During research for a piece on the Torcs of the Iceni, and having an avid interest in words, I deemed it essential to pronounce the word “Iceni” correctly. As is often the case, what I assume to be a rather straight forward process, leads me on a magnificent journey, as I jump down numerous rabbit holes of intrigue. This particular rabbit hole I thought was worthy of sharing, so how do you pronounce the mighty tribal name “Iceni”?
Not one for simply accepting another’s view point, without my own research, I started this process by trying to understand the word itself. Luckily for me the Iceni were one of the few tribes in Britain to mint coins before the Roman invasion. Not only that, but they also inscribed their Tribal name upon some of them. This gives us evidence of exactly how they spelled their own name, a rare thing in the Iron Age North.
The coins are said to be inscribed with the words “ECE” and “ECEN”, although some appear to also state “CEN”. Given that all the coins inscribed in such a way are almost identical in imagery (see blow) This could just be down to inaccurate striking, or because several dies were made each slightly different, thus giving us slightly different inscriptions. Looking at the coins, you can easily see that if just stuck a little off in either direction “ECEN” could become either “CEN” or “ECE” especially if there were several varying dies. It should also be mentioned because of the limited space on a coin nearly all inscriptions are shortened, so this could also account for the differences, especially if the coin making process was entrusted to different people, all with their own preferred method of shortening.
Some have suggested that the “ECE” inscription could be a shortened version of a leaders title and not the Tribal name. This of course is possible as, as I have stated Tribal names are almost unknown as inscriptions on Celtic coins. This does not pose to much of a problem though, as Celtic leaders titles were often prefixed with tribal names and the similarity between “ECE” and “ECEN” are so close it is highly likely in this case.
Even though these inscriptions give us something solid to work from in finding out how to pronounce the glorious Iceni name, they do not tell us what their name means. Without knowing what the name means, we still cannot accurately pronounce it. Words can often be spelled identically, but depending on their meaning can be spoken rather differently, so what does Iceni mean?
Several early historians gave this question some thought, like Robert Henry, who in his book “The History of Great Britain on a new plan (1771)” states,
“Others imagine that both these British tribes derived their names from the different kinds of animals in which their chief riches consisted, and the tending of which was their chief employment; The Iceni from Ychen, oxen”
So here Robert Henry links the Welsh word Ychen to Icen(i). Ychen meaning oxen is the plural of Ych (Ox). Whilst this is interesting, and is plausible especially with the status of cattle in Iron age times, I do wonder, as an Oxen is invariably a castrated working beast if anyone would want to conflate their identity with such a beast of burden.
An earlier historian Sir Thomas Browne also had a stab at the origin of the name “Iceni” in his work “Hydriotaphia (1658)”. Where he states,
“Now if the Iceni were but Gammadims, Anconians, or men that lived in an Angle wedge or Elbow of Britain, according to the Original Etymology, this country will challenge the Emphatic appellation, as most properly making the Elbow or Iken of Icenia.”
Here it appears Sir Browne is stating that the word Iceni or Iken is related to some older word for “Elbow” or “Angle”. This is also given as a possibility in William Camden’s work “Britannia (1577)”, where he states,
“What should be the reason of this name (so love me Truth) I dare not guess, unlesse one would fetch it from the Wedge-like forme of the country, and say it lieth Wedgwise upon the Sea. For the Britans in their language call a Wedge Iken, and for the same cause a place in Wales, by the Lake or Meere Lhintegid, is of that forme named Lhan-yken, as Welsh-Britans enformed me: and in the very same sense a little country in Spaine (as Strabo writeth) is cleped Sphen, that is, The Wedge, and yet the same seemeth not to resemble a wedge so neere, as this of ours doth.”
This an interesting idea and appears to come from a topographic understanding of their name. That is that the area in which they occupied is “wedge” or “elbow” shaped (see below). Their territory takes on a curved wedge shape, that could be seen as the but of an elbow. This is also interesting given its modern name “East Anglia” and the fact that this is within the vicinity of where the “Angles” who gave England their name are said to of made first landfall when they migrated to Britain. An elbow is of course an arm turned at an angle, and something elbow shaped is generally something at an angle. The words are also commonly associated, take for example the old Irish Uilien, which can mean both “angle or “elbow” respectively. So if it were true, that the word Iceni could indeed be linked to a word meaning “elbow, wedge or angle” then it would mean that the Germanic “angles” landed in area once occupied by Celtic” namesakes only a few hundred years previous. Which would pose some very interesting questions in terms of relationship, between these two ancient tribes. Of course if it were just topographical, then the connection would merely be in terrain. Considering that tribes in the Iron age especially are known to of been moving around, it would not be totally unreasonable to look for some ancient link in ancestry.
