Gloucester is the modern English place name for the British city known in Latin as Glēvum from a British word meaning ‘Glowing-bright place’. In Old Welsh it was known as Caerloyw, also interpreted as meaning ‘Castle Glowing-bright’. Its earliest English form is Glowancestre, originating from Glēv- (pronounced ‘glaiw-’) plus ceastre ‘castle’. The Latin form is sometimes given as Claudiocestria which is historically from medieval guesswork.