title to a certain Heber, and until the time of Henry VII., when the
custom was prohibited, the Hibernians used to rush into battle with
perfervid cries of _Aber!_[324] It is a recognised peculiarity of the
Gaelic language to stress the first of any two syllables, whereas in
Welsh the accent falls invariably upon the second: given therefore one
and the same word "Aubrey," a Welshman should theoretically pronounce it
'Brey, and an Irishman Aubr'; that is precisely what seems to have
happened, whence there is a probability that the Heber and "St. Ibar" of
Hibernia and the Bri of Cambria are references to one and the same
immigrants.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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