[1872] Celtic Britain, 1884, p. 153.
[1873] Ib., 1904, pp. 153-4. Referring to p. 24 of Mr. Nicholson’s book, Professor Rhys says (Celtic Britain, 1904, p. 153) that Peanfahel ‘points back to a Latin term penna(e) or pinna(e) valli, “wing of the vallum,” that is, the pinnacle or turret at the end of the wall’. Now ‘pinnacle or’ appears to have been inserted in order to save the face of pinna. Does the professor mean ‘a pinnacle’, or does he mean a ‘turret’? And if he means ‘a turret’, in what sense does he use the word? A pinnacle would have been a feature far too insignificant to give rise to a place-name; and a turret would have been equally insignificant unless it was a defensive tower, in which case it would have been called not pinna but turris. Professor Haverfield (Archaeologia, lv, 1897, p. 196) speaks of ‘the corner turret’ of the fort of Aesica on the Roman wall about midway between Newcastle and Carlisle. Read his description of it, and you will appreciate the absurdity of calling it a pinna, and the still greater absurdity of the supposition that even a ‘corner turret’ could beget a geographical name. There is no authority for the use of the word pinna in connexion with a defensive wall, except in the sense of ‘pinnacle’, in which sense it is used twice by Caesar (B. G., v, 40, § 6; vii, 72, § 4). The pinnae which he describes were merely small pinnacles rising from a breastwork on an earthen rampart, breastwork and pinnacles forming a battlement, and both being made of wattlework (pinnae loricaeque ex cratibus contexuntur [B. G., v, 40, § 6]. See also C. E. C. Schneider’s note in his edition of Caesar, vol. ii, p. 565). The notion that the geographical name Peanfahel ‘points back’ to a pinna is too ridiculous to be discussed. Why not be content with Dr. Stokes’s etymology in Bezzenberger’s Beiträge, xviii, 1902, pp. 98, 108?
[1874] Celtic Britain, 1904, p. 154. Cf. Rev. celt., vi, 1883-5, p. 398.
[1875] Keltic Researches, pp. 33-80.
[1876] A. Bezzenberger’s Beiträge zur Kunde der indogermanischen Sprachen, xviii, 1892, pp. 84-115.
[1877] W. F. Skene’s Highlanders of Scotland, 1902, pp. 387-401.
[1878] Bezzenberger’s Beiträge, &c., xviii, 1892, pp. 113-4. M. J. Loth (Annales de Bretagne, vi, 1890-1, p. 115) is substantially in agreement with Dr. Stokes.
[1879] I find that my criticism has been anticipated by M. J. Loth (ib., p. 114).
[1880] The Welsh People, 1902, pp. 15-6.
[1881] Rev. celt., xx, 1899, p. 390.