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The local understanding of the origin of the "Latin" name of Durham is based on the following facts:
1. The Bishop of Durham signs his name as "Dunelm", much as the Archbishop of York signs as "Ebor" - derived from the latin name for York, Eboracum.
The name "Dunelm" is derived from the following elements:
2 Dun. This is a relatively modern English word meaning "brown". It is also an Anglo-Saxon word meaning "castle" of "fortified place", as in "Dunedin" (Edwin's fort), the Northumbrian name for Edinburgh (meaning Edwin's fortified town).
3 Holm. This is still used occasionally in English place and house names and is derived from the Old Norse for "island", as is the similar element in the name of the Swedish capital, Stockholm.
4. The cathedral, castle and former walled town of Durham stand on a rocky outcrop standing high above the steeply banked River Wear, which almost completely surrounds the old town. Only a very narrow, easily defended neck of land connects this peninsula (Latin derivation: "almost an island") with the surrounding country.
5. The wandering monks bearing the long-dead but reputedly incorrupt corpse of St Cuthbert in search of a safe place to set up a monastery to replace the one violated and destroyed by marauding Vikings in the latter part of the First Millenium were told in a dream that the place they sought was marked by a brown (dun) cow. The peninsula described in the previous paragraph was the place in question. This has entered into local legend to the extent that numerous public houses in the area are called "The Dun Cow". Until that time, there was no settlement on the peninsula and the Roman road from Eboracum (York) to Pons Aelius (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) and Arbeia (South Shields) by-passed the spot a mile or so to the west.
There could thus have been no Roman place-name for Durham as it was not a "place in their time. The Bishop's signature is, therefore, a case of backward etymology, deriving the Latin name from the much later Germanic elements. The legend of the Dun Cow is probably another case of backwards derivation; the element "dun" almost certainly came from the Anglo-Saxon meaning of "castle" of "fortified place".
1. The Bishop of Durham signs his name as "Dunelm", much as the Archbishop of York signs as "Ebor" - derived from the latin name for York, Eboracum.
The name "Dunelm" is derived from the following elements:
2 Dun. This is a relatively modern English word meaning "brown". It is also an Anglo-Saxon word meaning "castle" of "fortified place", as in "Dunedin" (Edwin's fort), the Northumbrian name for Edinburgh (meaning Edwin's fortified town).
3 Holm. This is still used occasionally in English place and house names and is derived from the Old Norse for "island", as is the similar element in the name of the Swedish capital, Stockholm.
4. The cathedral, castle and former walled town of Durham stand on a rocky outcrop standing high above the steeply banked River Wear, which almost completely surrounds the old town. Only a very narrow, easily defended neck of land connects this peninsula (Latin derivation: "almost an island") with the surrounding country.
5. The wandering monks bearing the long-dead but reputedly incorrupt corpse of St Cuthbert in search of a safe place to set up a monastery to replace the one violated and destroyed by marauding Vikings in the latter part of the First Millenium were told in a dream that the place they sought was marked by a brown (dun) cow. The peninsula described in the previous paragraph was the place in question. This has entered into local legend to the extent that numerous public houses in the area are called "The Dun Cow". Until that time, there was no settlement on the peninsula and the Roman road from Eboracum (York) to Pons Aelius (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) and Arbeia (South Shields) by-passed the spot a mile or so to the west.
There could thus have been no Roman place-name for Durham as it was not a "place in their time. The Bishop's signature is, therefore, a case of backward etymology, deriving the Latin name from the much later Germanic elements. The legend of the Dun Cow is probably another case of backwards derivation; the element "dun" almost certainly came from the Anglo-Saxon meaning of "castle" of "fortified place".