A few words about the word 'claudius' by Keith Armstrong

A few words about the word the 'claudius':
An etymological journey
Five short essays on the word 'claudius'
by
Keith Armstrong
© Copyright Keith Armstrong London 2013
2013

Contents
1 Introduction p.3
2 Claudius or Claudia as a personal or first name p.4
3 The word 'claudius' and its many meanings in Latin p.6
4 The word 'claudius' as used in Old and Medieval English p.7
5 The word 'claudius' in the Cymraeg-Welsh language p.9
6 The word 'claudius' as an Anatomical, Biological or Medical
term p.18

Acknowledgements
I am grateful to Dr. Michelle P. Brown, Dr. Michael Boggan and Mr Peter
Hogg of the British Library, Dr. Adriano Elia, Ms Julie Bowles, Miss Cecile
Mairat and Ms Weiyan Zhou for transcribing from the original text. I would
also like to thank the many people who have helped me to live and given me
the energy and encouragement to complete this article. This includes the
people of Camden and my late mother Mrs. Nina Armstrong. I am particularly
grateful to the kind members of staff at all levels within the British Library in
Euston Road London.
-----------
I must point out that any factual errors or sentiment unwittingly
suggested are my responsibility alone. The punctuation and typeface of
the authors quoted have at times been modified.
All rights are reserved. The author's moral rights are asserted. No part
of this paper may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or
by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the author.
© Copyright 2013 Keith Armstrong, London.

The word claudius: An etymological journey
Five essays on the word 'claudius'
The essays contained in this document review the entomology of words derived from
the Latin word 'claudius'. By now, many people will know of emperor Claudius I
because of Robert Graves' two novels and the televised drama produced by Jack
Pullman in 1975. What might be confusing is the fact that emperor Claudius had a
lifelong physical impairment and the word 'Claudius' is often translated from the Latin
as 'cripple' or 'lame'.
It so happens that emperor Claudius I (Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus
Germanicus; 1 August 10 BCE – 13 October 54 CE) was Roman Emperor from 41 CE
to 54 CE was not so named because of having a physical impairment, but rather,
because he was descended from the Claudii clan, a powerful Sabine family whose
history goes back to 505 BCE 1
and the beginning of Rome.
After the Roman revolution and the success of the Republic, the Claudii clan split into
those who supported the former Etruscan king and those who endorsed the Republic.
Family members who supported the Republic became Praetorian (i.e. members of the
Roman Republican aristocracy) and those who supported the monarchy ended up as
Plebeians. The family's success came about with the appointment of emperor
Tiberius, who was able to claim descent from both sides of the family. The last
emperor from the genus of Claudius was Claudius I. Emperor Nero, who was adopted
into the Claudii family, succeeded in having all significant relatives killed, including
his own mother, bringing this once proud family into ruin.
There are many words deriving from the word 'claudius', whose main significance is
about being enclosed, including a 'clause' in a contract, various types of enclosure
including the medical condition of claustrophobia, particularly with Cymraeg or
Welsh as it is known to the English and those terms used in biology, anatomy and
medicine.
I hope you find these writings interesting.
1
1) Livy, (1919, 2002: 270), The History of Rome: Books 1 - 2, [Trans. from the
Latin by B. O. Foster], (Cambridge, Massachusetts: London: Loeb Classical Library).

7
Chapter 1 — Claudius or Claudia as a personal or first name
What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other word would smell as sweet.
Juliet. Romeo and Juliet 1595
Act 2, sc 1, 1.85-6, William Shakespeare
Photograph by Keith Armstrong
It is difficult to imagine a human culture without personal names. 1
Patrick Hanks
Patrick Hanks in The Oxford Names Companion states that personal names form:
[...] the first of a sequence of one or more given names borne by an individual.
A given name is one that is bestowed on a child by its parents or guardians at
birth, [...] More loosely, the term is fused with much the same significance as
'given name'. 2
Interestingly (considering the large number of word elements at our disposal), we
choose from comparatively few first or personal names when naming children. These
same few names and their variants appear throughout history repeatedly. They often
relate to the fashions and the popularity of publicly known artists, sporting
champions, political leaders or other icons. What subtle bearing, if any, a name has to
the identity or lifestyle of an individual, is to my knowledge unknown.

8
Hanks believes that:
A person's given name is a badge of cultural identity. Cultural identity
is closely allied to religious identity: religious affiliation and native
language are often key factors, overtly or subliminally, in the choice of
an appropriate name for a new member of a family. 3
While often not blood related, holders of the first names, given names (or
praenomina) of Claudia and Claudius form a significant part of the mosaic of our
history. Many bearers of these names have led dynamic lives, but sadly their often
neglected narratives have only been touched on by some historians. Name holders
must remain unrecorded and therefore are regrettably unknown. Any inclusion in this
chapter is to a degree dependant upon the sources available to me. However, I
consider that those mentioned also represent an important part of this word's history,
and their exclusion would misrepresent the human use of this word family. The
circumstances of their lives enrich our knowledge of the past. Some are still living
and are in the process of making work for future historians and linguists, and I feel
sure that some are not yet born.
The personal name Claudius is masculine while the name Claudia is feminine.
Claude, however, is an epicene name used for both males and females. 4
The Oxford names companion draws attention to Claude, whose cognates are in
Italian, Spanish and Portuguese Claudio; in Russian, Klavdii; in Polish, Klaudiusz;
and in Hungarian, Kolos. The masculine Germanic Claus is a form of Niclaus. In the
English-dominated world this name tends to be associated with the figure of Santa
Claus, also known as Father Christmas. The word's variants include the German:
K(C)laus, whose cognates include the Dutch Klaas and the Fresian Klaes. 5
The personal names of Claudius and Claudia live on to this day, as in the root of the
modern Italian male name Claudio. However, this still does explain the continued
popularity of its variants as many other Roman families also freed their most
respected slaves who would have adopted their family names that have not survived
the test of time.
A simple search on 'YouTube' for Claudio made in late 2007 found 21,000 different
videos that directly mentioned the name 'Claudio',7
while Google in 0.44 seconds
found approximately 5,890,000 different websites that mentioned the name 'Claudio'.
8
Google also recorded that 714,000 of these webs files directly originated from Italy.
Both The Oxford names companion and The Guinness Book of Names tells us that
Claudius (itself occasionally used as a modern given name), was an old Roman family
name derived from the byname Claudius meaning 'lame' 9
. Does this hold true?
You decide.