The biggest problem with this hypothesis is in identifying the ancient British word for “elbow, wedge or angle” that could be linked to the word “Iceni”. After spending a couple of evenings on this question, I have to say it is not as easy as it first appears. William Camden points to a welsh word Yken, which he states means “wedge”, although tracing this word has proved out of my reach. I cannot find it in modern Welsh place names even though I tried various possible spellings.
The best I could come up with actually pointed to a name that would mean “protruding horn” which would make sense topographically (see map above) but make any link to a word for “wedge” or “elbow” tenuous at best. This would be constructed with the proto Celtic “exs” and old welsh “ech, ek” meaning “out” and the proto Celtic “Karnos”, meaning horn, where we get such words as “cairn” ect. This would give a word sounding like Ek-kern. Although as stated this makes the link between angle a bit of a stretch, in my research I found so many interesting little connections, that I believe there could be something in this, but for lack of a refined idea, I am forced to leave at this for now at least.
This is not the only footnote in Sir Thomas Browne’s work that speaks of the Iceni. A rather odd note in the Wilkins publication points to another possibility, although the origin of this footnote I cannot seem to trace, so who wrote it I cannot say.
“But, unfortunately, iken does not signify an elbow: and it appears that the Iceni derived their name from the river Ouse, on whose banks they resided, — anciently called Iken, Yken, or Ycin. Whence also, Ikenild-street, Ikenthorpe, Ikenworth.”
This footnote regardless of its origin, seems to suggest that the river Ouse was once called the “Iken” and thus the tribe took their name from it. At first glance this is a very viable option as many ancient tribes took their names from waterways. This again though gives more questions than it answers. Firstly it doesnt actually give us the meaning of the word, just that it was used as the name of a River. Secondly I can find no record anywhere else of the River ever being named the Iken, so we have to assume that at best this is local knowledge. The word Ouse is used for several waterways in Britain, although the etymology is unclear, so the next question is why was it renamed? When the Anglo-Saxons first arrived in England they did rename many things, but if the River Ouse was so well known that is gave its name to the mighty Iceni, then this would make little sense. There are many places in east Anglia that still carry the prefix Iken, or some variation of it, and if did give its name to the Iceni then this landmark would be etched in local knowledge and thus unlikely to be so easily renamed. Either way, it leads us to a dead end in finding out the origin of the word Iceni.
There is though another option and one that I think has good merit, that is that the name centres around an ancient word for “source” or “original”. The Welsh word “echen” meaning “to give origin too” is one of the last remnants of this ancient meaning, and is very similar to the word “ecen” as stamped on their coins. This word is related to many proto Celtic and Old English words, such as (PC)Kenetlo- family (PC)Kentu- first (PC)Adkeni-lineage (PC)Keno- rise (OE) Cennen- to give birth-beget. You will note most of these words start with the “K” sound, so may be wondering how they could relate to the “Eceni”. The afore mentioned, William Camden was one of the first to notice that Caeser’s Cenimagni, are most likely connected to the Iceni. Later works make no mention of the “Cenimagni” only the Iceni, so considering “magni” is just great, or greater, many have taken the perspective that Ceni-magni, simply means Great or greater Iceni. If this is the case, which is highly likely, then this gives us an alternative spelling of the Iceni, that would line up perfectly with the “k” sound at the start of so many words relating to “original” or “source”. The more modern Welsh word too giving us evidence of the extension with an “e” sound.
This all points to the word essentially meaning something along the lines of “original”, “Tribe”, or “the first”. Taking a broader view of the meanings behind this ancient word, The Iceni would come to mean something akin to “Descended from the first” so here they would be staking claim to the area via original ancestry. This has the added bonus by the fact that the tribe on their southern border are the Trinovantes. Many people seem to agree that the etymology of their name simply means “very new”. This would give us the “very new” tribe, right next to the “first tribe”. This contrast and the fact that many of the names we have for ancient tribes come from what others called them not themselves, would make sense.
There are a few other options that could be explored, like Kern for “men, soldier, or commoner” but this I believe is probably connected to the Proto Celtic “Ken” words above. There is also the interesting word “eichen” which is a Germanic word meaning “Oaken”, but we dont have parallels to this word in Britain till after the Anglo-Saxons arrive, making it unlikely.
Oh and before I end this piece guess I should say how I decided to pronounce it, well given the wording, the initial sylabel would I believe be “E”, second syllable “ken”, as for the last, well most likely how it looks “I”. So you would have E-Ken-I, or Simply Ee-Ken, or even “ken”