228
NOTES AND QUERIES. [i2s.vn.s E pT.is,i92o.
of Brachan's daughters was grandmother of
St. David of Menevia, and as David himself
was born in A.D. 462, Annhun'S birth may be
probably assigned to A.D. 295.
There are at least two other direct re- ferences to Annhun in Welch historical documents : namely, (1) " Annun Niger Rex Grecorum," and (2) " Annwn du vrenhin. Groec." These respectively occur in the ' Cognacio Brychan,' and in the ' Llyvyr Llewelyn Offeirad,' i.e., The Book of Llewellyn the Priest. This work was written in or about A.D. 1340. The Welch words quoted just now mean " Black Antony, King of Greece."
"Annhun" is a correct Middle Welch form of Anton(-ius). In ' N. & Q.' 12 S. i. 71, I explained the behaviour of inter- vocalic -nt- in Middle Welch. jE7.gr. teilwng is "worthy " ; an is a negative prefix, and "unworthy" is annheilwng. Similarly, Anton- became Annhun.
The names of Anrihun's son and grandson are not Brythonic they are Germanic. "Teudfall " is Theodebald and " Teuderic " is Theocleric. We shall draw near to under- standing not only these facts, but also the name Annhun, when we have answered the question Who were the presumably Insular " Greeks " that were ruled over in the middle of the fourth century by this maternal ancestor of the first king of Brecknock ? In my note on " The ' Greeks ' of the Rhine and the Creacas of Widsith " (' N. & Q.' 11 S. x. 341, 1914) I invoked certain traditions of the Treveri respecting the Alemannic tribe known to them as Greci in the middle of the fourth century ; and I cited an Ant-is who was the great - grandfather of Eormanric of the Gotas (f442). Antis was certainly ruling in the third quarter of the fourth century, and in the Saga of " Der Grosse Wolf diet erich " he is called " Kunig Anzius ein furst in Kriechenriche " (' King Anzius a prince in the Greek empire ') ; vide Adolf Holtzmann's edition, 1864. Hugclieterich son of Anzius grew up, we are told, in " Kun- stenopel " ; Wolfclieterich, Hugdieterich's son, came " uss Kriechenlant " ('out of Greece '), and one student of this Saga (Dr. W. Wagner) even goes so far as to style Antis ( = Ant-ius, Anz-ius) " Emperor "'of Con- stantinople.
Now, at 12 S. vii. 44, I dealt with Iscrophius, King of the Greeks (c. 492), and identified him with Scrof or Scrob, the name -giver of " Shrewsbury " and " Shrop- shire." I also gave reasons for regaiding
the Greeks he ruled over as the Creacas-
Similarly I would identify the " Greeks "'
whom Annhun ruled over, circa 350, with the-
same Creacas of 'Widsith.'
III. The tradition of the name " Annhun " in W T elch is due to mistraken identification of the true " Greekish," i.e., Alemannic,. name Anto, with the Latin name Anton -ius. The Upper German form Antti is to be found in the index to Paulus Piper's edition of the^ ninth - century ' Libri Confraternitatum Sancti Galli, Augien.-is, Fabariensis ' (1884). The corresponding Insular form Anta is- indicated by " Antan hlaw " ('the burial mound of Anta') and by " Antingaham. " The first is in Worcestershire ; at no great distance, therefore, from Brecknopkshire* The other is in Norfolk ; vide Kemble r ' Codex Diplomaticus,' No. CL and No. DCCLXXXV. Anto and Anta, as 1 have- said, exhibit the Alemannic d > t shift. The true pet -name of the king of the- " Greeks," circa A.D. 350, was Anda. He was not an Aleman.
I identify this Anda, Anto, Annhun, with Antis of the Wolfdieterich Saga and I locate the " Greeks " he ruled, in Lincolnshire, Layamon, who wrote his ' Brut, cr Chronicle- of Britain,' circa 1205, has enabled me to- do this. By far the most remarkable addi- tions that Layamon made to Wace's ' Brut ' are the notices of " Childric " and the " Ale- mainisce men " he ruled over. We are told that Childric was " cseiser of Alemaine," and when he invaded the realm of King Arthur it is said that " Childrich the kaeisere hsefede senne castel here, a Lincolnes felde " : i.e., ' Hildric the Emperor had a castle here,, in the plain of Lincoln.' As "Anecaster" was the castle of Anda, or Anto, the king of the "Greeks," i.e., of the Creacas of 'Wid- sith,' we need not look elsewhere for a castle of the Alemanni near Lincoln.
The Roman fortifications on Ancaster Heath enclosed an area of 14 English acres, and the length of the surrounding dikes was 1060 yards. " In South ende of Ancaster be- often tymes founde in ploughing great square Stones of old Buildinges and Romaine Coynes of Brasse and Sylver. In the West ende of it, where now Medowes be, ar founde yn diching great Vaultes " ; vide- 'The Itinerary of John Leland the Anti- quary,' ed. 2, 1745, i. p. 28.
.The Latin name of this presumably impor- tant Roman station is unknown to English scholars of to-day.
ALFRED ANSCOMBE.