9
References
Note 1: Hanks, Patrick, [et al.], (2002: 113), The Oxford names companion, (Oxford:
Oxford University Press).
Note 3: Other western personal epicene names include; 'Charlie ', 'Jerry ' and 'Vivian'.
It is possible that up to a quarter of Chinese personal names are not gender specific,
although there is no means to verify this. Chinese personal epicene names include; 华
(hua), 禹 (yu) and 彦(yan).
Note 5: Hanks, Patrick, [et al.], (2002: 689, 727 - 728), The Oxford names
companion, (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
Note 6: YouTube search 21 December, 2007.
Note 7: Google search 21 December, 2007.
Note 8: In addition to the Google search I found on 21 December, 2007, web files
directly originated from: Argentina; 504,000, Australia; 75,500, Austria; 132,000,
Belgium; 118,000, Brazil; 2,610,000, China; 181,000, Czech Republic; 236,000,
France; 538,000, Iran; 7,070, Liechtenstein; 3,300, Luxembourg; 86,000, United
Kingdom; 316,000 and the United States; 2,830,000.
Note 9: Hanks, Patrick, [et al.], (2002: 727 - 728), The Oxford names companion,
(Oxford: Oxford University Press).
Dunkling, Leslie Alan, (1995: 37), The Guinness Book of Names, (London: Guinness
Publishing).

10
The word 'claudius' as in the Latin lexicon
The linguistic family of claudius appears to have come from a single root, which
developed in to two main meanings, one related to closure, the other to lameness.
Both are examined below. 1
The root of the name claudius has a surprising number of meanings in the Latin
vocabulary: claudicätiö ~önis (noun); limping, lameness, claudicö (verb); to be lame,
limp, to be off the straight, incline to one side, to be halting or defective, (of persons)
to fall short, to be deficient. Other variants include the verbs claudico (clodico) and
claudeo, and the noun clauditas (f) meaning lameness.
The word 'claudius' and some of its Latin variants 2
Latin Word English sense Date
claudicätiö ~õnis Limping, lameness. 106-43 BCE.
Claudius Clodivs The name of a Roman gens and tribe. 70-19 BCE.
Claudius (2) The name of various members of the gens 65-08 BCE.
Claudia (fem) The name of women in the gens Claudia. 106-43 BCE.
Claudö verb To close, shut (doors, gates, etc.). 116-27 BCE.
Claudö (2) verb To close (an exit, approach, etc.) by military or 106-43 BCE.
Claudö (3) verb To make inaccessible (also figuratively). 106-43 BCE.
Claudö (4) verb To close (a container or other object). 116-27 BCE.
Claudö (5) verb To shut, confine, enclose (people or animals). 234-149BCE.
Claudö (6) verb To envelop, surround, cover, conceal; to bury. 70-19 BCE.
Claudö (7) verb To invest, blockade,(in military usage, usually with
bl i )
43 BCE.
Claudö( 8) verb To surround (an area) with a wall or other ?48-19 BCE.
Claudö (9) verb To bound on one or more sides, enclose. 106-43 BCE.
claudö (10) verb To close, terminate (a period of time). 65-08 BCE.
clauicula noun (of rhythm or metre) Uneven, halting. 35BCE-40CE.
clauicula (2) noun Crippled, imperfect, incomplete, (of abstract
things)
86-c.34 BCE.
claudö (verb; infinitive form: claudere); (clodo) to close, shut (doors, gates, etc.), to
enclose, to close (an exit, approach by military or other means), block up (passages,
etc., in the body, wounds), to make inaccessible, to close the eyes, to shut, tip, confine,
enclose (men or animals), envelop, surround, cover, conceal, to cut off, prevent, to
bury, to surround (an area) with a wall or other boundary, enclose, to bound on one
or more sides, clauicula; of rhythm or metre - uneven or halting, crippled, imperfect,
incomplete (of abstract things).
Other variants include the adjective claudendus, claudere, to be cut off, prevented;
and claudus; lame etc. clausum (clusum), (noun) an enclosed space, enclosure,
enclosed yard; also clausura (noun); closure and claustura (noun). There is also
clausula, a hermit's cell and clausura, a mountain pass.

11
The NTC's Dictionary of Latin and Greek Origins 3
, defines CLAUDERE as: 'to
shut, close'; from the root CLOS, CLUDE, CLUS; from which are derived among
others: conclude, conclusion, disclosure, enclose, enclosure, exclude, exclusive,
foreclose, preclude, to seclude.
As well as these, clause (from the Latin clausus) and cloister (from the Latin
claustrum, vulgar clöstrum) are also derivatives of claudere. A clause is a simple
('closed') sentence, whereas a subordinate clause contains a subject and predicate but
cannot stand alone. A clause is also a provision or stipulation in a contract or legal
document.
Then there is the ancient Roman legal phrase Quare clausum fregit (plural fregerunt).
The powerful words in the old Latin writ commanding a defendant to show cause why
s/he made an alleged unlawful entry upon the plaintiff's land.
The online 1893 edition of A Dictionary of Law defines the expression Close in a
legal sense as having an interest in the soil. (1881) A portion of land, as, a field
inclosed by a hedge, fence, or other sensible enclosure. (1875) The word 'inclose'
being a variant of the word 'enclose'.4
Every unwarrantable entry on another's soil the law entitles a trespass
by "breaking his close"; the words of the writ of trespass commanding
the defendant to show cause quare clausum querentis fregit. For every
man's land is, in law, inclosed and set apart from his neighbour's land.5
A cloister is an enclosed courtyard with open walkways, often found in religious or
educational institutions; it can also be any quiet, secluded place. The Chambers
Dictionary of Etymology 6
states that cloistre was known before 1225 as a place of
religious seclusion, monastery or convent 5
; it was borrowed from Old French cloistre.
7
Related to this, claustrophobia, a fear of enclosed spaces, was first recorded only in
1879. 8
There is also Claustra: when used as a military term it can mean: a barricade,
bulwark, key, defence, fortress, wall, bank, etc., for warding off an enemy. 9

