SETANTIORUM PORTUS.
(Vol. vii., pp. 180. 246.)
Although the positions assigned by Camden to the ancient names of the various estuaries on the coasts of Lancashire and Cumberland are very much at variance with those laid down by more modern geographers; still, with regard to the particular locality assigned by him to the Setantiorum Portus, he has made a suggestion which seems worthy the attention of your able correspondent C.
His position for Morecambe Bay is a small inlet to the south of the entrance of Solway Firth, into which the rivers Waver and Wampool empty themselves, and on which stands "the abbey of Ulme, or Holme Cultraine." He derives the name from the British, as signifying a "crooked sea," which doubtless is correct; we have Môr taweh, the main sea; Morudd, the Red Sea; and Môr camm may be supposed to indicate a bay much indented with inlets. It is needless to say that the present Morecambe Bay answers this description far more accurately than that in the Solway Firth. Belisama Æstuarium he assigns to the mouth of the Ribble, and is obliged to allot Setantiorum Portus to the remaining estuary, now called Morecambe Bay. However, he seems not quite satisfied with this last arrangement, and suggests that it would be more appropriate if we might read, as is found in some copies, Setantiorum λίμνη, instead of λιμὴν, thus assigning the name of Setantii to the inhabitants of the lake district.
The old editions of Ptolemy, both Greek and Latin, are very incorrect, and, there is little doubt, have suffered from alterations and interpolations at the hands of ignorant persons. I have not access at present to any edition of his geography, either of Erasmus, Servetus, or Bertius, so I know not whether any weight should be allowed to the following circumstance; in the Britannia Romana, in Gibson's Camden, this is almost the only Portus to be found round the coast of England. The terms there used are (with one more exception) invariably æstuarium, or fluvii ostium. If this variation in the old reading be accepted, the appellation as given by Montanus, Bertius, and others, to Winandermere, becomes more intelligible.
H. C. K.
—— Rectory, Hereford.