Disputatio:Dorcestria (discretiva)

Where's the sea?

Quite a long way from Dorchester. I can only find one example on Google of "Dorchester-on-Sea", in a local paper making fun of a silly mistake in a tourist brochure. Here's the article. Andrew Dalby (disputatio) 12:17, 31 Iulii 2019 (UTC)

Ah well. My bad. Never been there. Might have also been confused with en:Walmington-on-Sea--Xaverius 13:36, 31 Iulii 2019 (UTC)

High time we had an article on that ... Andrew Dalby (disputatio) 18:16, 1 Augusti 2019 (UTC)

On Thames

Yes, "Dorcastrum" was bad, but "Dorcastrensis" is used by several authors from medieval times to 19th century. In the case of Birinus the phrase "Birinus Episcopus Dorcastrensis" is seen in Leland's Itinerary, followed by the note that Birinus died "Dorcastriae", so maybe "Dorcastria" is worth noting as a Latin name for Dorchester-on-Thames. "Dorcestria" is certainly found also -- not sure which is commoner. Andrew Dalby (disputatio) 12:32, 31 Iulii 2019 (UTC)

It is very confusing indeed -- As I tried to convey, it is the amalgamation of two different Anglosaxon names into one/two Latin toponym. What to do?--Xaverius 13:36, 31 Iulii 2019 (UTC)

For what it's worth, Graesse (p. 664) has "Dorcestria (hundredum): Dorchester, Hundred im SO. von Oxfordshire" and "Dorcinia: Dorchester sö. Oxford, Oxfordshire". Lesgles (disputatio) 17:07, 1 Augusti 2019 (UTC)

(I had this on Andrew's Disputatio, but I copy it here as well)--Xaverius 17:22, 1 Augusti 2019 (UTC)

• For Birinus and Dorchester-on-Thames
  • The MGH (which I'd follow) has
    • Dorcestria: hic
    • Dorcescestria: hic
    • No entries for Dorcastr*
  • Google Books:
    • No entries for Dorcastr* [1]
    • in Dorcestria/de Dorcestria/Dorcestria apud Mercios (last one is a good 'un): hic
• Dorcastria (w/o ref. to Birinus):
  • Google Books: hic

Dorcestria apud Mercios has a nice ring to it, plus it is accurate, and has a reference (which I found in a Goergian book [2] but can't really tell if it is itself quoting an earlier text). What could we do?--Xaverius 13:56, 31 Iulii 2019 (UTC)

Yes, when I started looking seriously, I found that "Dorcestria" and "Dorcestrensis" are much commoner than other spellings, although there is evidence for "Dorcastria -ensis" also. I love "Dorcestria apud Mercios"; "Dorcestria (Oxoniensis)" would work too. Andrew Dalby (disputatio) 18:14, 1 Augusti 2019 (UTC)