Saint Patrick & Names along the Antonine wall

[D B Campbell]

However, Nemthus, the birthplace of the 5th century Saint Patrick ought to be on the Ravenna Cosmography. And by far the best fit is Nemeton - which is on this list as part of the sixth name "in a line": MedioNemeton. … But if we go back to Nemthus, the known birthplace of Saint Patrick, it ought to be on the Ravenna Cosmography. And by far the best fit is Nemeton - which is on this list as part of MedioNemeton.

I was under the impression that the historical Patrick came from Bannavem Taberniae (as stated in his Confessio).

But as there are more names on the RC than the seven we are told were on the wall, it is reasonable to think that the line should extend beyond the wall. …  We are told there were seven forts along the wall. If we assume Medio-Nemeton was the combination of two names, Nemeton is  then the seventh at Old Kilpatrick. Nemeton is a close fit to Nemthus (as Th is often written T in other languages).

Who tells us there were seven forts on the Antonine Wall?

The next is Subdobiadon and many others have looked at Subdobaidon and said it looked like Dumbarton - so the closeness of that match is not in dispute.

Hmmm, doesn't look like Dumbarton to me.

Or to A.L.F. Rivet & Colin Smith, The Place-Names of Roman Britain (London 1979), p. 463: "SUBDOBIADON (?). Derivation: The entry is grossly corrupt, and none can be suggested. Identification: Unknown, but either a fort on the Antonine Wall or a place not far from it."

Or to I.A. Richmond & O.G.S. Crawford, "The British Section of the Ravenna Cosmography", Archaeologia 93 (1949), p. 46: "SUBDOBIADON. A fort on the Antonine Wall. Derivation and meaning uncertain."

The previous big fort with evidence for late occupation is at Balmuildy. Bal is  gaelic prefix meaning "settlement of" ... so its original name is contained in "Muildy" - the l is silent in the local dialect where the place is now pronounced almost as "Balmidy". So it doesn't take a lingustic genius to see that Muildy is close to Medio.

The place was not always known as Balmuildy. My father's second cousin, a farmer from Balfron, knew it as Bemulie. This is the form found in the eighteenth-century literature. You are no doubt aware of the linguistic tendancy to mould names into more familiar patterns, so we cannot be sure that the place-name started life with a Bal- prefix, although Pont's sixteenth-century map shows it as Balmuydie. If the "muydie" element really derived from an original Latin medio, we should surely ask "middle of what?" I think Medio is otherwise only found in Roman place-names as a prefix.

And finally, if you are not aware, the standard for attributing a Roman era place name is not that high. Many other Roman era names have been attributed with absolutely no compelling argument nor linguistic match.

… and thereby open themselves to legitimate criticism.