Place name origins
Encyclopedia
- This article focuses on the origins of place names themselves. For a discussion of the scientific study of place names see ToponymyToponymyToponymy is the scientific study of place names , their origins, meanings, use and typology. The word "toponymy" is derived from the Greek words tópos and ónoma . Toponymy is itself a branch of onomastics, the study of names of all kinds...
.
In much of the "Old World" (approximately Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
) the names of many places cannot easily be interpreted or understood; they do not convey any apparent meaning in the modern language of the area. This is due to a general set of processes through which place names evolve over time, until their obvious meaning is lost. In contrast, in the "New World" (roughly North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
, and Australasia
Australasia
Australasia is a region of Oceania comprising Australia, New Zealand, the island of New Guinea, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term was coined by Charles de Brosses in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes...
), many place names origins are known.
Although the origin of many place names is now forgotten, it is often possible to establish likely meanings through consideration of early forms of the name. Some general conclusions about the nature of place names, and the way in which place names change, can be made and are examined below. It is also possible to distinguish regional trends and differences in the naming of places, as is also discussed below.
Types of place name
There are several clearly definable types of place name, the primary division being between the names of natural features and the names of human settlements. That the latter are 'places' is obvious. The case is slightly more ambiguous for natural features, depending on how exactly 'place' is defined, and what exactly the concept of a 'place' is used for. If, as is probable, natural features were originally given names to distinguish nearby hills, streams etc. from each other, then these features can be thought of as places, in that they represent distinct geographic locations. However, as names are applied on a larger scale, they may become less useful as place names. For instance, a relatively small, distinct upland valley (e.g. SwaledaleSwaledale
Swaledale is one of the northernmost dales in the Yorkshire Dales National Park in northern England. It is the dale of the River Swale on the east side of the Pennines in North Yorkshire.-Geographical overview:...
) clearly represents a definable geographic location. However, the broad, extended valley of a major river, such as the Trent
River Trent
The River Trent is one of the major rivers of England. Its source is in Staffordshire on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through the Midlands until it joins the River Ouse at Trent Falls to form the Humber Estuary, which empties into the North Sea below Hull and Immingham.The Trent...
, is not easily understood as a single location. That notwithstanding, it is probable that the origins of the names of both settlements and natural features is the same, namely to distinguish one from another; and thus that both should be considered place names.
Many other types of place name can be defined, for example those relating to tribal or personal names. Previously names relating to pagan religion were extensively studied as these were thought to be early. Another class studied was those relating to particular people, e.g. the Ancient British.
Toponymic processes
There are identifiable processes which occur over time to place names, and which alter the place names in such a way that their original meanings are lost. These apply to both the names of settlements and natural features, although more so to the former.The processes by which place names change include abbreviation, conflation, convergence, development in the parent language (but stasis in the place name) and replacement of the parent language. The latter in particular can result in dramatic shifts in place names, since the original meaning (and often sounds) are not conveyed in the new language, the place name thus shifts to a form appropriate for the new language.
- Abbreviation tends to break down a name into a more easily pronounced form, e.g.Cantwaraburh to Canterbury; Dornwaracaster to Dorchester.
- Conflation is where two similar elements of place names become confused, for instance the Old English roots don (hill) and den (valley) are conflated in place names e.g. WillesdenWillesdenWillesden is an area in North West London which forms part of the London Borough of Brent. It is situated 5 miles north west of Charing Cross...
('stream hill'), CroydonCroydonCroydon is a town in South London, England, located within the London Borough of Croydon to which it gives its name. It is situated south of Charing Cross...
('crocus valley').
- Convergence occurs when place names drift towards other familiar phonemes in place names; e.g. in AbingdonAbingdon, OxfordshireAbingdon or archaically Abingdon-on-Thames is a market town and civil parish in Oxfordshire, England. It is the seat of the Vale of White Horse district. Previously the county town of Berkshire, Abingdon is one of several places that claim to be Britain's oldest continuously occupied town, with...
(Aebbeduna, 'Aebbe's hill'), the middle sound has converged to the familiar 'ing' found in many place names (usually meaning 'people of').
