Histoire.

Étymologie.

A. Longovicium. cf Rivet & Smith. p 398.

- Inscription RIB 1074 : autel découvert près du fort de Lanchester, dédicacé à la déesse germanique Garmangabis à l'attention du porteur d'étendard de la VEC(ILLATIONIS) SUEBORUM LON(GOVICIANORUM GOR(DIANAE).

- Ravenna, 107₁₂ : LINEOIUGLA, variante LINEONIGLA / LINCOVIGA; 

- Notitia Dignitatum, XL₁₅ : LONGOUICO (var. LONGOUITIO);

- Notitia Dignitatum, XL₃₀ : Praefectus numeri LONGOUICANORUM, LONGOUICIO (variantes. LONGO UICA, LONGOUITIO, ,etc).

ND's main forms seem acceptable; in Ravenna the first element is badly miscopied, but the second may have a genuine variant in suggesting -vida (compare Delgovicia). The first element is not easy. One may safely dismiss the possibility of Latin longus 'long' and of a borrowing of this into British (but see further under thc next name), except to note that the earliest recorded form of the modem name is Langecestr' in 1196, i.c. ' long ceaster ', showing that whatever the origin of the Romano-British name, it was interpreted by Germanie settlers as containing a word meaning 'long'. R&C preferred to see in *longo- a word connected with the root of Welsh Llong, 'féminine of llwng, used for a pool, as in Tra-llwng " Welshpool "', commenting that 'the situation [of Lanchester] makes any connection with Welsh Llong "ship" out of the question'. It is however this possibility which needs to be retained. As seen under Delgovicia, the various elements attached to -vices do not have to be literal, but can be symbolic or emblematic. Hence a meaning for Longovicium 'place of the *Longovices', these being 'ship-fighters', seems the best. For further comparisons, sec the next entry. One notes also Longobriga (CIL n. 5564), now Freixo in the Douro province of Portugal, which is on a tributary of the Douro; and the Longostaletes people who lived in the Béziers région (Hérault, France), which is coastal.

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B. Lanchester. cf Eilert Ekwall.

- Langecestr', 1196 P, 1238 Cl; -cestria 1237 Cl. 'Long CEASTER or Roman fort'. (sans autre commentaire).