Old English: Early Germanic Britain

Place-names (toponyms)

• the first speakers of an Indo-European language - the Celts - settled in Britain around 2000 BCE, though more likely around 1000 BCE
• Celtic contributed little to English, its influence is most manifest in place-names
• two main sources of linguistic origins of place names (toponyms):
  • prominent features of the landscape (a river, a hill, a flat-plain)
  • name of the inhabitants of the area (whose place it is)
  • →information about the language used in the area can be deduced from place-names
• two kinds of toponyms:
  • Source in one single language
    • Purely Celtic names
      • Bernica, Devon = tribal names
      • Kent – “border”
      • Kingdom of Deira < Celtic Deifr – “water”
      • Rivers: Avon – “river”, Esk and Exe < isca – “water”, Ouse – “stream, Thames – “dark river” < tamesis – “darkness”
  • hybrid forms
    • Celtic-Latin combinations
      • Lincoln – combines Celtic lindon (“pool”) with Latin colonia (“colony, settlement”)
      • Lancaster – combines the Celtic names for the River Lune (“pure” / “healthy”) with –caster (~ - caster, -chester) derived from Latin castrum (“camp”, “settlement”)
    • Celtic-Germanic combinations
      • Cornwall – cornovii (a Celtic tribe) + wealas (Germanic “foreigner, servant, slave”)
      • Cumberland – Cymry (Celtic “Welsh”) + land (Germanic “land”)
• reflect the distribution of the tribes – tell us who lived where and occupied the land long enough to impose their own place-names
  • Celtic toponyms appear all around England, but more prominent toward the West and North – areas which remained Celtic-speaking longer
  • West Germanic place – names found esp. in the South and Southeast
    • -ham – “homestead” (Birmingham)
    • -bury, -borough – “castle” (Marlborough, Salisbury)
    • -ing(s) – “the people/family of” (Hastings, Worthing)
    • -ton – “enclosure, village” (Northampton)
    • -field (Sheffield)
  • North Germanic (Scandinavian) – found esp. in the North and Northeast
    • -by – “farm”/”town” (Barmby)
    • -holm – “flat riverside, land, or island” (Downholme)
    • -thorp(e) – “village” (Nunthorpe)
    • -thwaite – “isolated parcel of land” (Langthwaite)
    • -toft – “homestead” (Langtoft)
• influence of the Roman settlement
  • Latin borrowings:
    • portus – “harbour” (Portsmouth)
    • strata – “street, road” (Stratford)
    • vicus – “farm”/”village” (Keswick)
• influence of the Norman Conquest
  • French
    • Beaulieu – beau- (“beautiful”) + -lieu (“place”)
    • Beaumont - -mont (“hill”)
    • Enville - -ville (“village, farm, field”)