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)
• two kinds of toponyms:
  • source in one single language
    • Purely Celtic names
      • Bernicia, 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”)

Christianization in Britain. 

• happened between the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons and the invasion of the Vikings (late 6th century)
• arrived in 597 with St. Augustine of Canterbury (a missionary sent by Pope Gregory I) who converted the King of Kent (Æðelbirht), the most powerful king south of the Humber River
• close relationship between Church and State rivalry between the Celtic and the Roman churches
• dispute settled at the Synod of Whitby (664)
• all England is nominally Christian by 700
• cultural upswing, use of Latin in the services, flowering of ecclesiastical learning, stimulation of vernacular literature and art
• emergence of church music, modernized agriculture, development of literacy
• monasteries produce manuscripts for liturgical and educational use
• successful cultivation and preservation of Latin literature
• Nordic-Germanic runes still present (Ruthwell Cross)
• earlier pagan practices remained e.g. weekdays named for Nordic gods, Easter named for dawn-goddess
• Latin returned with the introduction of Christianity and exerted considerable influence on English: loanwords of religious and scientific nature.