View source for Dun (fortification)

{{short description|Type of ancient or medieval fort in Britain and Ireland}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
[[Image:Loch Steinacleit.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Ruined dun in [[Loch Steinacleit]] on [[Isle of Lewis|Lewis]]]]
[[File:Dún Aonghusa 19 Aibreán 2009.JPG|thumb|Walls of [[Dún Aonghasa]], a dun on [[Inishmore]], Ireland]]
[[File:Castle of Dunamase im Abendlicht 02.jpg|thumb|[[Dunamase]], central Ireland (from Irish ''Dún Másc'', "Másc's fort")]]

A '''dun''' is an ancient or medieval fort. In Great Britain and Ireland it is mainly a kind of [[hillfort]] and also a kind of [[Atlantic roundhouse]].

== Etymology ==
The term comes from [[Irish language|Irish]] ''dún'' or [[Scottish Gaelic]] ''dùn'' (meaning "fort"), and is [[cognate]] with [[Old Welsh]] ''din'' (whence [[Welsh language|Welsh]] ''dinas'' "city" comes).

In certain instances, place-names containing ''Dun-'' or similar in [[Northern England]] and Southern [[Scotland]], may be derived from a [[Common Brittonic|Brittonic]] cognate of the Welsh form ''din''.<ref name="BLITON">{{cite web |last1=James |first1=Alan |title=The Brittonic Language in the Old North |url=https://spns.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Alan_James_Brittonic_Language_in_the_Old_North_BLITON_Volume_II_Dictionary_2020_Edition.pdf |website=Scottish Place Name Society |access-date=28 March 2021}}</ref> In this region, substitution of the Brittonic form by the Gaelic equivalent may have been widespread in toponyms.<ref name="BLITON" />

The Dacian [[Dava (Dacian)|dava]] (hill fort) is probably etymologically cognate.{{cn|date=June 2022}}

== Details ==
In some areas duns were built on any suitable [[cliff|crag]] or hillock, particularly south of the [[Firth of Clyde]] and the [[Firth of Forth]]. There are many duns on the west coast of [[Ireland]] and they feature in [[Irish mythology]]. For example, the tale of the ''[[Táin Bó Flidhais]]'' features [[Kilcommon|Dún Chiortáin]] and [[Cill Ghallagáin|Dún Chaocháin]].

Duns seem to have arrived with the [[Celts]] in about the 7th century BC. Early duns had near vertical ramparts made of stone and timber. There were two walls, an inner wall and the outside one. [[Vitrified fort]]s are the remains of duns that have been set on fire and where stones have been partly melted. Use of duns continued in some parts into the [[Middle Ages]].

Duns are similar to [[broch]]s, but are smaller and probably would not have been capable of supporting a very tall structure. Good examples of this kind of dun can be found in the [[Outer Hebrides]] of [[Scotland]], on artificial islands in small lakes.

== Toponymy ==
The word ''dun'' is, along with like-sounding cognate forms, an element frequently found in Celtic toponymy; especially that of Ireland and Scotland. It can include fortifications of all sizes and kinds:

=== Ireland ===
* [[Donegal (town)|Donegal]]
* [[Doneraile]]
* [[County Down|Down]]
* [[Dún Laoghaire]]
* [[Kingscourt|Dún an Ri (Kingscourt), County Cavan]]
* [[Dundalk]]
* [[Dundonald, County Down|Dundonald]]
* [[Dundrum, County Down]]
* [[Dundrum, Dublin]]
* [[Dungannon]]
* [[Dungarvan]]
* [[Dunluce Castle]]
* [[Dunmurry]]
* [[Portadown]]

=== Scotland ===
Many settlement and geographical names in Scotland are named with Gaelic ''dun'' ("fort"), as well as cognates in Brittonic languages such as [[Cumbric]] and [[Pictish]].<ref name="BLITON" />

