Kaozeal:Vindobala

Un destenn e saozneg, da lakaat e brezhoneg gant piv e c'hall en ober ː

DERIVATION. The first element is British *uindo- 'white', also 'bright, fair' and 'happy, fortunate', now represented by Welsh gwyn; also Old Irish find, Irish finn, fionn (English winter 'white time'). This is a first element in the five following names, and is frequently represented in Continental toponymy from Illyria and Pannonia to Spain; it is also present in many personal names, e.g. British Vindomorucus (RIB 2053, Drumburgh). In some Continental regions Celtic *uindo- is to be distinguished from an element if similar appearance, *vin- *vin-t-, a pre-Indo-European word meaning 'mountain' (Rostaing ETP 290). Examples of names with *uindo- which survive include Vindobona > Vienna, Vindonissa > Windisch (Switzerland) and Vindobriga > Vendoeuvre (eight in France and one in Switzerland).

The second element requires us to trust ND's -bala rather than Ravennas -vala (ND is in any case the more trustworthy of the two texts). The name hardly con-tains the root *ual- 'strong', as R&C thought, for if it did, we should expect it to appear as -valium (or -vallum) in the present name, as in other British examples (see BANNOVALIUM). Moreover, R&C's meaning 'white strength' seems unnatural. Nor is it likely that both ND and Ravenna have committed identical errors in miscopying r as l, despite the temptation to make an association with a *Vindovara 'eau blanche' postulated by Dauzat in Gaul (TF 116-17), and there is no consonant present in the British name which could have provoked an r-l metathesis. If we take -bala, it seems right to associate mis with the root *bal- discussed under *Nemetobala; a meaning for the whole of 'white peak', perhaps 'bright peak', seems proper.

IDENTIFICATION. The Roman fort at Rudchester, Northumberland (NZ 1167). ND's unit name is evidently a garbled form of Cohors I Frisiavonum, whose earlier presence in Britain is attested by diplomas and who probably formed the garrison of Rudchester in the third century (see RIB 1395, note).