|
PLACE NAMES: (450 - 800 AD)
ANGLO-SAXON
COUNTY PLACE NAMES
- ANGLES = East Anglia (Norfolk and Suffolk)
- SAXONS = Essex, Wessex, Sussex, Middlesex, Mercia, Yorkshire,
Northumbria
- WALES = foreigner / slaves / serfs
- SASSANACHS - The current Scottish name for the English
is based upon the Pictish word for the 'Saxons'
ANGLO-SAXON PLACE NAME ENDINGS (preference for suffix place
names)
-ING = Anglo-Saxon (Teutonic) = people / kin / folk:
- Reading, Berks where River Kennet joins the Thames so it is at a strategic point =
Reada's kin; people. / Hastings, Sussex = Hasta's people - protected by high cliffs
/ Barking = Beric's kin / Woking / Dorking / Ealing / Barming / Worthing / Spalding
/ Yalding etc.
-ING totals:
Sussex = 45 Ing-places /
Essex = 24 /
Norfolk = 19 /
Kent (Jutes) = 15 /
Suffolk = 11 /
Surrey = 8 /
Berkshire = 4
Most of these places are also near the sea or rivers.
EMBEDDED '-ING's - I would also urge you to watch out for
place names containing what I call 'embedded -ings'.
For example, BirmINGham
/ PocklINGton / WarrINGton / DarlINGton.
-TON = farmstead = 200+ in Devon (Crediton on River Creedy):
- Alton / Boston / Burton / Buxton / Dalton / Luton / Skipton
/ Taunton / Bridlington / Uffington = Saxon White Horse figure - Saxon symbol
-HAM = homestead / hamlet (fertile soil):
- Evesham / Newham / Swaffham / Dagenham / Tottenham / Nottingham was originally spelt with an 'S'
- think about that! / Birmingham = Beorma's kin / Northampton = Northerly Hamlet Farmstead
-HAMM also means 'enclosure within the bend of a river' = Southampton, or
Buckingham.
- WORTH = enclosure: Stanworth = stony enclosure or on stony ground.
-WICK / -WICH denotes the produce of a farm
- Hardwick = herds /Greenwich = pasture / Woolwich = sheep
/ Butterwick = diary / Chiswick = cheese / Norwich = ? / Ipswich ?
(Be careful not to confuse with WYK (creek) from Old Norse)
LANDSCAPE Language in the landscape.
- Clifton / Hilton / Seaton / Woodham / Trenton, Staffs
/ Norton (northton) Sutton (southton) shortened forms (an example of abridgement in the
English language - even in those early days)
-HURST = knoll, copse: Hollyhurst
-FORD = shallow river crossing (bridges were a rare luxury):
- Stamford, Lincs. / Bradford / Castleford / Catford
(cattle crossing) / Oxford / Dartford / Deptford
-DEN / -DENE = place in the woods for feeding pigs/swine:
Wald/Weald/Wold = high forest, wood
Return to ENGLISH Place Names Page^ |