12
Cloisters of Westminster Abbey
from an old print.
John Fisher has compiled the official documents written in Latin in the County of
Essex and other parts of the British Isles. Fisher reveals in his A Medieval Farming
Glossary of Latin and English Words, that while claustro was used for; to close, to
enclose; the word clostria was utilised for, fence or material for fence. 10
Lastly there is clausula a convention of prose metre contrived by Greek orators as a
punctuation for oral delivery. Latin writers such as Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 - 43
BCE) adopted the device and introduced clausulae in the writing of their prose. This
text is scannable, in the same manner that verse is; writers developed the trick of
concluding sentences and periods with regularised beats. 11
In current French there is 'De clochard' which translates as 'tramp' it comes from the
Latin clodo /klɔ.do/ masculin (équivalent féminin : clodote, clodotte) 12
. White's
Latin-English dictionary refers to 'claudo', which then takes you to 'claudeo', and its
meaning as 'limp' 13
. I would like to thank Cecile Mairat for this suggestion.

13
References
Note 1: The pronunciation of ö for the diphtong au, as in Clödius for Claudius was
common in 'rustic' ('vulgar') Latin. The developments of the Romance languages,
however, ensured that the normal pronunciation then became au instead of ö ,
although here, too, there are exceptions. See:
Carl Darling Buck, (1933: 89), Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin, (Chicago,
Illinois: University of Chicago Press).
Andrew L. Sihler, (1995: 57), New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin, (New
York: Oxford University Press).
Note 2: Glare, P. G. W., (Ed.), (1982: 334 - 335), The Oxford Latin Dictionary,
(Oxford: Clarendon Press).
Note 3: Moore, Bob, and Moore, Maxine, (Eds.), (1997: 56 - 7, 357), The NTC's
Dictionary of Latin and Greek Origins, A Comprehensive guide to the Classical
Origins of English Words, (Chicago: NTC Publishing Group).
Note 4: A Dictionary of Law (1893) <http://ecclesia.org/lawgiver/C.asp> as retrieved
on 20 September 2006.
Note 5: A Dictionary of Law (1893) <http://ecclesia.org/lawgiver/C.asp> as retrieved
on 20 September 2006.
Note 6: Barnhart, Robert K., (Ed.), (1988: 181), Chambers Dictionary of Etymology,
(Edinburgh: Chambers).
Note 7: For example the Suora di Clausura, an order of catholic nuns who live in
total seclusion, and whose only contact with the outside world is through parcels of
food.
Note 8: Walford, Edward, (c.1890: 456), Old and New London: Its narrative of its
history, its people and its places, Vol. III, (London, Paris & New York: Cassell Petter
and Galpin).
Note 9: Smith, William, and Hall, Theophilus D., (Eds.), (1870, 1929: 100), A
Smaller Latin-English Dictionary, (London: John Murray).
Note 10: Fisher, John L., (Ed.), (1997: 9), A medieval farming glossary of Latin and
English words: taken mainly from Essex records, (Essex Record Office).
Note 11: Cuddon, J. A., (Ed.) (1976, 1979: 124), A Dictionary of Literary Terms,
(Harmondsworth: Penguin Books).

14
Note 12: Correard, Marie Helene, and Grundy Valerie, (Eds.), (1995:1347), thereThe
Concise Oxford Hachette French Dictionary, (Oxford: Oxford University Press
Note 13: White John, T. , (1926: 114), Latin-English dictionary, (London:
Longmans, Green and co.Ltd)

15
The word 'claudius' as used in Old and Medieval English
The Anglo-Saxons certainly knew about Claudius I. Chapter three of Bede's (c. 673 -
735 CE) Ecclesiastical History of the English People is devoted to him 1
, although
there is no mention of his physical impairment in Bede's omposition. St. Bede was a
cleric, a writer and also a teacher. He was perhaps the most significant Anglo-Saxon
scholar and also one of the most influential early English historians of his time. St.
Bede wrote in Old English which was the written language of the Anglo-Saxons.
St. Margaret of Antioch was a virgin and martyr. She had a cult devoted to her in
Europe from the ninth century and became one of the most honored saints of the
medieval period. The Old English lives of St. Margaret by Mary Clayton and Hugh
Magennis publishes a copy of the Latin Passio S. Margaretae from the tenth-century.
It is considered to have been written and corrected by only one scribe in Anglo-Saxon
England. 2
Verse 19 of the text reads:
[...] in domo illius non nascatur infans claudus aut cecus neque mutus.
Clayton and Magennis translate this as
[...] in his home let there not be born an infant lame or blind or dumb. 3
In an Old English translation of this manuscript, dating from the late 11th or early
12th century, the Old English words creopoles, crypol and crypeles, are used as
variants of the currently used word cripple, as a translation of the Latin claudus. 4
The text has three references of a variant of the word 'cryple'; chapter 15 has
creopoles, chapter 19 has crypol and chapter 23 uses crypeles. Clayton and
Magennis consider this text to have non-West Saxon phonological features in
the use of their form. 5
There is little positive linguistic evidence for precise dating of this
version of the legend, as it is often difficult to distinguish in the text
between authorial and scribal contributions. They suggest that the
manuscript had an Anglo-Norman scribal influence in the employment
of such forms in this manuscript, as they are not recorded elsewhere in
Old English or 'Middle English'. It is possible that the manuscript of
the Legend of St. Margaret of Antioch [Ms. Cambridge, Corpus
Christi College 303] was composed in the late 11th or early 12th
century. 6
Clayton and Magennis assert that this text represents the only recorded example in the
West Saxon dialect of creopoles, crypol and crypeles in both Old and Middle English
vocabularies. Incidentally, the lack of evidence of St. Margaret's existence led to her
cult being suppressed by the Vatican in 1969. St. Christopher was also booted out of
the state of sainthood for the same reason at the same time.

