[81] Seleucus apud Stephan. Βρεντησ. and Suidas in Βρενδ.
[82] De gest. reg. 2. c. 6.
[83] Robertus Glocestrens.
APPENDIX.
IX.
CORNISH NAMES.
(Communicated by T. Hingston, Esq. M.D.)
It is commonly understood, that those places in Cornwall, which have the word San or Saint as the antecedent component of their names, are so denominated after some martyr or confessor of early times. This is a very obvious and indisputable fact. But it is by no means certain, that in every instance of the kind, the saint conferred his name on the place: for in many cases, the converse seems to have been practised; and contrary to what is generally imagined, I believe that the place bestowed its name on the saint. Thus, for example, in St. Stephen, and St. Allan, two saints are equally commemorated; but Stephen, by his own name, which he possessed independently of accidental circumstances; and Allan, by a name, superseding that which he had received at his baptism, and subsequently derived from the place of his retirement.
The want of this distinction has occasioned unspeakable labour and perplexity in the investigation of Cornish antiquities. Books and documents have been examined, and enquiries made in vain, after names, of which no record exists; and which, even in their own day, were scarcely known beyond the narrow district, in which they were venerated. In some instances, indeed, the objects of such researches might have been illustrious before their retirement; but if, in that case, their acts and sufferings were chronicled, the history was in effect abolished, when their identity was lost in the assumption of a new name.