Γαβραντουικων κολπος
Attested: Ptolemy 2,3,6 Γαβραντουικων Ευλιμενος κολπος
Where: The complex estuary that formerly existed at Bridlington, on the Yorkshire coast, south of Flamborough Head, where two Roman roads are believed to converge. Bridlington now has only a small harbour, at TA183665, near the north end of the broad sweep of sandy beach of Bridlington Bay, but in Roman times the estuary may have been navigable inland towards Rudston, while its mouth may have extended out some way before it was eroded into the North Sea.
Name Origin: Ευλιμενος κολπος is straightforward Greek for ‘good-harbour bay’, but the Gabrantwikōn part was a puzzle before the link with Old English geáp and the Gypsey Race river became clear. Initial Gab- came from PIE *ghe- and/or *gheu- ‘to gape’ (whose many relatives include gap, yawn, chaos, and possibly other ancient names such as Gabaglanda, Gabrosentio, Gobannio, and Selgovae). The -rant- part might be related to English rend and rant, from *rendh- ‘to tear’, whose best parallel is in Sanskrit randhra ‘split, hole, vulva’. Or, more likely, to English rand ‘edge,shore’, which has cognates in all Germanic languages, and was common in place names near tribal borders in Gaul. The -wic- part is probably from *weik- ‘to bend’, in a purely topographical sense closer to Norse vik ‘bay’ than to wic ‘trading place’, Latin vicus ‘village’ (more specifically a settlement that aspired to Romanitas). And the final -ων part looks like a Greek genitive plural ending.
Notes: This analysis has gone through many previous versions. It always rejected the daft idea, repeated by Rivet and Smith, that there was a tribe of ‘goat-fighters’, based on resemblance to Old Irish gabor ‘goat’, from PIE *kapro-, plus fichid ‘fights’. Also rejected was any parallel with Old English brant ‘high, steep’, preceded by ge- ‘with’. Or with gabrannjaidau ‘burned’ in Wulfila's Gothic Bible, with two similar words in other Gothic texts. Also unlikely is a link to Greek ραντηρ ‘sprinkler’. Then, weird names in the story of Hengist and Horsa recounted by old historians needed to be sorted out. Ptolemy's coordinates always leave a potential distance error of tens of kilometres, so that formerly it was possible to guess that the name referred to Flamborough Head as a navigation mark and/or the narrow cove of Selwicks Bay as a landing place. Jim Storr suggests that the huge promontory fort between by Dane's Dyke and Flamborough Head was a focus from which the kingdom of Deira developed.
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Last edited 5 October 2024 To main Menu