The Tri-Cori-i. From Tre and Cori. A tribe who inhabited the modern French Department of the “High Alps,” an Alpine region, the source of numerous streams which feed the Rhone and its branches.
The Petro-Cori-i.[80] The inhabitants of the Departments of Dordogne and Correze. Dordogne is thus described by Malte Brun:
“We may pass from the Department of Lot to that of Dordogne by descending the last river which traverses it on the South from East to West. It is also watered by the Ille, the Dronne, the Vezere, and by more than fourteen hundred small rivers and streams. Hills extend along this country in every direction, but with the exception of two vallies, those watered by the Ille and the Dordogne, they bound only narrow passes, almost all of which are desolated by torrents!”
Correze. From the same authority we learn that two thirds of this department consists of a mountainous region, full of “ravines and precipices,” and that its scenery progressively assumes more of this wild and romantic character as you ascend the river Correze, which gives its name to the Department, and to its principal town. Correze is plainly derived from Cori.[81]
The Cori-tan-i. A British tribe in Derbyshire, &c., from Cori and Tania, an addition frequently made by the Romans to the name of a province or district, as in Aqui-tania, Mauri-tania. Camden expresses himself totally unable to explain this term satisfactorily.
The following are partly composed of ancient Celtic Topographical Names, of which the appropriate meanings have not been preserved[82] in the Welsh and Irish, &c., but are found in the Oriental and other languages.
“Eryr-i,” the Welsh name of the Snowdon Mountains. This word has been variously explained by Welsh scholars, as meaning the “Snowy Mountain” (from Eira, “Snow”), the “Eagles' Mountain,” &c. None of these explanations are appropriate. Moreover “Eryr-i” is not the name of a single peak, but of the Snowdon range of mountains! “E.r.r” is a pure Hebrew word, signifying a very high mountain,[83] from which “Eryr-i,” the name of the Snowdon range, the highest in South Britain, is a plural regularly formed!
Cimas da Our-ar-as, are high Mountains to the North of Lisbon.
Ban-nau Brycheiniog, “the Brecon Beacons,” lofty hills in Brecknockshire. Ban de la Roche, the celebrated Pastor [pg 084] Oberlin's residence among the Vosges Mountains, in the East of France. Ban, “Lofty,” (Welsh,) Bian, a Hill, (Irish,) Boun-os, a Hill, (Greek,) Ban-k (English), a diminutive.
Bal. “Applied in Wales to Mountains that terminate in a Peak. Balannu, to shoot or spring forth.” (Dr. W. Owen Pughe.) Belan is also applied to Hills, as “Nant y Belan,” near Wynnstay. Bala, Bulund (Persian), Beland (Pehlwi), Bulund (Zend), “High.”