16
It is interesting to note that in Christopher Wase's Medieval Latin Dictionarium
minus: a compendious dictionary, English-Latin and Latin-English 7
of 1662 the
word 'claudius'. [Latin = Claudicans] was also translated as 'cripple'. However, this
is not classical Latin.
In modern Italian there is Claudiàno, Claudian, [Latin: Claudianus], claudicante,
which means lame, limping, halting, claudicare, to limp, to halt, claudicazióne,
limping, halting. 8
Nevertheless, it must be borne out that there was no known negative connotation of
the word crypol/cripple until the late 18th century. John S. Farmer and W. E. Henley
give reference in their Slang and its Analogues Past and Present, 1890 - 1904 to the
first known negative use of the term 'cripple' in 1785. 9
Middle English is considered by The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of the English
Language 10
to have emerged from the beginning of the twelfth century and survived
until the middle of the fifteenth. Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343 – 1400) was one of the
greatest writers of this period.
From another branch of the root 'claud' comes the noun; closet. The first known use of
the word 'closet' is from Geoffrey Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde (c.1385) in the
sense of a private room for study or prayer. 11
The word closet was borrowed from
Old French closet, a diminutive form of clos; enclosure, from Latin clausum; closed
space, comes from neuter past participle of claudere; to close. In the meaning of a
case or cabinet for valuables, it was first recorded by the publication of William
Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar of 1599. Then there is the infamous antagonist in
Shakespeare's Hamlet of 1601. 12

17
References
Note 1: Bede, (1565, 1930, 1999: 26 - 9), Ecclesiastical History, Vol. 1., [Trans. from
the Latin, J. E. King] Loeb Classical Library No. 246, (Cambridge: Harvard
University Press).
Note 2: Paris manuscript, BN, lat. 5574 (P) and Ms. Cambridge Corpus Christi
College 303. Clayton, Mary and Magennis, Hugh, (1994: 3 and 6), The Old English
lives of St. Margaret, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
Note 3: Clayton, Mary and Magennis, Hugh, (1994: 168 and 215), The Old English
Note 4: Clayton, Mary and Magennis, Hugh, (1994: 94, 103-104), The Old English
Note 5: Clayton, Mary and Magennis, Hugh, (1994: 94, 103-104, 106, 164 - 171, 191
- 192, 214 - 217), The Old English lives of St. Margaret, (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press).
Note 6: Clayton, Mary and Magennis, Hugh, (1994: 106), The Old English lives of
St. Margaret, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
Note 7: Wase, Christopher, (1662: CRA - CRE, [pages not paginated]), Dictionarium
minus: a compendious dictionary, English-Latin and Latin-English ... By C. W.
(Compendium Calepini: Being a Latine-English dictionarie, and an abridgement of
the last Calepine, augmented by Passeratius ... Abstracted by C. W.), Vol. 1.
(London:).
Note 8: Macchi, Vladimiro, (Ed.), (1970 - 1975: 472), Dizionario delle lingue
Italiana e Inglese [...] Realizzato dal Centro Lessicografico Sansoni sotto la direzione
di Vladimiro Macchi, (Dictionary of the Italian and English languages.) (Rome:
Sansoni, Firenze).
Macchi, Vladimiro, (Ed.), (1989: 244, 1204), Dictionario delle lingue italiana e
inglese. realizzato dal Centro lessicografico Sansoni. sotto la direzione di Vladimiro
Macchi, (2nd Ed.), Centro lessicografico Sansoni, (Rome: Sansoni, Firenze).
Note 9: Farmer, John S. and Henley, W. E. (Eds.), (1966: 213), Slang and its
Analogues Past and Present, 1890 - 1904, (New York: University Books).
Note 10: Crystal, David, (1995, 2002: 30), The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of the
English Language, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
Note 11: Skeat, Walter W., (Ed.), (1910: 115), An Etymological Dictionary of the
English Language, (4th Ed.), (Oxford: Clarendon Press).

