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Durnovaria

Archaeological sites in DorsetRoman DorchesterRoman towns and cities in England
Dorchester Roman Town House geograph.org.uk 819703
Dorchester Roman Town House geograph.org.uk 819703

Durnovaria is a suggested spelling for the Latin form of the name of the Roman town of Dorchester in the modern English county of Dorset, amended from the actually observed Durnonovaria. Upon the assumption that the name was originally Brythonic, it is suggested that the first element in the name, *durno- may mean "fist" like (Welsh dwrn ‘fist, knob’) and the second may be related to Old Irish fáir ~ fóir denoting a confined area or den. A simpler amendment (one letter instead of two) would lead to *Duronovaria, making this place one of up to 18 ancient British names that contain Duro- and mostly occur at river crossings, while -novaria has two possible ancient parallels in Britain associated with river junctions. That analysis would perfectly fit the geographical situation of Dorchester.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Durnovaria (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Durnovaria
Bridport Road,

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Wikipedia: DurnovariaContinue reading on Wikipedia

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Latitude Longitude
N 50.715 ° E -2.442 °
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Top O’ Town

Bridport Road
DT1 1RS
England, United Kingdom
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Dorchester Roman Town House geograph.org.uk 819703
Dorchester Roman Town House geograph.org.uk 819703
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