Re: Col[ne]chester (was: British Latin)

Raymond Brown wrote:


> The colonia was termed Colonia
> Victricensis, but it's incertain whether the epithet was there from the
> start, commemorating Claudius' victory over the Brits, or whether it was
> added to commemorate the Roman victory over Boudicca (more commonly known
> by the typo 'Boadicea'), whose followers destroyed the Roman colonia &
> massacred its inhabitants.

The latter sounds more likely to me, given that the 20th Legion was also
given the epithet "Victrix" at the time (the year 60).  Their home base
was in Viriconium (Wroxeter) after 66, but I do not find where it was
before that: perhaps in the rebuilt Colchester for a while?

If so, the town name would mean "settlement of the Legio Valeria Victrix"?


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