2021, Volume 18, Issue 1
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Andrew Breeze Welsh Chwant ‘Desire’ and Trisantona ‘River Trent’ in Tacitus
Voprosy onomastiki, 2021, Volume 18, Issue 1, pp. 128–139 (in English) Received on 7 February 2020 Abstract: The article deals with the ancient name of the longest river solely in England, the Trent, flowing past Stoke-on-Trent and Nottingham to the North Sea. In a passage that has raised debate and led to a number of misinterpretations in literature, Tacitus recorded it as (emended) Trisantona, which has been explained from Old Irish sét ‘course’ and Welsh hynt ‘path’ as ‘trespasser, one that overflows’ (of a stream liable to flood). Trisantona or the like would be the name of other rivers, including the Tarrant in Dorset and Tarannon or Trannon in mid-Wales. Yet the interpretation ‘trespasser’ has grave phonetic and semantic defects. They are removed by a new etymology on the basis of Old Irish sét ‘treasure’ (Modern Irish seoid) and Welsh chwant ‘desire’ from hypothetical Common Celtic *suanto-. 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