18
The word 'claudius' in the Cymraeg / Welsh language
Surprisingly, the word claudius also has a strong Welsh connection, especially
regarding its use in place-names. Glanville Price has suggested in his Encyclopedia
of the Languages of Europe that "Welsh has one of the longest literary traditions of
any European language and that tradition has remained vital and unbroken to the
present day." 1
Sir Owen Morgan Edwards described Wales in the introduction of his book A Short
History of Wales of 1906:
Wales is a row of hills, rising between the Irish Sea on the west and the
English plains on the east. If you come from the west along the sea, or
if you cross the Severn or the Dee from the east, you will see that
Wales is a country all by itself. It rises grandly and proudly. If you are
a stranger, you will think of it as "Wales" a strange country; if you are
Welsh, you will think of it as "Cymru" a land of brothers. 2
The Oxford English Dictionary states that in English the adjective Welsh
corresponds to the Old High German; wal(a}hisc, walesc. In Old English the final h
of the stem normally disappeared before the adjectival ending. The West Saxon type
Wielisc (from Wealh) did not survive beyond the Old English period. The adjective
'of persons' originally referred to the native British population of England in contrast
to the Anglo-Saxons. In later use it related to the country of Wales by birth or
descent; forming (part of) the native population of Wales. 3
The very word Welsh is a Germanic name for 'foreigner' or 'alien'; for example, in
poetic German, Italy was described as Wälschland. In the Middle Ages, Eilert
Ekwall, in his Dictionary of English Place-Names, considers that the Old English of
'Wales' or 'Walls' (found in the Norman Doomsday book of 1086) is identical with
Wales the country. 4
Welsh poets coined a name of similar origin for their country in their own mother
tongue: Gwalia. However, the main word used by Welsh speakers to designate their
own land has always been Cymru. 5
Grace Simpson in her Britons and the Roman Army. A study of Wales and the
southern Pennines in the 1st - 3rd centuries considers that:
The first contacts between the Roman army and the British tribes in
Wales and the southern Pennines are not recorded. No doubt they were
described by Tacitus in a lost book of the Annals. It is possible to infer
their nature from his surviving books, and to say that initial
engagements during the governorship of Aulus Plautius [43 - 47 CE]
probably provoked the tribes in Wales to invade the newly-conquered
Province of Britain after Aulus Plautius had returned to Rome. 6

19
The Romans had a major impact on Wales. R. E. M. Wheeler states in his book
Prehistoric and Roman Wales, that:
Ostorius Scapula, the commander of the Roman forces since the year
47 [CE], swept across the Midlands and reached the Welsh Marches
before 50 [CE]. There he defeated a native force led by Caratacus
(mentioned earlier), a refugee Celtic prince from Essex. 7
Wheeler writes:
North-eastern Wales, corresponding roughly with the modern
Flintshire, was subjugated at the same time; but the Silures of
Monmouthshire and Glamorgan proved amenable neither to
negotiation nor to severity, although a legionary fortress was
established amongst them, [...] To liberate active troops for this
purpose from south-eastern Britain, a colony of veteran soldiers was
placed at Colchester in or about [50 CE], and for ten indecisive years
the Roman power in Britain lay uneasily between the unconquered
Silures in the west and the shifty vassal kingdoms of the east. 8
The Romans opened their hostilities by carrying out an incursion upon the native
religious stronghold of Anglesey in 60 CE. The immediate success was somewhat
negated by the great rebellion which broke out behind them under Queen Boudicca
and the Iceni of East Anglia.
Grace Simpson states that:
The whole area was a natural fortress, about a hundred hill-tops were
crowned with native forts, it contained refugees from defeated tribes in
England. The stubborn resistance by the Silures embroiled the Roman
army in difficult country. Through marsh and woodland it advanced,
always with heavy losses. The Roman military trinkets in the Seven
Sisters hoard near Coelbren suggest the capture of soldiers whose
equipment was taken by a British chieftain, and the Silures gave such
captives as presents to other tribes. Tacitus also stated that some
legionary cohorts that were left behind to build forts in Silurian
territory were surrounded by the enemy, and suffered losses, before
being relieved from neighbouring forts. 9
Simpson maintains that:
[...] Wales has no Roman historian after Tacitus. The southern
Pennines may be referred to in a few (often ambiguous) sentences by
later writers. Datable inscriptions are more numerous in the southern
Pennines than in Wales, but there are not enough of them. Therefore
we are largely dependent, in both regions, upon archaeological remains
for our knowledge of the three centuries that followed their conquest
by Rome. 10

20
Simpson records that in Usk, a small country town in Monmouthshire, South Wales
has revealed eleven Claudian coins and some contemporary bowls of Samian pottery.
"Hod Hill (a Neolithic hill fort with a Roman camp inside) in Dorsetshire, found a
few years earlier in what was then newly-occupied territory hoste vicino (close or
nearby enemy), has also yielded similar kinds of pottery and yet more Claudian
coins." 11
It was because of the Roman invasion that the Welsh language (of Brittonic-Celtic
origin) borrowed a significant number of Latin words, whose pronunciation and
spelling grew to be uniquely Welsh over succeeding generations. Gerard of Wales
(c. 1145 - 1223), Archdeacon of Brecon, in his Description of Wales (an invaluable
work for the history of medieval Wales from the twelfth century), states that
numerous "words in Welsh are cognate with either Greek or Latin." 12
He gives the following examples:
[...] The Romans said 'frenum' [bridle], [...] 'gladius' [sword], and
'lorica', [robe of a penitent; knights equipment] and the Welsh say
'ffrwyn', [...] 'cleddyf'' and 'llurig'. The Romans said 'unicus' [entire:
unmarried man], 'canis' [dog] and 'belua' [beast], and the Welsh say
'unig', 'ci', and 'bela'. 13
However, Y Gwe-eiriadur (an Internet dictionary of Welsh for speakers of English
15
) suggests the main root is derived from the element clos [kloos] masculine noun
plural closydd [klo -sidh] as in close = courtyard enclosed by buildings; or a way
leading into this; clos cadeirlan cathedral close, the precincts of a cathedral or clos
castell courtyard of a castle. As in Cerddodd drwy’r dre nes dyfod i'r castell. Aeth
Morgan i mewn drwy'r clos (South Wales) farmyard, courtyard; and also beili, cwrt
clos ffermdy farmyard, courtyard. close = residential street in the form of a cul de sac
Aeth i fyny’r clos i barcio’r car He went up the close (the cul de sac) to park his
car. 14
The etymology of 'clos': English close (= enclosure) < Old French clos (adjective =
enclosed) < Latin clausus (adjective = enclosed, shut up) < claudere (= to close), cf
Jèrriais (Jersey French) clios (= a field) Modern French clos (adjective) enclosed;
(noun) enclosed place, vineyard, the feminine noun being claddfa, claddféydd
[KLADH va] graveyard, cemetery and y gladdfa = the graveyard.
H. Meurig Evans's Welsh-English Dictionary Y geiriadur mawr, Evans gives
references for: cladd, cloddio, trench, pit, burying place, a digging. claddedigaeth,
burial, funeral. claddedigaethol, claddedigol, funereal. claddfa, burying place,
spawning ground, cemetery; claddgell, burial-chamber; claddogof, catacomb;
claddu, bury, to deposit (spawn), to dig; claddwr, claddu, burier, undertaker;
clawdd, cloddiau, ditch, pit, mine, barrier; clavvr, cover, lid, surface; clawstwr,
clawstyr, cloister; glawdd, quarry, mine; cloddiad, excavation; cloddilion, cloddio,
to bank, to dig, to excavate, to quarry; cloddiwr, cloddio, digger, excavator,
labourer; cloddolion, fossils. 15