* [[Drumpellier Country Park|Drumpellier]], [[Lanarkshire]]<ref name="BLITON" />
* [[Dumbarton]], [[Dunbartonshire]]
* [[Dumfries]], [[Dumfriesshire]] – possibly Brittonic ''din-pres'' ("thicket fort").<ref name="BLITON" />
* [[Dundee]], [[Angus, Scotland|Angus]]
* [[Dunearn]], [[Nairnshire]] 
* Dunearn, [[Fife]] – possibly dùn-Èirinn ("fort of Ireland").<ref name="PNF" />
* [[Dunfermline]], Fife<ref name="PNF" />
* [[Windygates|Duniface]], Fife – possibly Pictish equivalent of Welsh ''din-y-faes'' ("fort of the field").<ref name="PNF">{{cite book |last1=Simon |first1=Taylor |last2=Markus |first2=Gilbert |title=The Place-names of Fife |date=2006 |publisher=Shaun Tyas |isbn=9781900289771 |edition=Illustrated}}</ref>
* [[Dunimarle Castle|Dunimarle]], Fife<ref name="PNF" />
* [[Dunino]], Fife<ref name="PNF" />
* [[Dunipace]], [[Stirlingshire]] - Brittonic equivalent of Welsh ''din-y-bas'' ("fort of the shallow").<ref name="BLITON" />
* [[Dunlop, East Ayrshire|Dunlop]], [[Ayrshire]]<ref name="PNF" />
* [[Dunnottar Castle]]
* Dunoon, Argyll and Bute
* [[Duns, Scottish Borders|Duns]], [[Berwickshire]]
* [[Duntarvie Castle|Duntarvie]], [[West Lothian]]<ref name="BLITON" />
* [[Tantallon Castle|Tantallon]], [[East Lothian]]<ref name="BLITON" />
* [[Edinburgh]], - Name in [[Scottish Gaelic]] is ''Dun Eideann''.

=== England ===
Some place-names in England are derived from Brittonic cognates of Welsh ''din'' (cf. Cornish ''dyn'', Cumbric ''*din''), and fewer perhaps from the Gaelic form.<ref name="BLITON" /> 

* [[Bamburgh|Din Guoaroy]], [[Northumberland]] – obsolete name for [[Bamburgh]]. Equivalent to Welsh ''din-gwarae'' ("fort of the play").<ref name="BLITON" />
* [[Dinckley]], [[Lancashire]] - equivalent to Welsh ''din'' ("fort") + ''coed'' ("wood") (+ English, ''-ley'').<ref name="BLITON" />
* [[Dinder]], Somerset - formerly ''Dinre'', compare Welsh ''dinbre'' ("hill with a fort").<ref name="Mills">{{cite book|title=A Dictionary of British Place Names|first1= A.D.|last1= Mills|publisher=Oxford University Press| location=Oxford| orig-year= first published 1991|date=2011|edition=First edition revised 2011|isbn=9780199609086|page=153 }}</ref>
* [[Dinedor]], Herefordshire - formerly ''Dunre'', Welsh ''dinbre''; compare Dinder above.<ref name="Mills" />
* [[Dunmallard Hill]], [[Cumberland]]<ref name="BLITON" />
* [[Durham, England|Durham]] - ''Dunelm''
* Glendinning Rigg, Cumberland<ref name="BLITON" />
* [[Londesborough]], Yorkshire – ''Lugudunum'', ''*lọ:co-'' + ''duno'' ("shining fort").<ref name="BLITON" />
* Temon, Cumberland - possibly equivalent to Welsh ''din'' ("fort") + ''maen'' ("rock").<ref name="bliton23">{{cite web |last1=James |first1=Alan |title=The Brittonic Language in the Old North  (2023) |url=https://spns.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Alan_James_Brittonic_Language_in_the_Old_North_BLITON_Volume_II_Dictionary_2023_edition.pdf |access-date=11 November 2023}}</ref>
* [[Tintagel]], [[Cornwall]]<ref name="BLITON" />

Roman-era toponyms ending in ''-dunum'' may represent an ancient Brittonic ''*duno''.<ref name="BLITON" />
* [[Cambodunum (Britain)|Cambodunum]], [[Yorkshire]]<ref name="BLITON" />
* [[Rigodunum]], Lancashire<ref name="BLITON" />
* [[Segedunum]], Northumberland<ref name="BLITON" /> 
* [[Uxelodunum]], Cumberland – cf. Welsh ''ucheldin'' ("high fort").<ref name="BLITON" />

[[London]] has been [[Etymology of London|etymologised]] as Brittonic ''*lin-'' + ''dun-'' ("lake fort").<ref name=coates>{{cite journal|last=Coates|first=Richard|year=1998|title=A new explanation of the name of London|journal=Transactions of the Philological Society|volume=96|issue=2|pages=203–229|doi=10.1111/1467-968X.00027}}</ref> Coates has rejected such an etymology as "incompatible with early forms".<ref name=coates />