- Evolution of the parent language may not change a place name by itself; indeed names may show more inertia to change than languages themselves. However, evolution of the parent language permits other processes to occur. For instance, if a name no longer means anything in the modified language, it may drift towards a new form; e.g. Maethelac ('Moot-oak') to Matlock. Or, as the parent language changes, attributes which already form part of a name may be appended to the name. For instance Portsea IslandPortsea IslandPortsea Island is a small, flat and low lying island just off the south coast of England. The island is totally within, and contains a large proportion of, the city of Portsmouth. It has the third-largest population of any island in the British Isles, after the mainlands of Great Britain and...
('Port-island island'); once the meaning of Portsea became obscure, it became necessary to add island.
- Replacement of the parent language is one of the most dramatic processes of change. If, for whatever reason, a new language becomes spoken in the area, a place name may lose all meaning. At its most severe, the name may be completely replaced. However, often the name may be recycled and altered in some way. Typically, this will be in one of the above ways; as the meaning of place-name is forgotten, it becomes changed to a name suitable for the new language. For instance Brittonic Eborakon (perhaps 'place of the yew trees') became Anglo-Saxon Eoforwic ('Boar-town'), then Old Norse Jorvik ('Horse-bay'), and modern English YorkYorkYork is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
.
- Elaboration of place names often occurred to make distinctions between similarly named settlements. For instance, in England, two nearby and related settlements often became 'lower/nether' and 'upper/higher'; or 'little' and 'great' (or the equivalent in Latin, parva and magna). Alternatively, two geographically separated places might be distinguished by local features; e.g. Newcastle-under-LymeNewcastle-under-LymeNewcastle-under-Lyme is a market town in Staffordshire, England, and is the principal town of the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme. It is part of The Potteries Urban Area and North Staffordshire. In the 2001 census the town had a population of 73,944...
and Newcastle-upon-Tyne; or Newton-le-willowsNewton-le-WillowsNewton-le-Willows is a small market town within the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, in Merseyside, England. Historically a part of Lancashire, it is situated about midway between the cities of Manchester and Liverpool, to the east of St Helens, to the north of Warrington and to the south of...
, Newton-by-Frodsham, Newton-under-RoseberryNewton under RoseberryNewton under Roseberry is a village in the borough of Redcar and Cleveland and the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England. It is on the A173, between Great Ayton and Guisborough and is close to the base of Roseberry Topping....
(and so on). In England, many additions were made in the medieval period, to show that settlements were ruled by certain families, e.g. as Stoke MandevilleStoke MandevilleStoke Mandeville is a village and also a civil parish within Aylesbury Vale district to the south-east of Aylesbury in the county of Buckinghamshire, England. Although a separate civil parish, the village falls within the Aylesbury Urban Area...
. Some elaborations (particularly in Latin) date back to medieval times, such as Weston-super-mareWeston-super-MareWeston-super-Mare is a seaside resort, town and civil parish in the unitary authority of North Somerset, which is within the ceremonial county of Somerset, England. It is located on the Bristol Channel coast, south west of Bristol, spanning the coast between the bounding high ground of Worlebury...
('Weston-on-sea'), while others were added relatively recently, for instance Bognor RegisBognor RegisBognor Regis is a seaside resort town and civil parish in the Arun district of West Sussex, on the south coast of England. It is south-south-west of London, west of Brighton, and south-east of the city of Chichester. Other nearby towns include Littlehampton east-north-east and Selsey to the...
('Bognor of the King').
- Backformation: the process whereby names are derived from one another in the opposite direction to that which would be expected - in many cases a river with an obsolete or forgotten name is renamed after a town on its banks rather than vice versa. For example, the river running through Rochdale became known as the 'Roch' through this process. Cambridge perhaps uniquely illustrates both normal and back formation. Originally Grantabrice, a bridge on the Granta, the name became Cantebrugge, and then Cambrigge, from which the river was renamed 'Cam'.
Problems of interpretation
Place names often need specialists to interpret their meanings. Some of the main problems are:- Language. Sometimes the language used in the formation of a place name is unclear; for example, some names may be plausibly derived from either Old English or Celtic roots. In recent years there has been a tendency to seek Celtic origins for names in England that were previously taken to be Anglo-Saxon.
