Old English: Early Germanic Britain

Place-names (toponyms)[1]

  • 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
        • Cornwallcornovii (a Celtic tribe) + wealas (Germanic “foreigner, servant, slave”)
        • CumberlandCymry (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
      • Beaulieubeau- (“beautiful”) + -lieu (“place”)
      • Beaumont - -mont (“hill”)
      • Enville - -ville (“village, farm, field”)

Links

References

  1. GRAMLEY STEPHAN. The history of English: an introduction. New York: Routledge, 2012, xxv, 414 p.