MORICAMBE : baie, golfe

Bonjour à tous,

Voici un nom d'apparence latine, mais qui est basé sur des racines celtiques : Moricambe < *mori = mer + *camb-ios = pli, courbe.

On pourrait d'ailleurs y voir l'origine du breton : pleg-mor.

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cf. Rivet & Smith, p. 420-421 : MORICAMBE.


* Moricambe : nom de lieu de G. Bretagne, cité par Ptolémée. Non identifié, mais recherché à partir de l'idée d'une baie, d'un golfe, d'un estuaire.

* Rivet & Smith, p. 420-421 : 

- Ptolemy II, 3, 2 : Morikambe eiscusis (= MORICAMBE AESTUARIUM), var. Moriakambe (= MORIACAMBE)

DERIVATION. The first element is British *mori- 'sea', cognate with Latin mare; Welsh, Cornish and Breton mor, Irish muir. The element is found in the two British Moridunum names, in the personal name of a Briton Morirex 'sea-king', the Morini people of Gaul, etc. For *cambo-, see CAMBODUNUM. The sense is thus 'curved sea' or 'curve of the sea', i.e. ' bay ', despite Ptolemy's addition of eiscusis.

IDENTIFICATION. In its position on Ptolemy's map the name fits Morecambe Bay and it may be (as in the case of METARIS, q.v.) that he has misinterpreted a sinus or gulf as an aestuarium or estuary; if not, the reference can hardly be to the estuary of a single river, since, as noted on p. 135, all the major ones here have Celtic names, so that a joint estuary, like that at Cartmel, must be intended. It should be noted that the modem names, Morecambe and Morecambe Bay, are not survivals but antiquarian revivals, following the publication of Whitaker's History of Manchester in 1771; the previous name was Poulton. In a similar way the name 'Moricambe Bays' has been attached to an inlet of the Solway Firth.

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Pour info et discussion.

JCE