- Element order. In Germanic languages, and thus in Old English and Old Norse, the substantive element is generally preceded by its modifier, such as "north farm" (NorwichNorwichNorwich is a city in England. It is the regional administrative centre and county town of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom...
), "Badecca's spring" (BakewellBakewellBakewell is a small market town in the Derbyshire Dales district of Derbyshire, England, deriving its name from 'Beadeca's Well'. It is the only town included in the Peak District National Park, and is well known for the local confection Bakewell Pudding...
). In Celtic place names the order is usually reversed with the thing being described (hill, valley, farm, etc.) as the first element, for example "settlement of the Cuebris" (Tregonebris), "mouth of the Dee" (AberdeenAberdeenAberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
). However, this is not true of all Celtic names, for example "bald hill" (MalvernMalvern, WorcestershireMalvern is a town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, governed by Malvern Town Council. As of the 2001 census it has a population of 28,749, and includes the historical settlement and commercial centre of Great Malvern on the steep eastern flank of the Malvern Hills, and the former...
).
- Translation. The general similarity of Old Norse and Old English meant that the place names in the Danelaw were often simply "norsified". For instance, in AskriggAskriggAskrigg is a small village and civil parish in Wensleydale in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. It is part of the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire, England...
('ash (tree) ridge') in Yorkshire, the first element is indubitably the Norse asc , which could easily represent a "norsification" of the Old English element aesc with the same meaning.
- False analogy. Sometimes, however, the place names were changed by new settlers to match pronunciation habits without reference to the original meaning. For example, the Old English name Scipeton ("sheep farm"), which would normally become *Shipton in modern English, instead was altered to SkiptonSkiptonSkipton is a market town and civil parish within the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England. It is located along the course of both the Leeds and Liverpool Canal and the River Aire, on the south side of the Yorkshire Dales, northwest of Bradford and west of York...
, since Old English sc was usually cognate with Old Norse sk — thus obscuring the meaning, since the Old Norse word for 'sheep' was entirely different.
- Lost reason. Interpreting some names can be difficult if the reason for the name is no longer evident. Some names originally referred to a specific natural feature such as a river, ford or hill that can no longer be identified. For example, WhichfordWhichfordWhichford is a small village and civil parish in the south of the English county of Warwickshire.-Population/Location:According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 318. It is located about 15 miles south of Stratford-upon-Avon and is on the edge of the Cotswolds.-Attractions:For a...
(Warwickshire) means "the ford of the HwicceHwicceThe Hwicce were one of the peoples of Anglo-Saxon England. The exact boundaries of their kingdom are uncertain, though it is likely that they coincided with those of the old Diocese of Worcester, founded in 679–80, the early bishops of which bore the title Episcopus Hwicciorum...
", but the location of the ford is lost.
- Confusion between elements. Pairs of original elements can produce the same element in a modern place name. For example the Old English elements den (valley) and dun (hill) are sometimes confused, as they can now lack obvious meanings. CroydonCroydonCroydon is a town in South London, England, located within the London Borough of Croydon to which it gives its name. It is situated south of Charing Cross...
is in a valley and WillesdenWillesdenWillesden is an area in North West London which forms part of the London Borough of Brent. It is situated 5 miles north west of Charing Cross...
is on a hill.
- Multiple meanings. Some elements, such as wich and wick, can have many meanings. Generally wich/wick/wyke indicates a farm or settlement (e.g. Keswick "cheese farm"). However, some of the sites are of Roman or early Post-Roman origin, in which the wich represents Latin vicus ("place"). These vici seem to have been trading-posts. On the coast, wick is often of Norse origin, meaning "bay" or "inlet" (e.g. LerwickLerwickLerwick is the capital and main port of the Shetland Islands, Scotland, located more than 100 miles off the north coast of mainland Scotland on the east coast of the Shetland Mainland...
).
