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Re: First name
[...A sermon having been delivered at Abergevenni,67 and many persons converted to the cross, a certain nobleman of those parts, named Arthenus, came to the archbishop, who was proceeding towards the castle of Usk, and humbly begged pardon for having neglected to meet him sooner....]the above text is taken from the following website:
http://historymedren.about.com/library/text/bltxtitineraryi4.htmArthenus is from the Welsh word arthen , meaning 'from the earth'. It is likely that Arthena is a female form of Arthenus. There are more names deriving from this same origin, like Arthenia and Arthensia, all these names have variants without the 'h', thus Artena, Artenia and Artensia, but the 'th' form is the original.[...Ainsi, dans les noms que vous citez, Artenay vient d'un nom d'homme gallo-romain "Artenus" et du suffixe -"acum"...]the above text is written in French and it is taken from the following website:
http://genealogy.henny-savenije.pe.kr/oorsprong.htmthis source translated to English says:
...Thus, of the names that you citate, Artenay is from a Gaul-Roman man called "Artenus" and the suffix "-acum"...
(this is a free translation, not literally).this source states that Artenus was originally a Roman name found in Gaul (nowadays France). This explains why there are many French names with the root art(h)en , but it contradicts the origin of arthen as being Welsh.the meaning of the name Artenus (without the 'h') is unclear and it is uncertain if it is related to the Welsh word arthen , but France and England have had more exchanges in language.

This message was edited 9/16/2004, 2:58 AM

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link between Welshmen and Gauls?[...The Romans found a disunified group of tribal kingdoms organized around the same logic of warfare as the Gauls. Most of the tribes were new arrivals—the bulk of southern Britain had been conquered by the Belgae from northern Gaul. In the process of emigrating to the island, the Celts pushed the native populations north—these refugee tribal groups would become the cultural ancestors of the Picts, a mysterious culture that dominated Scotland until the Irish invasions....]The above text is taken from the following website:
http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/MA/CELTS.HTM
(text can be found under the head 'Britain' in the text, thus scroll down)The nowadays Welshmen are from Celtic origin as well. They came from Northern Gaul.Also, Arthen was once a king of Ceregidion and there are more men in the history of Wales that are called Arthen.See for the following websites:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~syroots/html/d0005/g0000082.html
http://www.geocities.com/bpstratton/gedcom/d0001/g0000064.html#I2420
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