The Cornovii was the name used for two or three tribes in Roman Britain. One tribe was located in the area around modern-day Shropshire, another was in Caithness in northernmost Scotland, and there may have been another in Cornwall. The name appeared in old writings in different forms, such as Cornavii, Cornabii, and Curnavii.

Etymology

The origin of the tribal name is not clearly known. It is agreed that the word corn means "horn," but experts disagree on whether this refers to the shape of the land. Since Cornwall is located at the tip of a long, narrow peninsula, some scholars believe the name Cornovii comes from the idea of a "horn." For example, Victor Watts in the Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-names (2010) suggests the name may have originally been Cornowii, meaning "the people of the horn."

Malcolm Todd, in The South West to AD 1000 (1987), describes other possible explanations for the name. These include the idea that it refers to people who lived in forts on high points of land. Another theory, proposed by Ann Ross in 1967, suggests the tribal names might be related to a religious group that worshipped a "horned god." Todd notes this could be connected to the Gaulish god Cernunnos or a similar figure worshipped by the Brigantes tribe.

The shape of the land is probably not the reason for the tribe's name in Caithness, and it does not explain why the same term was used for a tribe in the Midlands. Graham Webster, in The Cornovii (1991), discusses Ann Ross's theory and points out that the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance, which comes from ancient pagan rituals, still exists today. Abbots Bromley is only 35 miles (55 km) from the central area of the Midlands tribe, Viroconium. Webster also mentions that Professor Charles Thomas provided strong evidence that some Scottish tribes had names based on animals or birds.

The Morris thesis

To explain why the Midlands and Cornwall tribes shared the same name, historian John Morris proposed a theory in his book The Age of Arthur (1973). He suggested that a group of the Cornovii from the West Midlands was sent to Dumnonia around the mid-fifth century. This group was meant to rule the area and protect it from invading Irish people. Morris noted that a similar situation had occurred in North Wales.

Modern scholars do not widely accept Morris’s theory. In his book Cornwall: A History, Philip Payton states that the Morris thesis is not widely supported by archaeologists or early historians. He concludes that the Cornovii living west of the Tamar River were an original group of people distinct from those in the Midlands and Caithness.