Names of landscape features
The names of natural or man-made features in the landscape tend to be older than those of settlements since the former are often more widely known. Names are given to water features, hills and valleys, islands and marshes, as well as woods and districts. Man-made landscape features that have been given names include roads and trackways as well as burial mounds, etc. Many topographic elements become incorporated into settlement names, together with plant, creature names or personal names. Many topographical words convey not just an image of the place but also a wealth of information about the likely size, status and pattern of farming practised by the community living there.Water was of major importance to the early settlers of an area, both for subsistence and for religious reasons. Names were given to springs, streams, rivers and lakes as well as marshes, bays and seas. Eilert Ekwall
Eilert Ekwall
Bror Oscar Eilert Ekwall , known as Eilert Ekwall, was Professor of English at Lund University, Sweden, from 1909 to 1942, and one of the outstanding scholars of the English language of the first half of the 20th century...
carried out an early study of river names in England while Krahe conducted a European-wide examination of river names which showed that there were common roots in the names over a wide area. There is still controversy over the language of these roots. Sometimes a generic word was adopted as a specific label, for example the Celtic word for river was afon which is used in many cases as the name (Avon) of rivers in England.
Land characteristics were important to both hunters and farmers, and there are many terms relating to different types of hills and valleys. Some terms, like cumb and penn, were adopted from Celtic by Anglo-Saxons. Other terms relate to the expansion of farming.
Topographical names were held in low esteem by early place name scholars but their importance was raised in a book by Margaret Gelling
Margaret Gelling
Margaret Joy Gelling, OBE was an English toponymist, Fellow of St Hilda's College, Oxford, and member of the Society of Antiquaries of London and the British Academy....
, first published in 1978. This discusses the many elements of topographical place names, with updates in 1988 and 1997.
Names of settlements
Most pre-modern settlement names contain a generic element describing the place's function (e.g. 'farm', 'market', 'fort') or a prominent natural feature, or both; if only one of these is present, it is often modified by a personal name or an adjective.For instance, examples from England:
- Personal name + function + feature - TodmordenTodmordenTodmorden is a market town and civil parish, located 17 miles from Manchester, within the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale, in West Yorkshire, England. It forms part of the Upper Calder Valley and has a total population of 14,941....
- 'Totta's boundary valley' (name + function + feature) - Personal name + function - GrimsbyGrimsbyGrimsby is a seaport on the Humber Estuary in Lincolnshire, England. It has been the administrative centre of the unitary authority area of North East Lincolnshire since 1996...
- 'Grimr's farm' - Existing name + function - ExeterExeterExeter is a historic city in Devon, England. It lies within the ceremonial county of Devon, of which it is the county town as well as the home of Devon County Council. Currently the administrative area has the status of a non-metropolitan district, and is therefore under the administration of the...
- 'River Exe (Roman) fort' - Function + natural feature - Church FentonChurch FentonChurch Fenton is a village and civil parish in the Selby district of North Yorkshire, England. The village is home to many commuters and is served by a railway station; Church Fenton railway station. Neighbouring villages include Cawood and Ulleskelf. It is about from Tadcaster and from...
- 'Marsh Farm (with a church)' - Personal name + natural feature - BarnsleyBarnsleyBarnsley is a town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Dearne, north of the city of Sheffield, south of Leeds and west of Doncaster. Barnsley is surrounded by several smaller settlements which together form the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley, of which Barnsley is the largest and...
- 'Beorn's clearing' - Existing name + natural feature - CockermouthCockermouth-History:The Romans created a fort at Derventio, now the adjoining village of Papcastle, to protect the river crossing, which had become located on a major route for troops heading towards Hadrian's Wall....
- 'River Cocker mouth' - Function - Keswick - 'Cheese farm'
- Natural feature - Blackburn - 'Black stream'
These basic elements can also be found in place names in other countries; e.g. Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
('River Amstel dam'), Liechtenstein
Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein is a doubly landlocked alpine country in Central Europe, bordered by Switzerland to the west and south and by Austria to the east. Its area is just over , and it has an estimated population of 35,000. Its capital is Vaduz. The biggest town is Schaan...
('Light-stone'), Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
('Merchants' harbour), Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
('Home of the Parisii'), Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
(approximately 'Seaport'), Tashkent
Tashkent
Tashkent is the capital of Uzbekistan and of the Tashkent Province. The officially registered population of the city in 2008 was about 2.2 million. Unofficial sources estimate the actual population may be as much as 4.45 million.-Early Islamic History:...
