Maia
Attested: MAIS on Staffordshire Moorlands Pan, Rudge Cup, and Amiens Patera
Maio at position 120 and Maia at 154 in the Ravenna Cosmography
Where: Bowness-on-Solway Roman fort at the west end of Hadrian's wall, at NY225628. Richmond & Crawford argued that Maio and Maia in the Cosmography were the same and the duplication arose simply because the Cosmographer took the name twice off his source(s) when approaching a coastal location in an area densely packed with names. That is possible, but it seems most likely that the first Maio was Milefortlet 19 lost to the sea off East Cote (with two associated towers), and the second Maia was at Bowness.
Name origin: PIE *ma- ‘to wave, to signal’ is highly appropriate for this name, as Ukrainian маяк (mayak) ‘lighthouse’ shows most clearly. Greek μινυω or μανυω ‘to disclose’ seems to be conjugate, while μαιομαι has taken on a meaning of ‘to seek for’. The closest cognates in Celtic were prefixed with s- or en-, while any cognates in Germanic or Latin (perhaps related to French mener ‘to lead’) have been overwhelmed by other words beginning with M, such as may, menace, and maiden.
Notes: It is not certain, as Rivet & Smith explained, what is the best form to cite for the nominative singular of this name. They unwisely dragged in Maiona, which was further north, near the Isle of Mull. Maius was the name of a river in Spain mentioned by Pomponius Mela (2, 90). Previous discussions here vainly focussed on Latin maius ‘greater’, or the Roman goddess of nurturing Maia (from Greek μαια ‘good mother, foster mother’), or the imperium maius authority given to Pompey to stamp out piracy in the eastern Mediterranean. See here for a discussion of all Roman names in this area north of the Solway.
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Last edited 30 May 2023 to main Menu