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Old 3rd August 2005, 17:21
Albanactus Albanactus is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Polwarth
From Wikipedia

"The origin of the city's name is understood to come from the Brythonic Din Eidyn (Fort of Eidyn) from the time when it was a Gododdin hillfort, perhaps, as David Nash Ford suggests, when it was the home of the mid-6th century King Clinog Eitin whose epithet records the place name.

After it was besieged by the Bernician Angles the name changed to Edin-burh, which some have argued derives from the Anglo-Saxon for Edwin's fort, possibly derived from the 7th century Northumbrian king Edwin. However, since the name apparently predates King Edwin, this is highly unlikely. "

I note the final sentence in the above quote - but when I was a girl, way back about the time of Culloden, the history of Edinburgh was taught in Edinburgh Schools that It was Dun Edin, then EdWins Borough then Edinburgh - I take on board that later historical research has meant that may no longer be taught or may be qualified as shown above.

As well as the Brythonic "Din Eidyn" predating the King Edwin, which destroys the "Edwin's Burgh" theory anyway; but there are also lingustic reason's to doubt it, in that no form of Edinburgh ever recorded bares any resemblance to to what it would be if it were "Edwin's Burgh." "Din Eidyn" probably means "Fortress on a Slope" ... and the Din part was translated by the Saxons. Nevertheless, I've read historians such Toynbee and more recently Norman Davies perpetuating it because they have never bothered to check it out.

Last edited by Albanactus; 3rd August 2005 at 19:16.
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