Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2017 October 31

= October 31 =

Circencester
I've run across a few references to "Circencester", in contexts that seem to mean "Cirencester". Is this an alternative spelling, or is there a subtle distinction? I haven't found any clear statement that they are the same. -- Elphion (talk) 15:59, 31 October 2017 (UTC)
 * It appears to be nothing more than a spelling mistake, or a typo. It isn't an alternative name, and there is no other location of that name. Looking at the etymology of the name, none of the variant or historic forms give any indication that there has ever been a version with the extra c in it. Wymspen (talk) 18:33, 31 October 2017 (UTC)
 * I looked at that etymology in the article out of curiosity and it said "An early Welsh language ecclesiastical list from St David's gives another form of the name Caerceri where Caer is the Welsh for fortress and Ceri is cognate with the other forms of the name." Are you sure? Wnt (talk) 21:08, 1 November 2017 (UTC)
 * Quite sure - the Welsh Caer (fort) corresponds to the Latin Castra (= -cester) and the Welsh Ceri is the same root as the Ciren- in the modern name. Nothing there to justify the third c. Wymspen (talk) 09:22, 2 November 2017 (UTC)