Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Ætaustin 691–2 BCS 17th

• æt Austan, to Austan 794,929(11th) BCS269,665

• Augusta c.1105 France

• Augst 1375 Orig

• Aust(e) 1208–13 Fees 1248 Ass 1274 RH 1276 FF 1289 Cl 1289 Episc 1636 PR

• Awst(e) 1501 Ipm 1579 FF 1631 Asht

• Haust(e) Hy3 BM 1285 FA

Etymology

The OE  form of Aust was Austa (masc.nom.) or more probably Auste (fem.nom.). On phonological grounds Auste cannot be of Germanic origin, for OE  had no diphthong au . Aust, as well as The Oak in Down Ampney (i, 51supra ), has been identified with Bede's Augustinaes Ác (Bede ii, 2, Agustinus aac in OEBede), where with the help of King Ethelbert of Kent St Augustine in 602–3 met the bishops of the nearest province of the Britons and which, according to Bede, 'lies on the borders of the Hwicce and the West Saxons' (cf. Plummer, Bede 11, 73–4, C. S. Taylor, BG xxiv, 159 ff). If the 'nearest province of Britons' was South Wales, as is usually assumed (cf. Plummer, l.e.), the Severn crossing at Aust would favour the identi- fication, and it is possible that the place would be vaguely on the borders of the Hwicce and the West Saxons (cf. Introd.). It is doubtful, however, whether the intelligible compound Augustinaes Ác would have been reduced to Auste by the 11th century; Augustinaes Ác survived and was retained as Agustinus aac in the OEBede. Yet the 12th-century Latin form Augusta , the 1274 form Austines - for Aust Pill (infra ), and possibly Augst , may preserve some scribal tradition of an original Latin or Latinised name Augusta , which is not easily accounted for. Probably, with the Trajectus of AntIt in mind, Haddan and Stubbs (Councils and Ecclesiastical Documents iii, 40, 41) suggested that Aust could be derived from the hypothetical Lat  Traiectus Augusti 'the passage of Augustus', but in Iter XIV between Caerleon on Usk and Silchester in the Antonine Itinerary (AntIt) the actual Trajectus mentioned would seem to be between Abone (a station near the Avon mouth north of Sea Mills in Henbury) and Aquis Solis (Bath) and the distances between these two points would make Trajectus a crossing of the Boyd near Bitton; it cannot be referred to the passage at Aust. There was, however, an ancient crossing of the Severn from Aust Passage (infra ) to the Wye mouth leading to Caerwent and Caerleon on Usk, and the 14 miles given in AntIt as the distance from Venta Silurum (Caerwent) to Abone (the Avon mouth station) could be explained if it were reckoned by way of Aust (the direct route from Caerwent to Avonmouth is 8 miles); cf. also BG iii, 83–9. The Roman Second Legion, the Legio Augusta, which probably had been stationed in Gloucester, was moved across the Severn in 75 a.d. to the newly established fortress at Caerleon on Usk, which became its permanent headquarters (cf. Collingwood and Myres, Roman Britain 94–5, 111). It is not improbable that the important passage of the Severn at Aust was called Traiectus Augustus after the Legio Augusta, but evidence for this as for the name itself is wanting, other than in the fact that at Aust Roman remains have been found which suggest a permanent settlement there; the main purpose of this could only be the control of the river-passage. Some such set of circumstances seem to offer the likeliest explanation of the form and meaning of the name Aust, conjectural though it is.