Dun (fortification)
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A dun is an ancient or medieval fort. In Great Britain and Ireland it is mainly a kind of hillfort and also a kind of Atlantic roundhouse.
EtymologyEdit
The term comes from Irish dún or Scottish Gaelic dùn (meaning "fort"), and is cognate with Old Welsh din (whence Welsh dinas "city" comes).
In certain instances, place-names containing Dun- or similar in Northern England and Southern Scotland, may be derived from a Brittonic cognate of the Welsh form din.<ref name="BLITON">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In this region, substitution of the Brittonic form by the Gaelic equivalent may have been widespread in toponyms.<ref name="BLITON" />
The Dacian dava (hill fort) is probably etymologically cognate.Template:Cn
DetailsEdit
In some areas duns were built on any suitable crag or hillock, particularly south of the Firth of Clyde and the Firth of Forth. There are many duns on the west coast of Ireland and they feature in Irish mythology. For example, the tale of the Táin Bó Flidhais features Dún Chiortáin and Dún Chaocháin.
Duns seem to have arrived with the Celts in about the 7th century BC. Early duns had near vertical ramparts made of stone and timber. There were two walls, an inner wall and the outside one. Vitrified forts are the remains of duns that have been set on fire and where stones have been partly melted. Use of duns continued in some parts into the Middle Ages.
Duns are similar to brochs, but are smaller and probably would not have been capable of supporting a very tall structure. Good examples of this kind of dun can be found in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, on artificial islands in small lakes.
ToponymyEdit
The word dun is, along with like-sounding cognate forms, an element frequently found in Celtic toponymy; especially that of Ireland and Scotland. It can include fortifications of all sizes and kinds:
IrelandEdit
- Donegal
- Doneraile
- Down
- Dún Laoghaire
- Dún an Ri (Kingscourt), County Cavan
- Dundalk
- Dundonald
- Dundrum, County Down
- Dundrum, Dublin
- Dungannon
- Dungarvan
- Dunluce Castle
- Dunmurry
- Portadown
ScotlandEdit
Many settlement and geographical names in Scotland are named with Gaelic dun ("fort"), as well as cognates in Brittonic languages such as Cumbric and Pictish.<ref name="BLITON" />
- Drumpellier, Lanarkshire<ref name="BLITON" />
- Dumbarton, Dunbartonshire
- Dumfries, Dumfriesshire – possibly Brittonic din-pres ("thicket fort").<ref name="BLITON" />
- Dundee, Angus
- Dunearn, Nairnshire
- Dunearn, Fife – possibly dùn-Èirinn ("fort of Ireland").<ref name="PNF" />
- Dunfermline, Fife<ref name="PNF" />
- Duniface, Fife – possibly Pictish equivalent of Welsh din-y-faes ("fort of the field").<ref name="PNF">Template:Cite book</ref>
- Dunimarle, Fife<ref name="PNF" />
- Dunino, Fife<ref name="PNF" />
- Dunipace, Stirlingshire - Brittonic equivalent of Welsh din-y-bas ("fort of the shallow").<ref name="BLITON" />
- Dunlop, Ayrshire<ref name="PNF" />
- Dunnottar Castle
- Dunoon, Argyll and Bute
- Duns, Berwickshire
- Duntarvie, West Lothian<ref name="BLITON" />
- Tantallon, East Lothian<ref name="BLITON" />
- Edinburgh, - Name in Scottish Gaelic is Dun Eideann.
EnglandEdit
Some place-names in England are derived from Brittonic cognates of Welsh din (cf. Cornish dyn, Cumbric *din), and fewer perhaps from the Gaelic form.<ref name="BLITON" />
- Din Guoaroy, Northumberland – obsolete name for Bamburgh. Equivalent to Welsh din-gwarae ("fort of the play").<ref name="BLITON" />
- Dinckley, Lancashire - equivalent to Welsh din ("fort") + coed ("wood") (+ English, -ley).<ref name="BLITON" />
- Dinder, Somerset - formerly Dinre, compare Welsh dinbre ("hill with a fort").<ref name="Mills">Template:Cite book</ref>
- Dinedor, Herefordshire - formerly Dunre, Welsh dinbre; compare Dinder above.<ref name="Mills" />
- Dunmallard Hill, Cumberland<ref name="BLITON" />
- Durham - Dunelm
- Glendinning Rigg, Cumberland<ref name="BLITON" />
- Londesborough, Yorkshire – Lugudunum, *lọ:co- + duno ("shining fort").<ref name="BLITON" />
- Temon, Cumberland - possibly equivalent to Welsh din ("fort") + maen ("rock").<ref name="bliton23">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Roman-era toponyms ending in -dunum may represent an ancient Brittonic *duno.<ref name="BLITON" />
- Cambodunum, Yorkshire<ref name="BLITON" />
- Rigodunum, Lancashire<ref name="BLITON" />
- Segedunum, Northumberland<ref name="BLITON" />
- Uxelodunum, Cumberland – cf. Welsh ucheldin ("high fort").<ref name="BLITON" />
London has been etymologised as Brittonic *lin- + dun- ("lake fort").<ref name=coates>Template:Cite journal</ref> Coates has rejected such an etymology as "incompatible with early forms".<ref name=coates />
WalesEdit
- Carmarthen, Carmarthenshire – Moridunum ("sea fort").
- Denbigh, Denbighshire – from dinbych ("small fort")<ref name="Billing">Template:Cite book</ref>
- Tintern, Monmouthshire<ref name="BLITON" />
ItalyEdit
France and SwitzerlandEdit
The Proto-Celtic form is *Dūno-,<ref>Xavier Delamarre, Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise, Template:ISBN</ref> yielding Greek δοῦνον. It is ultimately cognate to English town.<ref>Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Template:ISBN</ref> The Gaulish term survives in many toponyms in France and Switzerland:
- Autun - Augustodūnon fort of Augustus
- Lyon – Lugudūnon "Lugus' fort"
- Nevers – Nouiodūnon "new fort"
- Olten – Ol(l)odūnonm "fort on the Olon river"
- Thun – Dūnon
- Verdun – Uerodūnon "strong fort"
- Yverdon-les-Bains – Eburodūnon "yew fort"
GermanyEdit
- Kempten, Bavaria – Cambodunum<ref name="ACPN">Template:Cite book</ref>
Bulgaria and SerbiaEdit
RomaniaEdit
- Noviodunum - Ancient Latin name of the town Isaccea in Dobruja, Romania<ref name="celts">D.M. Pippidi et al., (1976) Dicționar de istorie veche a României, Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică (Template:OCLC), p 149; entry: Celți</ref><ref>Dáithí Ó hÓgáin, The Celts: A History, Boydell Press, 2002, Template:ISBN, p. 153</ref>
Elsewhere in the worldEdit
- Dunedin, New Zealand – from Dùn Èideann, the Gaelic name for Edinburgh.<ref>Dunedin: Edinburgh of the south Template:Webarchive, The Scotsman, 18 April 2012</ref>
- Dunedin, Florida, USA – see Dunedin, New Zealand.
See alsoEdit
ReferencesEdit
<references/>
- Scotland Before History - Stuart Piggott, Edinburgh University Press 1982, Template:ISBN
- Scotland's Hidden History - Ian Armit, Tempus (in association with Historic Scotland) 1998, Template:ISBN