Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
A "-wich town" is a settlement in Anglo-Saxon England characterised by extensive artisanal activity and trade – an "emporium". The name is derived from the Anglo-Saxon suffix -wīc, signifying "a dwelling [1] or fortified [2] place". Such settlements were usually coastal [citation needed] and many have left material traces found during ...
This article lists a number of common generic forms in place names in the British Isles, their meanings and some examples of their use. The study of place names is called toponymy ; for a more detailed examination of this subject in relation to British and Irish place names, refer to Toponymy in the United Kingdom and Ireland .
In general, the Old English and Norse place-names tend to be rather mundane in origin, the most common types being [personal name + settlement/farm/place] or [type of farm + farm/settlement]; most names ending in wich, ton, ham, by, thorpe, stoke/stock are of these types.
Sometimes, however, the place names were changed by new settlers to match pronunciation habits without reference to the original meaning. For example, the Old English name Scipeton ("sheep farm"), which would normally become *Shipton in modern English, instead was altered to Skipton, since Old English sc (pronounced 'sh') was usually cognate ...
Adjectives ending -ish can be used as collective demonyms (e.g. the English, the Cornish). So can those ending in -ch / -tch (e.g. the French, the Dutch) provided they are pronounced with a 'ch' sound (e.g., the adjective Czech does not qualify). Where an adjective is a link, the link is to the language or dialect of the same name.
Dorchester (originally Dornwaraceaster) is an Old English name probably derived from the Roman name Durnovaria, with the addition of the suffix 'ceaster' (denoting an old Roman town). Durnovaria is in turn derived from a lost Brythonic name meaning fist (possibly place with fist-sized pebbles). County Durham: DU Ancient Old English: Named after ...
Kingsburgh, Skye is a corruption of Cinnseaborgh, which is in turn a corruption of a Norse name. In many places "Kin(g)" is a suffix meaning "head", an anglicisation of Ceann: Kinghorn and Kingussie, for example, are nothing to do with royal patronage.
Here is what Ekwall The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names says about Hartlepool: Hartlepool (-lǐ-) Du [historic spellings omitted] means 'the pool by Hart', the reference being perhaps to the bay south of the peninsula. The original name was very likely Heruteu, this name