21
In Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru. A dictionary of the Welsh language, we also find:
clawdd, soil thrown up in digging a pit or trench, mound, wall made of earth, dyke,
earthwork, bulwark, boundary, hedge, fence and also clawdd, a mud-wall. 16
The Rhestr o enwau lleoedd, (A gazetteer of Welsh place-names), lists a number of
Welsh place-names containing the root clawdd. 17
Clawdd-coch, in the locality of Garreghwfa, Montgomeryshire
Clawdd Du, an ancient name in Trefynwy, Monmouthshire
Clawdd Mavvr, an ancient name Hirnant/Llanrhaeadr-ym- Mochnant,
Montgomeryshire
Clawddnewydd, a hamlet or village in Derwen, Denbighshire
Clawdd y Mynach, an ancient name in Glamorgan.
Anthony Lias gives the example of Knighton, Powys in northern Wales in his Place
names of the Welsh borderlands 18
,
he writes that:
[...] the Welsh name, TREF-Y-CLAWDD or TREF-Y-CLO, 'Town
on the dyke', refers to Offa's Dyke, the great earthwork built by the
Mercian King Offa [757 - 796 CE], which was the forerunner of the
present English-Welsh border and which passes through Knighton.
The dyke played an important part in shaping the perception of the
extent and identity of Wales and lasts for 80 miles [128.74 km].
Glawdd Offa known in English as 'Offa's Dyke' was built on the order of the Anglo-
Saxon King Offa to enclose the Cymraeg or Welsh people in their land and stop them
from invading English lands. The structure is considered by to be one of the most
impressive constructions of its kind anywhere in Europe.19
Wales was the last Western
outpost of the Roman Empire, in that it followed both Roman law and traditions. It
was never successively occupied by either the Anglo-Saxons or the Vikings.

22
A detail from a map of Cymru/Wales in Cymraeg. 20
It seems to me that over time the importation of the Latin root Claud has grown in the
Cymraeg / Welsh language. References to burial became intermingled with terms for
burial/ graveyard/ditch, as another example of how the Latin meaning of the root
Claud expanded into the Welsh / Cymraeg language, so much so as to be almost
indecipherable to outsiders.
Samuel James Evans in his The Latin Element in Welsh tells us that in 1908,
knowledge of the Latin elements in Welsh became an essential requirement for
candidates sitting the Examinations of the Central Board for Welsh Matriculation. 21
The Cymraeg / Welsh language is spoken by at least half a million people today.

23
References:
Note 1: Price, Glanville, (Ed.), (1998: 488 - 489), Encyclopedia of the languages of
Europe, (Oxford; Malden, Mass.: Blackwell).
Note 2: Edwards, Owen Morgan, Sir, (1906: 1), A Short History of Wales, (London:
T. Fisher Unwin).
Today the word Walsh only survives as a surname while the spelling Welch is only
maintained in the title of the Royal Welch Fusiliers, the oldest infantry battalion in
Wales.
Note 3: Simpson, John Andrew, and Weiner, Edmund S., (Eds.), (1989: 145), The
Oxford English Dictionary, Vol. XX, (2nd Ed.), (Oxford: Clarendon Press).
Note 4: Ekwall cites the place-names of the stream and then river the 'Walbrook'
known by the Anglo-Saxons as Weala broc 'brook of the Welsh' or 'of the serfs'. He
also gives reference to the Old English place-names of Walacot and Wealacot
'cottage of the serfs or of the Welsh'. Ekwall considers that the former alternative
seems on the whole preferable.
Ekwall, Eilert, (Ed.), (1936, 1991: xliii, 491, 492), The Concise Oxford Dictionary
of English Place-Names, (4th Ed.), (Oxford: Clarendon Press).
Note 5: Herbermann, Charles et al, (Ed.), (1908: 7 - 10), The Catholic Encyclopaedia,
Vol. IV, (New York: Robert Appleton Company).
Note 6: Simpson, Grace, (1964: 1), Britons and the Roman Army. A study of Wales
and the southern Pennines in the 1st-3rd centuries, (London : Gregg Press).
Note 7: Wheeler, R. E. M., (1925: 218), Prehistoric and Roman Wales, (Oxford :
Clarendon Press).
Note 8: Wheeler, R. E. M., (1925: 242), Prehistoric and Roman Wales, (Oxford :
Clarendon Press).
Note 12: Wales, Gerard of, (1988: 9, 22, 246), The Journey through Wales / The
Description of Wales, [Trans. from the Latin with an Introduction by Lewis Thorpe],
(Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books).

