Note 2774 — PORTUS ITIUS

C. de Saulcy, in an article in which he endeavours to prove that the Portus Itius was Wissant (Les campagnes de Jules César dans les Gaules, p. 161), frankly admits that not one of the natives of Wissant whom he interrogated had ever heard that there was such a name as ‘Esseu’, or that the Flemings called Wissant ‘Itzen’ (or ‘Isten’). A. Wauters, indeed, referring to B. E. C. Guérard’s Cartulaire de Folcuin, p. 161, a work which I have failed to procure, affirms (Bull. de l’Acad. Roy ... de Belgique, 2e sér., xlvii, 1879, p. 114) that in a charter of the ninth century property in a place called Istem was granted to the abbey of St. Bertin: but he fails to prove the identity of Istem with Wissant; and even if that identity could be established, no competent etymologist would admit that it supplied an argument for identifying Wissant with the Portus Itius.