- Celtic toponymy
Celtic toponymy is the study of placenames of
celt ic origin, that is of placenames wholly or partially of Celtic origin. These names are found throughout continentalEurope , theBritish Isles ,Asia Minor and latterly through various other parts of the globe not originally occupied byCelts .Continental Celtic
Germany
*
Alzenau
*Alzenau/Spessart From Celtic alisa, s.f., "Alder ". (Compare the modern GermanErlenbach ) andOld High German (OHG) aha, s.n., "Flowing water."*
Ammer
*Ammerbach
*Amerbach near Groß- andKlein-Umstadt ,Harpertshausen ,Langstadt ,Ober-Ramstadt *Ammergraben near Harpertshausen
*de Amarahe (?), a lost river name nearFulda c800 CE
*Ammerbach
*Amorbach , a stream nearMümling and the village named after it.
*Wald-Amorbach
*Amorsbrunn Perhaps from Celtic ambara, s.f., "channel, river." Compare Indo-European *amer-, "channel, river" > Greek ἀμάρη (amárē), "channel." Or, from Celtic amara, s.m., "
spelt , a type of grain."*
Annelsbach a suburb ofHöchst
*Ansbach inMittelfranken originally Onoltesbah837 CEFrom Celtic *onno-, s.m., "ash tree " plus a OHG bach, "small river."*
Bonn From Gaulish Bonna, s.f., "Foundation."*
Boppard From Gaulish Boudobriga, s.f. "Hill of victory." Containing the elements boudo-, "Victory" and briga, s.f., "Hill."*
Tübingen Some have seen thistoponym as a hybrid form comprising a Celtic form and a Germanic suffix -"ingen". [Bahlow, Hans.1955 . "Namenforschung als Wissenschaft. Deutschlands Ortsnamen als Denkmäler keltischer Vorzeit".Frankfurt am Main .] This may be so since in the area between the second and fourth centuries the area around the present day German university town of Tübingen was settled by a Celtic tribe with Germanic tribal elements mixed in. The element tub- in Tübingen could possibly arise from a Celtic dubo-, s.m., "dark, black; sad; wild." As found in theAnglo-Irish placenames ofDublin ,Devlin ,Dowling ,Doolin andBallindoolin . Perhaps the reference is to the darkness of the river waters that flow near the town; if so then the name can be compared to the EnglishTubney ,Tubbanford ,Tub Mead andTub Hole inEngland . Compare the late Vulgar Latin tubeta, s.f., "morass" fromGaulish . The root is found inOld Irish dub > Irish dubh,Old Welsh dub > Welsh du,Old Cornish duw >Middle Cornish du, Breton duGaulish dubo-, dubis, all meaning "Black; dark"*
Meggingen From the Celtic mago- , m.s., "Plain, field."Insular Celtic
Great Britain
Linguistic evidence for celtic placenames in present-day
England can be found in place names, such as those including the Old English element,'wealh' , meaning 'foreigner', 'Briton' or 'stranger'. A smattering of villages around theFenland town ofWisbech hint at this:West Walton ,Walsoken , and theWalpoles indicate the continued presence of an indiginous population, and Wisbech,King's Lynn andChatteris retain Celtic topographical elements.Saxon Etheldreda 's 'Liber Eliensis ' documents theFenland tribe of theGirvii (Gywre ), who are cited elsewhere as being an independent people with dark hair and their own (Brythonic ?) language. It is entirely possible that theGirvii were formed in part by migrating Britons, displaced by Saxon settlers after theRoman legions left the British Isles.Ireland
Notes
ee also
*
Aber and Inver as place-name elements
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