Lisia is correct name for island
IN HIS letter published on 20 July, the Rev. Craske is, of course, quite correct in quoting from de la Borderie’s 19th century work on the Life of St Sampson, which shows the spelling of Guernsey’s Latin name as ‘Lesia’. However, the Roman Itinerarium Antoninum, which dates from the 2nd to 3rd centuries AD, shows the name of Guernsey as ‘Lisia’. Whilst the original document is no longer extant, the generally accepted authority on this document is Wesseling’s 1735 work. Perhaps we just have to put this slight conflict in spelling (‘Lisia’/'Lesia’) down to a transcription misunderstanding somewhere along the line.
Modern scholarship concludes that writers in the Middle Ages, with their limited access to information, were wrong in their attribution of ‘Sarnia’, itself a corruption of the name ‘Sarmia’ appearing on the 1406 map from Mont St Michel.
As for having to explain ‘Lisia’ to people from outside of the island, I seem to have spent a great deal of time over the years explaining just where Guernsey is located so I don’t think explaining the name is really a great deal.
I am just heartily relieved that children are now being taught the correct Latin name for Guernsey. All we need to do now is persuade journalists to use the correct name – particularly in their sports reporting because ‘Sarnia’, whilst Latin, is not another name for Guernsey.
Incidentally, this information is taken from Eleanore Browning’s (nee Ward) classics dissertation: Cum Asterice in Insulis Obeliscorum – A Study of the Channel Islands in Antiquity, a copy of which is available in the Priaulx Library (only the title is in Latin!).
DIANE WARD
Les Cahouans,
Le Clos des Quatre Saisons,
Torteval.