without calling in question the testimony of a witness deemed
unimpeachable. I allude to the celebrated passage of St*
J erom, in which that learned and .venerable writer compares
the Belgic speech of the Treviri to that of the'Galat® in Asia
Minor. The weight of this testimony, or its applicationrto my
present-purpose, depends upon the premises that the Treviri
were a Belgic tribe and spoke the Belgic language, and that
the Galat® of Asia Minor, who were principally Vole® Tec-
tosages, were Celt®, and spoke the Celtic dialect. On these
points, as on everything connected withCeltic antiquities, controversies
have been raised during late years. All these objections
I have endeavoured to anticipate, and I think ‘safe
ficient proof has been already adduced to .aeStablisfo both
positions. If this be conceded, we shall have the direct teS^
timony of St. Jgrom for the fact that the Celt® and Beig® had
nearly the same language. St. Jerom had lived at Trèvesf
among the Treviri, and he heard the Galatians speak their
language with some slight variation of dialect!^ St. Jerom,
as it is well known, had made languages-, his particular
study. He was the greatest linguist of the early Christian
Church. He says, “ Unum est quod iuferimusr—Galatas ex-
cepto sermone Gr®co, quo omnis Oriens loquitur, propriain
linguam eandem p®nè habere quam Treviros nee feferre si'
qua exinde corruperint, cum et Afri Phoenicam linguam non
nulla ex parte mutaverint et ipsa Latinitas et- régfonibus quo-
tidie mutetur et tempore.”*
These evidences from ancient authors would be Sufficient
to render the conclusion extremely probable that the Belgfc
and Celtic tribes spoke nearly approaching dialects, and idioms
so closely resembling each other that either would be understood
by persons who had only learnt the other. But there
is room for a further investigation of this question. I have
already observed that Baron William von Humboldt, in his
learned investigation of Spanish antiquity, has succeeded in
establishing the general conclusion that the Euscarian or Biscayan
language was common to all the tribes of the Iberian
race, although these, as it may be opportune here to'remark,
* Hieronym. Praaf. lib. 2» Comment. Epist. ad Galatas, tom. l. p. 255. Edit,
Paris, 1706. M. Raoul, ubi supra.-
are said by ancient writers, particularly by Strabo, to have
differed from each other in dialect. This inference was deduced
from the evidence afforded by topographical names.
A similar proof may be applied, 'even with greater force,
to the Celtic question. A remarkably uniform and easily
detected character pertad.es the names . of. places in un-
doubtedly.ilgiehyic countries. The fy^quen-t and almost'perpetual
recurrence of certain elements of compound names, and
even in many instances of tjfp names themselves, is sufficiently
striking, to arrest the attention event of a-careless reader, or of
one who1 cursorily surveys the maps of Celticcountries.,' Some of
these -phenomena, tjioqgh by Mo means the whole, 'weJre.]ong
ago pointed out by. Sehcepflin, the historian of Alsace,, and
they' have>-b,een referred to in the preceding chapter on ?the
Euskaldunes., I shall now take ocbSsion to make a more
distinct enumeration q£ names,., aod.shal^ ep^eavour
to ascertain how far they,are common tp bptjal$)f the^gpeat
nations of thrs-j race fon the. continent, and to/ihe two:ifo#
partments, jn|p .wh-ieh the population-of4 Britain.bas been divided.
I shall qGmside^.tneise names places as* belonginM
to the.Ianguage' of'the Belgas..%hfeh ‘arC'^of frequent fb\|cur-
rence/bi Belgic »Graul, and iji, thp parts of Britain inhabited
by the Belgian, tribes. The same» • occurring inthe Celtic
parts of Gaul are. to be <$)msffiered^, .derived from the^Seltifi
languageipr,opeyly go termed; and in ^he.s'amh cp®s I shajffl
venture to include similar names whe^-.ajia}1 are found in the
Gallic conquers op colonies, whether in Spain, Italy, Noricum,
Pannonia, of in parts of Germany which are kno^vn to have
been occubfepl -B'y Gallic colonies. The, inland parts of Britain?
beyond the Belgian or maritime tribes may be reckoned as a
separate department, and its toponomy xftfori
mining what opihion ive are to form as to th^pupposed -Celtic
origin of its population.
Among the most frequent components Q^local names in
Gaul and Britain, as well as in other inh ab i ted«by
colonies-of Gauls, are the four followine;: dunum or binttm •
DtrRtrM or f);pRb ; magus; acUm, AOfrs^pr iacum.
The following example will Sgrve fo show^me frequency
of these terms in countries known tp baye hfen inhabited by
Celtic Gauls»