Histoire

Étymologie.

* ALF Rivet & Colin Smith, p. 369 :

GOBANNIUM

SOURCES

- AI 48₄₆ (Iter XII) : GOBANNIO

- Ravenna 106₂₅ (= R&C 53) : BANNIO 

Correction of Ravenna's form has long been agreed; omission of initial letters (perhaps divided from the rest of the name by some mark on the Cosmographer's map-source) occurs occasionally in other sections.

DERIVATION. Jackson in Britannia, I (1970), 74, bases the name on British *gobann- 'blacksmith' (Welsh gof 'smith', plural gofain(t); Irish goba, gobann), with *-io- suffix. The first could be a personal name, therefore 'place of *Gobannos. However : 'A different explanation is much more probable, in view of the Roman iron-workings in the neighbourhood. The town is now Welsh Abergefenni "mouth of the Gefenni", the river-name being from British *Gobannia, and this would be "river of the blacksmiths" or "of the ironworks"; and as so often, the river-name was then applied to the town.' For related personal and place-names, see Holder I. 2030, Dottin LG 260 and GPN 35O-5I. RIB 45 (Canterbury), a fragmentary text from a dedication or a tombstone, records Goban-[. . .], the stem of a personal name.

IDENTIFICATION. The Roman fort at Abergavenny, Monmouthshire (SO 3014). Pre-Roman ironworking here is not improbable and might provide a better basis for the name, but the fort seems to have been established early (perhaps in A.D. 50) and the name may have replaced a unit-name (see discussion of this process under Durobrivae).

Sources : 

* Eilert EKWALL : The Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names.

* A.L.F. RIVET & Colin SMITH : The Place-Names of Roman Britain. 

Liens électroniques des sites Internet traitant d' Aberganenny / Gobannium :   

* lien communal :

* Autres liens : 

* forum du site Marikavel : Academia Celtica 

hast buan, ma mignonig vas vite, mon petit ami

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