Fresh Batch #124: Details the Masters of Language Miss

Compounds, Additions, Liquids

The words Caester and Ceaster signified a city, i.e., Acemannes Ceaster was the City of Bath, or Ake-mans Chester. This word is still seen in New England towns, i.e. Gloucester, Worcester, Dorchester, or in New York, i.e., Rochester, etc., and there is one town in England simply called Caister. The CH sound, as in Chester, is a result of the Normans according to Thomas Astle, whereas prior to their invasion the C was pronounced like K, as seen in Lancaster. Accidental transposition occurred with caester according to Edward Lhuyd (Arch. Brit. p. 7.), and that’s why it takes the form we see today. Recall that the sigma-tau, or ST, was interchangeable with S by itself, as seen in Christos and Chrisos, which, before its Latin corruption, was Chresos. We still see it in the words we use today, such as Christmas, epistle, listen, mistle-toe, etc. Is the English origin of Caester, which became Ceaster and then Chester, signifying a city, a result of being named after Caesar on account of cities developing wherever the Roman army settled? There are a couple other words that this reminds me of, all of it anecdotal: Easter, Ishtar, Aesar (God), and Caster (which comes from the Etruscan Kastur).

Lhuyd explained (Ib. p. 7.) the English Haefeldan and Latin Helvetii, a name given to the Swiss, “Haefeldan signifies as much as Up-hill Men or Inhabitants of the High Fells. Hiuhvoeliet (as a Cornish Britain would pronounce it) seems to have been the word out of which the Romans by transposition and their own termination made Helvetii: We of Wales would say Yuxvoeliaid, i.e. Altiorum montium Incolæ.”

I disagree that this name is the result of a Latin transposition era because, according to Sammes, Caesar discovered that the Helvetii had their laws written in Greek letters, and the Mediterraneans interacted with them long before the Britons ever would’ve, should the Helvetii not be descended from the Mediterranean. I suspect the use of these letters is likely from the Etruscan alphabet at Marsiliana (Italy), which was thought to be the oldest Greek abecedarium, but it was eventually understood that much of what scholars thought was ancient Greek was actually Etruscan. Sammes wrote in the 18th century (Antiquities of Ancient Britain, pp. 76, 77), “Besides, it is to be supposed, the Greeks were much sooner in Britain than Gaul, and much more conversant, if we consider how the Gauls used to send their Children to be instructed of the Druids of Britain, and how in this Island, and in Man, and Anglesey, were publick Assemblies, and general Rendevouz held by all the Learned, to which People from neighbouring Nations, and all Parts, did repair.

“In Cæsars daies, we find the Greek Language not only in Britain, but even in those barren and Mountainous parts of Gaul, which the Helvetii inhabited. Learning by this time had found its way even unto those Parts out of which the Inhabitants themselves, weary of their Country, scarce could find a passage; For the Helvetii, after they had burnt their Houses, and agreed upon a general March of the whole Nation, to seek out some new Plantation, the first difficulty we find them encountering with, is, how to get out of their Country, so securely bounded as it was with Hills and Rivers, that it seemed to them rather a Prison than a Defence, and yet upon their return, being beaten by Cæsar, there was found (as he himself writes) and brought to him Table Books written in Greek Letters, wherein was Recorded exactly the number of all that went forth, how many bore Arms, besides old Women and Children.

“We see what footing the Greeks had gotten in these parts, in the daies of Cæsar, and therefore I leave it to the Reader to judge, Whether in a hundred, or two hundred years time, Traders out of the Mediterranean, could so fully plant themselves and their Language in these Parts, as to be trusted with the managements of the Records of the whole Nations?”

As for the account, I’m not so sure Caesar wrote it because, unless I am mistaken, the accounts attributed to Caesar are written in the third person. There is also no evidence of this claim beyond the account, as far as I can tell, but maybe it exists in the collection of a Swiss family or museum, and seeing an article like this will inspire someone to come forward with it. Much of the ancient artifacts, or collections of them, are unpublished. They exist but only certain people know about them. Maybe the significance isn’t recognized yet, but for those with access, it’s time to reinvigorate learning. The technology exists to scan works and upload images and videos in clear ways for researchers all over the world to view them. This needs to get done in case they are destroyed from negligence or by entropy.

We’re teetering at the point of no return because, with everyone’s accounts and interaction being mostly digital now, once control of that body of work is integrated into a new system, everything will be edited or deleted at will. Very few people left physical accounts behind, be it letters, journals, research, etc., which is why I wrote my research out with pen and paper, so that if anything happens to me, or the digital system, at least my work for the Spirit Whirled series will exist in physical form. You too can preserve it with physical copies.

The addition of initial letters, vowels, and liquids, which will be demonstrated on the other side, will give you more insight on how to use language to uncover history.

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