('Stone city'). These elements are also clearly present in the less 'weathered' New World place names - e.g. Fort Knox
Fort Knox
Fort Knox is a United States Army post in Kentucky south of Louisville and north of Elizabethtown. The base covers parts of Bullitt, Hardin, and Meade counties. It currently holds the Army Human Resources Center of Excellence to include the Army Human Resources Command, United States Army Cadet...
, Louisville
Louisville (disambiguation)
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S state of Kentucky.Louisville may also refer to:Cities and communities* Louisville-Jefferson County , Kentucky, a U.S...
, Little Rock and so on.Carson City, for instance, was named for Kit Carson
Kit Carson
Christopher Houston "Kit" Carson was an American frontiersman and Indian fighter. Carson left home in rural present-day Missouri at age 16 and became a Mountain man and trapper in the West. Carson explored the west to California, and north through the Rocky Mountains. He lived among and married...
, and Belo Horizonte
Belo Horizonte
Belo Horizonte is the capital of and largest city in the state of Minas Gerais, located in the southeastern region of Brazil. It is the third largest metropolitan area in the country...
means "beautiful view". However, some apparent meanings may be deceptive; New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
was not directly named after the English city of York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
but after the Duke of York, who was the head of the British Navy at the time of the British take-over, and Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
was not named after angels but after the Virgin Mary, or the Queen of the Angels (El Pueblo de la Reina de Los Angeles).
Countries which have seen repeated large-scale cultural and/or linguistic changes, such as England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
or France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, tend to have more broken down place names, as the original meaning is forgotten and drifts more quickly. They may also have more linguistically diverse place names; for instance in England place names may have Pre-Celtic, Celtic, Roman, Anglo-Saxon, Norse, or Norman-French origins. Conversely, countries with a more uniform cultural/linguistic history tend to have less broken down and diverse place names - Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
for instance (especially when compared to neighbouring England).
Place name origins in Britain & Ireland
Various names have been used for the island of Britain, see Britain (name)Britain (name)
The name Britain is derived from the Latin name Britannia , via Old French Bretaigne and Middle English Bretayne, Breteyne...
. The origin of place names of the countries within Britain are discussed below. Each country is divided into a number of counties.
England
Most English place-names are Anglo-Saxon but there is a scattering of Celtic names over the whole country. Other place-names are hybrids of Celtic and Anglo-Saxon elements. There are a high level of personal names within the place names, presumably the names of local landowners at the time of naming. In the north and east, there are many place names of Norse origin; similarly, these contain many personal names. In general, the Anglo-Saxon and Norse place names tend to be rather mundane in origin, the most common types being [personal name + settlement/farm/place] or [type of farm + farm/settlement] (almost all towns ending in -wich, -ton, -ham, -by, -thorpe, -stoke/stock are of these types).In Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
most place-names are Cornish
Cornish language
Cornish is a Brythonic Celtic language and a recognised minority language of the United Kingdom. Along with Welsh and Breton, it is directly descended from the ancient British language spoken throughout much of Britain before the English language came to dominate...
in origin, whilst in Cumbria
Cumbria
Cumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...
there remain a number of place names in Cumbric, the Brythonic language of this region; examples including Carlisle, Helvellyn
Helvellyn
Helvellyn is a mountain in the English Lake District, the apex of the Eastern Fells. At above sea level, it is the third highest peak in both the Lake District and England...
and Blencathra
Blencathra
Blencathra, also known as Saddleback, is one of the most northerly mountains in the English Lake District. It has six separate fell tops, of which the highest is the Hallsfell Top.-Name:...
.
Most old Roman settlements, whether actually inhabited or not, were given the title of chester/caster in Anglo-Saxon (from the Latin Castrum, 'camp'); the specific names for each may only have little relation to the Roman names (e.g. Chester - 'Deva', Winchester - 'Venta Belgarum' etc.).
Many English places derive part of their name from the river upon which they were built, but in the 16th century many English rivers were renamed with back-formation
Back-formation
In etymology, back-formation is the process of creating a new lexeme, usually by removing actual or supposed affixes. The resulting neologism is called a back-formation, a term coined by James Murray in 1889...
s from towns on their banks. Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, perhaps uniquely, illustrates both effects: originally Grontabricc, a bridge on the Granta, the name became Cantebruge and then Cambrugge, from which the river was renamed Cam
River Cam
The River Cam is a tributary of the River Great Ouse in the east of England. The two rivers join to the south of Ely at Pope's Corner. The Great Ouse connects the Cam to England's canal system and to the North Sea at King's Lynn...
