Duabsisis

Attested:  Duabsisis or Duabsissis at position 181 in the Ravenna Cosmography

Where:  Loudoun Hill Roman fort at NS60593712 in Ayrshire.  This is the first major fort on the Roman road (incompletely known, but probably starting out along the modern A71) that crosses the Borders from Irvine towards Berwick-upon-Tweed.  It is on the watershed between the catchment of the river Irvine heading west and the catchment of the river Clyde towards the north.

Name Origin:  Duab- can be looked up in an English dictionary: doab ‘land between two waters’ is an Indian word recently loaned into English related to Dubris (Dover).  The –sisis ‘seat’ part resembles Latin sessus, past participle of sido ‘to sit, to settle’, or Old Englishsess ‘seat’, or the second elements of Welsh gorsedd ‘throne, community’ and of English counties such as Somerset.

Notes:  Loudoun Hill itself is a prominent lump of rock, a volcanic plug.  As a ‘seat’ it cannot be a hill fort in the sense of a residence, but it might have been a tribal marker or moot.  There is another, arguably more important, candidate watershed farther east, discussed under Corda.

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Last edited 5 May 2020     To main Menu