24
Note 13: Wales, Gerard of, (1988: 9, 22, 246), The Journey through Wales / The
Description of Wales, [Trans. from the Latin with an Introduction by Lewis Thorpe],
(Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books).
Note 14: Y Gwe-eiriadur: An Internet dictionary of Welsh for speakers of English.
<http://www.kimkat.org/amryw/1_vortaroy/geiriadur_cymraeg_saesneg_BAEDD_ci_
1675e.htm> as retrieved on 10th June, 2007.
Note 15: Evans, H. Meurig, (1987: 87 - 89), Y geiriadur mawr : the Complete Welsh-
English, English-Welsh Dictionary, (Swansea: C. Davies).
Note 16: Wales, University of [corporate], (1950: 491), Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru. A
Dictionary of the Welsh language, (Caerdydd: University of Wales).
Note 17: Davies, Elwyn, (Ed.), (1967: 29), Rhestr o enwau lleoedd. (A gazetteer of
Welsh place-names), (Caerdydd: University of Wales).
Note 18: Lias, Anthony, (1991: 8, 10,13, 29), Place names of the Welsh borderlands,
(Ludlow: Palmers).
Note 19: Glawdd Offa <http://www.cpat.org.uk/offa/w_index.htm> and Offa's Dyke
<http://www.cpat.org.uk/offa/index.htm> both as retrieved on 6th of March 2009.
Note 20: Jenkins, Daffyd, (1986: viii), Hywel Dda:The Law, (Llandysul, Dyfed:
Gomer Press). [map].
Note 21 Evans, Samuel James, (1908: Preface), The Latin Element in Welsh,
(Newport, Mon.: John E. Southall).

25
The word 'claudius' as used in Anatomical, Biological and medical terms
A Turtle called Claudius
Edward Drinker * Cope (1840 - 1897) published his discovery of a freshwater
nocturnal turtle in 1865 to the Academy of Natural Science of Philadelphia. This
turtle was named Claudius angustatus [1] (genus Staurotypus). The Claudius
angustatus is classed as a Narrow-bridged Musk Turtle, it has only seven bones.
Another unique characteristic is the presence of two cusps on the upper jaw. The
Claudius turtle is almost entirely carnivorous, feeding on aquatic insects, snails,
clams, fish, worms, crustaceans and possibly amphibians. The turtle only resides in
the central American areas of Belize, Guatemala and Mexico.
The Claudius turtle lays multiple clutches of eggs during a single season, with a
relatively low number of eggs deposited each time. The eggs take from three to five
months to hatch. Musk turtles exhibit temperature-dependent sex determination. Eggs
incubated at an intermediate temperature range generate predominantly males, while
females are produced at temperatures above or below this temperature interval. An
adult only grows to 10.16 cm. (4 inches) in length and given the right conditions, it
can live for more than twenty years.
* His middle name not a 'nickname'.
As used in Anatomy
The German anatomist Friedrich M. Claudius (1822 - 1869) discovered the ovarian
fossa which is sometimes known as the Claudius' fossa [2]. This is a depression in the
serous membrane lining the hollow of the abdomen and enveloping the digestive and
reproductive organs of a woman's pelvis. It is found in front by the umbilical artery,
and lies behind the ureter (the duct by which urine journeys from the kidney to the
bladder) and the urinary vessels; it lodges in the ovary.
The Mosby's Medical Nursing and Allied Health Dictionary draws attention to the
anatomical expression claustrum [3] (Latin), which means a closing plural claustra:
which is either a barrier membrane that partially closes an aperture or the thin sheet of
grey matter, composed chiefly of spindle cells, situated lateral to the external capsule
of the brain.
One should add here the claudent muscle, an eye muscle. the Oxford English
Dictionary gives claudent [4], an adverb (from the Latin claudent-em, of claudère to
shut, close), as shutting, closing.
There are also the obsolete terms of claustrum oris for the soft palate and claustrum
virginale [5], an old medical term for the hymen.

26
The word 'claudius' as used in a medical context
I have also found a number of medical terms that have as their root, variations of
Claud.
As mentioned earlier, there is the condition known as claustrophobia [6] often first
occurring in childhood.
The BMA Complete Family health Encyclopedia defines the condition as an:
Intense fear of being in enclosed spaces, such as lifts or small rooms,
or of being in crowded areas. Claustrophobia may originate from a
previous bad experience involving an enclosed space. Behaviour
therapy is the usual form of treatment.
Mosby's Medical Nursing and Allied Health Dictionary suggests that the therapy
should include psychotherapy to uncover the cause of the phobic reaction, followed
by behaviour therapy, specifically, systematic desensitisation.
The Oxford English Dictionary also gives reference to the medical word
claustrophilia [7] which signifies a morbid desire to be enclosed within a confined
space. This is the very opposite of claustrophobia.
Then there is Claude syndrome [8], discovered by the French psychiatrist Henri
Claude (1869 - 1945). The Miller - Keane Encyclopedia and Dictionary of Medicine
describes the symptoms to include; a paralysis of the third (oculomotor) nerve on one
side and asynergia on the other side, together with palsy on the side of the lesion and a
lack of bodily coordination on the opposite side.
The diagnosis of the condition known as Claudication [9] often comes from the
symptoms of cramp-like pains of the leg that happen when walking and may in the
fullness of time cause a limp. The usual cause of claudication is narrowing, hardening
or blockage of the arteries in the legs due to a vascular disease such as
atherosclerosis. People with the condition have to stop walking after a particular
distance because of pain in the calves. After a short rest, they may be able to resume
walking. This is called intermittent claudication. The BMA Complete Family
health Encyclopedia also reports a rarer explanation known as spinal stenosis (caused
by a narrowing of the canal carrying the spinal cord), resulting in pressure on the
nerve roots that pass into one or both legs.
The origin of this medical term Claudication is considered to come from the late
Middle English of the Tudor period; the Oxford English Dictionary gives a reference
to the phrase Claudicacion or limping [..] of 1555 and The claudications and haltings
of the saints are not diseases, but in part. [..] of 1622. The stem of the word is from
the Latin claudicatio(n-), derived from the verb claudicare to limp, which in turn
stems from claudus lame.

