[43] These for some time inhabited Dacia, and, being famous in history, Alfred was willing at least to mention one of their residences. --Forst.
[44] The Delamensen, or Daleminzen of the middle age writers, sometimes called Dalmatians by mistake, or to shew their erudition, were situated near Lommatsch, or around Meissen or Misnia, on both sides of the Elbe.--Forst.
[45] These must have been a Scalvonian people or tribe, now unknown, and perhaps inhabited near Gorlitz, or near Quarlitz, not far from great Glogau--Forst.
[46] The Sorbi, Sirbi, and Serbii, of old writers, are the Sorbian Sclavons; and the modern Wends or Vandals of Lusatia, still call themselves Sserbs or Ssorbs.--Forst.
[47] These must have been another tribe of Sclavons about Seuselig, to the westward of the Sorbs of lower Lusatia.--Forst.
[48] Perhaps the duchy of Mazovia, called Magaw or Mazaw-land in ancient writers. Or perhaps it is wrong spelt for Wastaland or the Waste.--Forst.
[49] Sermende is the mutilated and disguised name of Sarmatia, which did not exist under that name in the time of Alfred, but which he inserted on the authority of his original author Orosius.--Forst.
[50] A mere corruption of the montes Riphaei or Riphean mountains of Orosius; and Alfred seems here to have got beyond his knowledge, copying merely from Orosius.--Forst.
§ 9. To the south-west of Dene or Denmark, formerly mentioned, is that arm of the ocean which surrounds Brittania, and to the north is that arm which is called the Ostsea[51] or East sea; to the east and north are the north Dene[52], or North Danes, both on the continent and on the islands. To the east are the Afdrede[53]. To the south is the mouth of the AElfe or Elbe, and some part of Old Seaxna[54] or Old Saxony. The North Dene have to the north that arm of the sea which is called the East sea, and to the east is the nation of the Osti[55], and the Afdrede, or Obotrites, to the south. The Osti have to the north of them that same arm of the sea, or the Baltic, and so have the Winedas and the Burgendas[56]. Still more to the south is Haefeldan[57]. The Burgendas have this same arm of the sea to the west, and the Sweon[58] to the north. To the east are the Sermende, to the south the Surfe[59]. The Sweons have to the south the arm of the sea called Ost, and to the north, over the wastes, is Cwenland[60], to the north-west are the Scride-finnas[61], and the North-men[62] are to the west[63].
[51] The Ost sea of Alfred comprehends what are now called the Scaggerrack, Catte-gatt, the Sound, the two Belts, and the Baltic, which our mariners still call the East Sea.--Forst.
[52] That is, both inhabiting North Jutland and the islands of Funen, Zeeland, Langland, Laland, and Falster.--Forst.
[53] Formerly called Apdrede, and explained to be the Obotrites.--E.
[54] Alluding, doubtless, to the country from whence the Saxons who inhabited England had come of old.--E.
[55] This is the same nation called Estum in the voyage of Wulfstan, who lived east of the mouth of the Wisle or Vistula, along the Baltic, and who are mentioned by Tacitus under the name of Estii. When the Hanseatic league existed, they were called Osterlings or Easterlings, or Ost-men, and their country Est-land, Ostland, or Eastland, which still adheres to the northernmost part of Livonia, now called Est-land.--Forst.
[56] The Burgendas certainly inhabited the island of Born-holm, called from them Borgenda-holm, or island of the Borgendas, gradually corrupted to Borgend-holm, Bergen-holm, Born-holm. In the voyage of Wulfstan they are plainly described as occupying this situation.--Forst.
[57] Called formerly AEfelden, a nation who lived on the Havel, and were, therefore, named Hevelli or Haeveldi, and were a Wendick or Vandal tribe.--Forst.
[58] These are the Sviones of Tacitus. Jornandes calls them Swethans, and they are certainly the ancestors of the Swedes.--Forst.
