Locatreve

Attested:  Locatreve at position 166 in the Ravenna Cosmography

Where:  In southern Scotland, between Crawford and Drumlanrig, presumably on the road over the watershed between rivers leading towards the Clyde and towards the Solway, which passes through Durisdeer NS893037, with its Roman marching camps and small fort higher up.

Name Origin:  ‘Ambush turning’, from Greek λοχος ‘ambush’ (related to our word lie) and τρεπω ‘to turn’, would be an excellent fit to this location.  Richmond & Crawford spelled out a Celtic interpretation as related to loch plus Irish ad-treba ‘inhabits, possesses’, hinting at crannogs, but this area has no suitable wet locations.

Notes  The ‘lake village’ idea could fit locations lower down the Nith around Cambroianna, or near the river Dee at Threave or Castle Douglas and Carlingwark Loch.  That idea narrowly ranks second, partly to put a high value on a simple path across the map for the Cosmography's sequence of names and partly because other Roman names claim those river locations.  Latin locatio ‘lease’ plus reversio ‘turning back, reversion’ might fit the practice by governments over the centuries to lease out the risky exploitation of minerals to private enterprise, because much lead and silver has been mined (and alluvial gold panned) in recent centuries in the Lowther hills, notably around Leadhills and Wanlockhead.  No Roman camp is known in that area, but the isotopic composition of a lead ingot found far away at Strageath fort shows that Roman-era mining did take place there.  See here for a discussion of all Roman names in this area north of the Solway.

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Last edited 30 May 2023     to main Menu