Caer

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the character in Irish mythology, see Caer Ibormeith.

For the place in France, see Caër.

In the Welsh language, caer means "fortress", "fort" or "citadel"/"castle". They were sometimes used as royal residences during the 1st millennium AD or earlier. A caer might therefore be home to a king, his family, and his retinue.

At the same time, a caer was a defended fortress. They were often hill forts, such as the hill fort at South Cadbury in Somerset (sometimes identified with Camelot), or coastal forts such as Tintagel in Cornwall.

As an aside, Caer is the Welsh name for the city of Chester, situated in northwest England. It also forms, as a prefix, the Welsh equivalent of -caster, -cester and -chester in place names. The English word derives from Latin castrum "fortified post", more common in the plural castra meaning "military camp" and is the equivalent of castell (castle) in Welsh. The word caer itself derives from the Brythonic word *kagro-, as does the word cae (modern Welsh for "field", i.e. an enclosed piece of land).^[1]