[59] This short passage in the original Anglo-Saxon is entirely omitted by Barrington. Though Forster has inserted these Surfe in his map, somewhere about the duchy of Magdeburg, he gives no explanation or illustration of them in his numerous and learned notes on our royal geographer.--E.
[60] Already explained to be Finland on the White sea.--E.
[61] This is the same nation with the Finnas or Laplanders, mentioned in the voyage of Ohthere, so named because using scriden, schreiten, or snowshoes. The Finnas or Laplanders were distinguished by the geographer of Ravenna into Scerde-fenos, and Rede-fenos, the Scride-finnas, and Ter-finnas of Alfred. So late as 1556, Richard Johnson, Hakluyt, ed. 1809. I. 316. mentions the Scrick-finnes as a wild people near Wardhus.--E.
[62] The North-men or Normans, are the Norwegians or inhabitants of Nor-land, Nord-land, or North-mana-land.--E.
[63] At this place Alfred introduces the voyages of Ohthere and Wulfstan, already given separately, in Sect. ii. and iii, of this chapter.--E.
§ 10. We shall now speak of Greca-land or Greece, which lies south of the Danube. The Proponditis, or sea called Propontis, is eastward of Constantinople; to the north of that city, an arm of the sea issues from the Euxine, and flows westwards; to the north-west the mouths of the Danube empty themselves into the south-east part of the Euxine[64]. To the south and west of these mouths are the Maesi, a Greek nation; to the west are the Traci or Thracians, and to the east the Macedonians. To the south, on the southern arm of the Egean sea, are Athens and Corinth, and to the south-west of Corinth is Achaia, near the Mediterranean. All these countries are inhabited by the Greeks. To the west of Achaia is Dalmatia, along the Mediterranean; and on the north side of that sea, to the north of Dalmatia, is Bulgaria and Istria. To the south of Istria is the Adriatic, to the west the Alps, and to the north, that desert which is between Carendan[65] and Bulgaria.
[64] Either the original or the translation is here erroneous; it ought to run thus: "The Propontis is westward of Constantinople; to the north-east of that city, the arm of the sea issues from the Euxine, and flows south-west; to the north the mouths of the Danube empty themselves into the north-west parts of the Euxine."--E.
[65] Carinthia. The desert has been formerly mentioned as occasioned by the almost utter extirpation of the Avari by Charlemain, and was afterwards occupied by the Madschiari or Magiars, the ancestors of the present Hungarians.--Forst.
§ 11. Italy is of a great length from the north-west to the south-east and is surrounded by the Mediterranean on every side, except the north-west. At that end of it are the Alps, which begin from the Mediterranean, in the Narbonese country, and end in Dalmatia, to the east of the Adriatic sea. Opposite to the Alps, on the north, is Gallia-belgica, near which is the river Rhine, which discharges itself into the Britanisca sea, and to the north, on the other side of this sea, is Brittannia[66]. The land to the west of Ligore, Liguria, is AEquitania; to the south of which is some part of Narbonense, to the south-west is Spain. To the south of Narbonense is the Mediterranean, where the Rhone empties itself into that sea, to the north of the Profent[67] sea. Opposite to the wastes is the nearer[68] part of Spain, to the northwest Aquitania, and the Wascan[69] to the north. The Profent[67] sea hath to the north the Alps, to the south the Mediterranean, to the north-east the Burgundians, and to the West the Wascans or Gascons.
[66] Very considerable freedoms have been taken with this sentence; as in Barrington's translation it is quite unintelligible.--E.
[67] Profent and Profent sea, from the Provincia Gallica, now Provence. --Forst.
[68] Probably in relation to Rome, the residence of Orosius.--E.
[69] Gascony, called Wascan in the Teutonic or Saxon orthography and pronunciation. Thus the Saxons changed Gauls to Wales, and the Gauls changed War-men into Guer-men, hence our modern English, Germans. --Forst.
§ 12. Spain is triangular, being surrounded by the sea on three sides. The boundary to the south-west is opposite to the island of Gades, Cadiz; that to the east is opposite to the Narbonense, and the third, to the north- west, is opposite to