Cromlech

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Mulfra Cromlech (drawing by William Borlase 1769)
Almendres Cromlech

A cromlech (outdated Cromleh , Breton Cromlec'h , Irish Leacht ) is a name for different types of megalithic structures . The name was used for plants in Ireland , Great Britain , France , Portugal and Spain ( Cromlechs from Errenga ). It is rarely used in the scientific literature.

Word meaning

Cromlech has several meanings:

  1. Every kind of prehistoric erected raw stone
  2. Stone circle
  3. Dolmen
  4. a megalithic tomb

The meaning of the word depends on the region and time of publication.

Word origin

The word Cromlech comes from Welsh and is made up of the words Crom and Llech . Crom ( crwm ) means crooked, curved, concave and Llech is the name for a flat, smooth stone.

H. Martin assumed that the Cromlech was a symbol of the Irish god "Crom" and symbolized the cosmic circle and the serpent of infinity and eternity ( Ourobouros ).

Word usage

The oldest known use of the word was in 1588 when the Bible was translated into Welsh by William Morgan , Bishop of Llandaff and St Asaph . It was used for the first time in 1650 by Reverend John Griffith from Llanddyfnan as a name for a prehistoric tomb in the form of a dolmen , who used it to describe several vertical monoliths that supported a horizontal capstone. Henry Rowlands used the term in his widely read "Mona Antiqua Restaurata" (Dublin 1723) without giving a precise definition. In 1769, William Borlase referred to all the portal tombs in the area as cromlechs in his treatise on megalithic sites in Cornwall . Soon monuments like Stonehenge were also referred to as cromlech in the British Isles . William Cotton used the term for stone boxes. The name was also used in the British Isles for the stone wreaths of barrows , if they are approximately circular. Due to this lack of clarity in terms of content, Cromlech is no longer in use as a technical term and is now only used as a proper name. More recently, only Aubrey Burl used the term Cromlech as a synonym for stone circle.

In France, the word cromlech was adopted from English and has been in use since the 18th century. Alexandre Bertrand uses it as a synonym for dolmen. Later, circular arrangements of stones were given this name. In 1865, Gabriel de Mortillet called the stone setting of the Golasecca culture by Sesto Calende in Italy as cromlechs or enceintes de grosses pierres brutes . So he does not limit the term to round or Neolithic findings. According to Gabriel de Mortillet, most cromlechs are grave surrounds. However, Paul Cazalis de Fondouce also mentions cromlechs that surround dolmens.

literature

  • Stone monuments . In: Encyclopædia Britannica . 11th edition. tape 25 : Shuválov - Subliminal Self . London 1911 (English).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ TF Hoad (ed.): The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1996, ISBN 978-0-19-283098-2 .
  2. ^ Dictionary of Architecture and Construction . McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. 2000.
  3. ^ Dictionary of Architecture and Construction . McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. 2000; Michael Clarke and Deborah Clarke: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms. 2nd Edition. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2010, ISBN 978-0-19-956992-2 .
  4. ↑ Timothy Darvill: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archeology. 2nd Edition. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2008, ISBN 978-0-19-953404-3 .
  5. ^ Douglas Harper: Etymology Dictionary . 2001. TF Hoad (Ed.): The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. Oxford University Press 1996, ISBN 978-0-19-283098-2 .
  6. ^ Salomon Reinach, terminology des monuments mégalithiques. Revue archéologique , Troisième Série 22, 1893, 47, JSTOR 41729742
  7. ^ Classic Encyclopaedia . Love To Know Corp. Inc. 2000.
  8. ↑ David McGuinness, Druids' altars, Carrowmore and the birth of Irish archeology. Journal of Irish Archeology 19, 2010, 30. Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/41478738
  9. ^ William Borlase: Antiquities Historical and Monumental of the County of Cornwall . Bowyer and Nichols, London 1769.
  10. ^ Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary 1913.
  11. ^ William Cotton: Stone Circles, Cromlehs and other remains of the aboriginal Britons in the West of Cornwall . Self-published London 1827, here after a quote from AJ Kempe, The Gentleman's Magazine and historical chronicle, January 1833, p. 11.
  12. ^ American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language . Middletown, Houghton Mifflin Company 2003.
  13. ↑ Random House Unabridged Dictionary . Random House Inc. 2006.
  14. ^ Aubrey Burl: A Guide to the Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany . Yale University Press, New Haven 2006, ISBN 0-300-11406-0 .
  15. ↑ Alexandre Bertrand: Sur les origines indo-européennes (suite) . In: Bulletins de la Société d'anthropologie de Paris , I ° Série, Volume 5/1, 1864, p. 374. ( digitized version )
  16. ↑ Gabriel de Mortillet: Sur les monuments de Sesto-Calende, près le lac Majeur. Bulletins de la Société d'anthropologie de Paris , I ° Série, Volume 6, 1865, 375. doi: 10.3406 / bmsap.1865.9493
  17. ↑ Gabriel de Mortillet: Cromlech In: Ad. Bertillon, Coudereau, A. Hovelacque, et al. (Ed.): Dictionnaire des sciences anthropologiques: anatomie, crâniologie, archeologie préhistorique, ethnographie (moeurs, arts, industrie), demographie, langues, religions . Paris, Marpon et Flammarion 1884-1895.
  18. ↑ Cazalis de Fondouce: Les Cromlechs de la Саn de Сеугас (Gard) . In: Bulletin de la Société préhistorique de France 1/2, 1904, 56-58 ( digitized version ). This article also gives an overview of the current state of research.