27
A familiar linguistic pattern emerges with the representations developing the word
root (claud-) with meanings such as enclosure, enclosing and limping.
Perhaps it's worth mentioning here that the most famous doctor of the Roman era, was
Claudius Galen (Κλαούδιος Γαληνός Γάλην) of Pergamum (c.130 - 201 CE). Galen
wrote treatise on Hypocratic Writings on Hypocrates, the greatest Greek doctor of
ancient times, and his own text on The Natural Faculties, both of which are to this
day highly regarded by some members of the medical profession. He was a physician
to gladiators who concentrated on surgery. However he was also very keen on 'blood
letting' as a cure for many ailments: a medical intervention that unfortunately
continued to the 19th century, and which was often counterproductive. [10]

28
Conclusion
I only hope that this study has succeeded in awakening your interest in the history of a
single word. As this study has shown, the name claudius and its variants have been
used as a clan name, as an element of a place name and as a personal or first name for
the past two and half thousand years. I have tried to give some chronology to the
personalities about whom I have written by providing a brief glimpse of their lives.
As a word of Latin origin 'claudius' has three quite separate meanings:
 the Claudii family name
 the condition of limping
 and to (en)close.
It is possible that the clan emperor Claudius I was named because his family were
identified for the enclosure of their Sabine property. Emperor Claudius II (Marcus
Aurelius Valerius Claudius Augustus; May 10, 213 CE – January 270 CE), known as
Claudius Gothicus, Roman Emperor from 268 CE to 270 CE. He had a given personal
name, not as a family name.Other than as a family name the root meaning of word is
connected with the meaning of 'enclosure' is far older than any other use of the word.

29
References
Biological
Note 1: Article: Kirkpatrick, David T., (1997: 447 - 463), Mud and Musk Turtles
(Kinosternidae) in The Biology, Husbandry and Health Care of Reptiles, Volume II:
The Husbandry of Reptiles, (T. F. H Publications).
Article: Cope, E. D., (1865: 185 - 198), Third contribution to the herpetology of
tropical America, In the Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Science of
Philadelphia: No. 17.
Moll, Don, and Moll, Edward O., (2004: 97, 218), The Ecology, Exploitation, and
Conservation of River Turtles, (Oxford : Oxford University Press).
Pritchard, Peter C. H., (Ed.), (1979: 385, 580 - 581, 584 - 5, 588, 589, 592 - 593), The
Encyclopedia of Turtles, (Hong Kong ; Reigate : TFH).
Welch, Kenneth R. G., (1994: 17), Turtles, Tortoises and Terrapins: A Checklist,
(Taunton: R & A in collaboration with KCM Books).
Anatomy
Note 2: Claudius' fossa
Dictionary.com
Note 3: claustrum
Anderson, Kenneth N., (Ed.), (2002: 373), Mosby's Medical Nursing and Allied
Health Dictionary, (6th Ed.), (St. Louis, Mo. ; London : Mosby).
Miller, Benjamin F., (Ed.), (1992, 1997: 377), Encyclopedia & Dictionary of
Medicine, Nursing, & Allied Health, / Miller-Keane. Edition (6th Ed.), (Philadelphia:
London : Saunders).
Simpson, John Andrew, and Weiner, Edmund S., (Eds.), (1989: 286), The Oxford
English Dictionary, Vol. III, (2nd Ed.), (Oxford: Clarendon Press).
Note 4: claudent
Note 5: claustrum oris and claustrum virginale.
Dictionary.com

30
As used in a medical context
Note 6: claustrophobia
Miller, Benjamin F., (Ed.), (1992, 1997: 377), Encyclopedia & dictionary of
medicine, nursing, & allied health, / Miller-Keane. Edition (6th Ed.), (Philadelphia ;
London : Saunders).
Smith, Tony, (Ed.), (1999: 281), The British Medical Association complete family
health encyclopaedia, (London : Dorling Kindersley).
Note 7: claustrophilia
Note 8: Claude syndrome
Bogousslavsky, Julien, and Caplan, Louis R., (2001: 514 - 515), Strobe Syndromes,
(2nd Ed.), (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
Miller, Benjamin F., (Ed.), (1992, 1997: 377), Encyclopedia & dictionary of
medicine, nursing, & allied health, / Miller-Keane. Edition (6th Ed.), (Philadelphia ;
London : Saunders).
Smith, Tony, (Ed.), (1999: 281), The British Medical Association complete family
health encyclopaedia, (London : Dorling Kindersley).
Dictionary.com
Note 9: Claudication
Irons-Georges, Tracy (Project Ed.), (2002: 454 - 455), Magill's Medical Guide, Vol.
1., (2nd Ed. revised), (Pasadena, Calif. : Salem Press).
Miller, Benjamin F., (Ed.), (1992, 1997: 377), Encyclopedia & Dictionary of
Medicine, Nursing, & Allied Health, / Miller-Keane. Edition (6th Ed.), (Philadelphia ;
London : Saunders).

31
Smith, Tony, (Ed.), (1999: 281), The British Medical Association Complete Family
Health Encyclopaedia, (London : Dorling Kindersley).
Note 10:
Porter, Roy, (1997: 71), The Greatest Benefit to Mankind, (London: Harper-Collins).
Philips, E.D., (1987: 172-181), Aspects of Greek Medicine, (Philadelphia: The Charles
Press).
Crystal, David (Ed.), (1990: 478), The Cambridge Encyclopedia, (Cambridge
University Press).
Galen, (1989), Hypocrates, [Trans. Arthur John Brock], (University of Chicago:
Encyclopaedia Brittanica).
Watts, Sheldon, (1997: 12, 234), Epidemics and History, (New Haven and London:
Yale University Press).
© Copyright 2013 Keith Armstrong, London.

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