Thanks, Mette

Tony

"Mette" wrote in message
...
TC wrote in message
...
On Mon, 15 Dec 2003 13:00:42 -0600, "A.E. Gelat"
wrote:

Blair, from your list, it appears that Baile means spa in Romania, but
what
does Baile mean in Gaelic? Is it the same word, or just a coincidence?

Tony

In gaelic I believe it means 'village' or maybe 'community'.
Maybe Victor can advise on the Romanian meaning.

However, the term could also have an ancient context
of 'village' in Romanian (IMHO).

The ancients, including the Romans, were always keen
to establish settlements on the sites of hot springs
or mineral springs. (refer to Bath in England).

I await thw wise words of Mr Manta, in this regard.

Blair and Tony,
I have enquired around to find out more, and here
are extracts of 2 emails I have received over the
last couple of days from a GB-friend with connections
to Ireland:

1) my Irish friend tells me Baile is the Irish for Town -
Gaelic is not a language he informs me. He's not sure
of the literal translation of Atha Cliath, but the three words
together do mean The City of Dublin.

2) more information - the Atha is crossing and the Cliath
is river - so its Town at the ford on the river - this name
appeared in the middle ages. Dubhlinn - is a literal black
pool - the deep water that allowed the Vikings to bring
their ships in from the coast - you Danes got everywhere
luckily.

My comment:
If 'baile' is Irish for town, then the Romanian Baile
Herculanum could be "Town of Herculanum". This
makes sense. The fact that the Romanian 'baile'
seems to refer to spa's may simply refer to that a
settlement (baile) was established on the sites of
hot springs or mineral springs, as mentioned by Blair.
In this context both Bath and Blackpool come to
mind, see above.

I don't think we can get any further into this now,
but I will try pursuing the matter. Thanks for your
contributions :-)

Mette