.
Wales
The vast majority of place names in Wales are Welsh by origin, containing elements such as Llan-, Aber-, Pen- etc. Along the south coast of Wales, where English has historically been more widely spoken, many place names are commonly anglicisedAnglicisation
Anglicisation, or anglicization , is the process of converting verbal or written elements of any other language into a form that is more comprehensible to an English speaker, or, more generally, of altering something such that it becomes English in form or character.The term most often refers to...
, such as Pontypool
Pontypool
Pontypool is a town of approximately 36,000 people in the county borough of Torfaen, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire in South Wales....
, derived from Pont-y-Pŵl. Many places throughout Wales have alternative names in English unrelated to the name in Welsh, for example, Newport
Newport
Newport is a city and unitary authority area in Wales. Standing on the banks of the River Usk, it is located about east of Cardiff and is the largest urban area within the historic county boundaries of Monmouthshire and the preserved county of Gwent...
(where the Welsh name Casnewydd means "New Castle") and Swansea
Swansea
Swansea is a coastal city and county in Wales. Swansea is in the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan. Situated on the sandy South West Wales coast, the county area includes the Gower Peninsula and the Lliw uplands...
(derived from the Norse meaning "Svein's island") for the Welsh Abertawe (Mouth of the River Tawe
River Tawe
The River Tawe is a river in South Wales. It flows in a principally south-westerly direction for some from its source below Moel Feity in the Old Red Sandstone hills of the western Brecon Beacons to the Bristol Channel at Swansea. Its main tributaries are the right bank Upper and Lower Clydach...
), although the name Swansea
Swansea
Swansea is a coastal city and county in Wales. Swansea is in the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan. Situated on the sandy South West Wales coast, the county area includes the Gower Peninsula and the Lliw uplands...
is an older construction than the name Abertawe. In some cases these are in fact related to their Welsh name, but disguised through linguistic processes of mutation
Welsh morphology
The morphology of the Welsh language shows many characteristics perhaps unfamiliar to speakers of English or continental European languages like French or German, but has much in common with the other modern Insular Celtic languages: Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Manx, Cornish, and Breton. Welsh is a...
, for example Monmouth
Monmouth
Monmouth is a town in southeast Wales and traditional county town of the historic county of Monmouthshire. It is situated close to the border with England, where the River Monnow meets the River Wye with bridges over both....
and the Welsh Trefynwy both referring to the River Monnow
River Monnow
The River Monnow flows through south-west Herefordshire, England and eastern Monmouthshire, Wales.- Border River :For much of its short length it marks the border between England and Wales before it joins the River Wye at Monmouth. The Wye is also half English from Monmouth until it meets the...
(Mon- < Monnow < Mynwy > -fynwy).
Welsh place names tend to be associated with natural features rather than people, hence elements describing rivers, hills and valleys are common. The obivous exceptions are places with the suffix Llan, meaning 'Church', which often contain the name of the Saint the church is dedicated to e.g. Llansantffraid
Llansantffraid-ym-Mechain
Llansantffraid-ym-Mechain is a village and community in Powys, Mid-Wales, close to the border with Shropshire, about south west of Oswestry....
- 'Church of St. Bridget'.
Scotland
In the islands of Scotland, particularly Orkney and Shetland, but also the Western Isles, there are many names of NorseOld Norse
Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
origin; this is also true of the coasts of the mainland
In the Highlands, the names are primarily in Scottish Gaelic, with emphasis on natural features; elements such as Glen- (valley) and Inver- (confluence, mouth) are common. These have replaced Pictish
Pictish language
Pictish is a term used for the extinct language or languages thought to have been spoken by the Picts, the people of northern and central Scotland in the Early Middle Ages...
names that still occur on the east coast.
In lowland Scotland, names are of more diverse origin. Many are Gaelic, but many are also from the Brythonic
Brythonic languages
The Brythonic or Brittonic languages form one of the two branches of the Insular Celtic language family, the other being Goidelic. The name Brythonic was derived by Welsh Celticist John Rhys from the Welsh word Brython, meaning an indigenous Briton as opposed to an Anglo-Saxon or Gael...
branch of Celtic languages (such as Ayr
Ayr
Ayr is a town and port situated on the Firth of Clyde in south-west Scotland. With a population of around 46,000, Ayr is the largest settlement in Ayrshire, of which it is the county town, and has held royal burgh status since 1205...