=== Wales ===
* [[Carmarthen]], [[Carmarthenshire]] – ''Moridunum'' ("sea fort").
* [[Denbigh]], [[Denbighshire]] – from ''dinbych'' ("small fort")<ref name="Billing">{{cite book |last1=Billing |first1=Joanna |title=The Hidden Places of Wales |date=2003 |publisher=Travel Publishing Ltd |isbn=9781904434078 |page=14 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o8NCt_7hltwC |access-date=29 March 2021}}</ref>
* [[Tintern]], [[Monmouthshire]]<ref name="BLITON" />

=== Brittany ===
* [[Dinard]] – from ''din + ard, arz'' ("elevated hill or fort")
* [[Dinan]] – the second element is uncertain
* [[Dinéault]] – from ''din + heol'' ("fort of the sun")

=== Italy ===
* [[Belluno, Veneto]]
* [[Duno, Lombardy|Duno]]
* [[Induno Olona]]
* [[Verduno]]

=== France and Switzerland ===

The [[Proto-Celtic language|Proto-Celtic form]] is ''*Dūno-'',<ref>Xavier Delamarre, Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise, {{ISBN|2-87772-237-6}}</ref> yielding Greek δοῦνον. It is ultimately cognate to English ''[[town]]''.<ref>Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, {{ISBN|0-19-861112-9}}</ref> The Gaulish term survives in many toponyms in France and Switzerland:
* [[Autun]] - ''Augustodūnon'' fort of [[Augustus]]
* [[Lyon]] – ''Lugudūnon'' "[[Lugus]]' fort"
* [[Nevers]] – ''Nouiodūnon'' "new fort"
* [[Olten]] – ''Ol(l)odūnonm'' "fort on the Olon river"
* [[Thun]] – ''Dūnon'' 
* [[Verdun]] – ''Uerodūnon'' "strong fort"
* [[Yverdon-les-Bains]] – ''Eburodūnon'' "[[yew]] fort"

=== Germany ===
* [[Kempten]], [[Bavaria]] – ''Cambodunum''<ref name="ACPN">{{cite book |last1=Simms-Williams |first1=Patrick |title=Ancient Celtic Placenames in Europe and Asia Minor, Number 39 |date=24 July 2006 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=9781405145701 |edition=Illustrated }}</ref>

=== Bulgaria and Serbia ===
* [[Dunonia]]
* [[Singidunum]]

=== Romania ===
* [[Isaccea|Noviodunum]] - Ancient Latin name of the town Isaccea in [[Dobruja]], [[Romania]]<ref name="celts">D.M. Pippidi et al., (1976) ''Dicționar de istorie veche a României'', Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică ({{OCLC|251847977}}), p 149; entry: ''Celți''</ref><ref>Dáithí Ó hÓgáin, ''The Celts: A History'', [[Boydell & Brewer|Boydell Press]], 2002, {{ISBN|0-85115-923-0}}, p. 153</ref>

=== Elsewhere in the world ===
* [[Dunedin]], New Zealand – from ''Dùn Èideann'', the Gaelic name for Edinburgh.<ref>[http://www.scotsman.com/heritage/people-places/dunedin-edinburgh-of-the-south-1-2240765 Dunedin: Edinburgh of the south] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170816233112/http://www.scotsman.com/heritage/people-places/dunedin-edinburgh-of-the-south-1-2240765 |date=16 August 2017 }}, ''[[The Scotsman]]'', 18 April 2012</ref>
* [[Dunedin, Florida]], USA – see Dunedin, New Zealand.

== See also ==
*[[Prehistoric Scotland]]
*[[Dun cow]]

== References ==
<references/>
* Scotland Before History - Stuart Piggott, Edinburgh University Press 1982, {{ISBN|0-85224-348-0}}
* Scotland's Hidden History - Ian Armit, Tempus (in association with Historic Scotland) 1998, {{ISBN|0-7486-6067-4}}

{{Fortifications}}

[[Category:Fortifications in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Geography of Scotland]]
[[Category:Place name element etymologies]]
[[Category:Archaeology of Scotland]]
[[Category:Toponymy]]
[[Category:Fortifications by type]]
[[Category:Fortifications in Ireland]]