Bremenium
Attested: Bremenio on Antonine Itinerary iter 1; Bremenium at position 185 in the Ravenna Cosmography;
Ptolemy 2,3,10 Βρεμενιον/Βερμενιον Inscription BREM; Inscription BREMEN
possibly Bremesione on Vindolanda tablet 670
Where: Roman fort at NY832986 Rochester, Northumberland, on Dere Street, north of Hadrian's Wall on the way to Edinburgh.
Name Origin: From PIE *bhrem- ‘to project; brim, edge’, like Bremen in Germany.
Notes: This site had a river port! The river Rede, which runs 600m away from the fort, has had much of its flow diverted into a water supply for Newcastle-upon-Tyne, by a dam upstream at Catcleugh. However, after enough rain, the Rede is still deep enough for a modern canoe to travel via the North Tyne and the Tyne to the sea. That route would pass Roman forts at Habitancum and Cilurnum, with obvious provision for river boats. Rivet & Smith repeated the noisy river suggestion of Jackson, linking this name to a root (PIE *bhrem-) ancestral to Welsh brefu, Latin fremo, Greek βρεμω, etc ‘to growl’, with a theory that the adjacent Sills Burn, which provided water to the bath house, was particularly noisy. Actually, that idea was first raised by Ekwall (1928) for the river Breamish, which rises 20 km away across the Cheviot moors. Not convincing, as also discussed for Bremia and Bremetenacum.
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Last edited 10 October 2022 to main Menu