). There are also place names from Old English and Scots
Scots language
Scots is the Germanic language variety spoken in Lowland Scotland and parts of Ulster . It is sometimes called Lowland Scots to distinguish it from Scottish Gaelic, the Celtic language variety spoken in most of the western Highlands and in the Hebrides.Since there are no universally accepted...
, such as Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
.
Isle of Man
Most place-names are of Gaelic or Norse origin but there are traces of an earlier language in some names.Ireland
The vast majority of placenames in IrelandIreland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
are anglicisation
Anglicisation
Anglicisation, or anglicization , is the process of converting verbal or written elements of any other language into a form that is more comprehensible to an English speaker, or, more generally, of altering something such that it becomes English in form or character.The term most often refers to...
s (adaptations to English phonology
Phonology
Phonology is, broadly speaking, the subdiscipline of linguistics concerned with the sounds of language. That is, it is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human language, or the field of linguistics studying this use...
) of Irish language
Irish language
Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
names. However, some names come directly from the English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, and a handful come from Old Norse
Old Norse
Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
.
Place name origins in the United States
Place names in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
are often taken from the European nation that first colonized the land. Some areas, such as New England, have many names that have been transferred from Britain, such as Bristol. Many place names are taken from Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
names, sometimes from neighbors rather than the settlers in a particular place. The meaning of names derived form Native American names can be difficult or impossible to determine. In many cases it is not even clear which Native American language a place name comes from. A great many names that appear to be Native American in origin were created by non-Natives with at best a rudimentary grasp of native languages. For example, the city of Pasadena, California
Pasadena, California
Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Although famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology , the Jet...
was named by a vote of the early town residents, on a selection of words based on fragments of the Ojibwe language. The name "Pasadena" was chosen for its euphonious nature rather than its actual meaning. In some cases the native meanings of a place name are wholly lost, despite guesses and theories, for example Tampa
Tampa, Florida
Tampa is a city in the U.S. state of Florida. It serves as the county seat for Hillsborough County. Tampa is located on the west coast of Florida. The population of Tampa in 2010 was 335,709....
and Oregon
Oregon (toponym)
The origin of the name of the U.S. state of Oregon is unknown, and a subject of some dispute.- Historical usage of the name :The earliest known use of the name "Oregon" was in a 1765 petition by Major Robert Rogers to the Kingdom of Great Britain. The petition referred to Ouragon and asked for...
.
Place names in the United States tend to be more easily traceable to their origins, such as towns simply named after the founder or an important politician of the time, with no alterations except a simple suffix, like -town. Carson City, for instance, was named for Kit Carson and Belo Horizonte means beautiful view.
Place name origins in Canada
Both French and British derived names occur in Canada. There are also aboriginal place names.Place name origins in Australia
Australian place names are mainly a mixture of aboriginal and British-derived toponyms.Place name origins in New Zealand
New Zealand place names derive mostly from Maori and from British sources. Maoris named most of New Zealand's natural features. When Europeans began arriving in New Zealand from the 17th century they gave their own names to many geographical features and settlements, often after places in Britain or important settlers or famous British people. Recently there has been a movement to revive some Maori names.See also
- ToponymyToponymyToponymy is the scientific study of place names , their origins, meanings, use and typology. The word "toponymy" is derived from the Greek words tópos and ónoma . Toponymy is itself a branch of onomastics, the study of names of all kinds...
- Toponymy of Great Britain
- Welsh placenamesWelsh placenamesThe placenames of Wales derive in most cases from the Welsh language, but have also been influenced by linguistic contact with the Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Vikings, Anglo-Normans and modern English...
- Place names in IrishPlace names in IrishThe vast majority of placenames in Ireland are anglicisations of Irish language names; that is, adaptations of the Irish names to English phonology and spelling. However, some names come directly from the English language, and a handful come from Old Norse and Ulster Scots...
- Toponymical list of counties of the United Kingdom