Note 55 — PART III. LOCAL DESCRIPTION OF THE WORKS.

Brand conceives that Segedunum may be derived from the Saxon secg, a sedge or flag, and dun, which is an Anglo-Saxon, as well as a Celtic word; this would give, as its meaning—the hill of sedge. If we can suppose that any of the Germanic hordes had obtained so complete a settlement here, as to give them the power of forming a local vocabulary in accordance with their own language prior to the Roman occupation of this post, the Saxon origin of the term is by no means improbable. In no part of England was an early settlement more likely to take place than on the eastern coast of Northumberland, but, after all, we must probably assign a later date to the first arrival of our Gothic forefathers. If a Saxon derivation be at all admissible, another might be suggested: sige is the Anglo-Saxon for victory, and tun is town—the town of victory—an appropriate name for a station occupied either by Roman or Saxon forces.