06-21-2006, 11:51 AM
Ave to all,
The Romans generally used "castra", not "castrum". This n.pl. became fem.sg. (!) at the end of the Empire, probably under "Barbaric" influence.
The problem is that the term continued to be used after the Roman period. E.g., in Belgium, 14th century towers on mounds continue to be qualified as "castrum".
In the East, the term was adopted in Greek (Byzantium) as "kastron", which was in turn adopted by the Arabs as "kasr".
To complicate things further, historians and archeologists use the term "castellum" for forts such as Kasr Bshir (!), the ancient "castra praetoria Moabdeni".
For all the problems concerning "caer", "chester" and "caster" in England, I refer to Rivet & Smith, the bible for this question.
Finally, I strongly suspect names as "Kasterlee" in Belgium to be derived from a water-name, such as "Kaystros", the ancient name of the river Meander in Turkey.
Cepheus aka Bernard Roobaert
The Romans generally used "castra", not "castrum". This n.pl. became fem.sg. (!) at the end of the Empire, probably under "Barbaric" influence.
The problem is that the term continued to be used after the Roman period. E.g., in Belgium, 14th century towers on mounds continue to be qualified as "castrum".
In the East, the term was adopted in Greek (Byzantium) as "kastron", which was in turn adopted by the Arabs as "kasr".
To complicate things further, historians and archeologists use the term "castellum" for forts such as Kasr Bshir (!), the ancient "castra praetoria Moabdeni".
For all the problems concerning "caer", "chester" and "caster" in England, I refer to Rivet & Smith, the bible for this question.
Finally, I strongly suspect names as "Kasterlee" in Belgium to be derived from a water-name, such as "Kaystros", the ancient name of the river Meander in Turkey.
Cepheus aka Bernard Roobaert
