Place name origins

The study of place names is called toponymy and is distinct from (but often confused with) etymology, the study of the origins of words. Rather than describing toponymy (as an academic discipline) itself, this article examines the origins of place names themselves, with particular emphasis on settlements. Moreover, this article focuses primarily on place names in Anglophone areas (as is appropriate for this version of Wikipedia).

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. Swaledale) clearly represents a definable geographic location. However, the broad, extended valley of a major river, (e.g. the River 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.

In much of the "Old World" (approximately Africa, Asia and Europe), 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. Indeed, they are so lacking in obvious meaning that they are able to unambiguously identify the settlement in question (e.g. Paris, Berlin). 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, South America, and Australasia), many place names convey an obvious meaning, and may seem contrived when compared to "Old World" names. For instance, New York, Carson City, Los Angeles ("the angels"), Belo Horizonte ("beautiful horizon"). However, the elements which form all these place names are the same; only the accident of history makes some more abstract than others.

Although the origin of many place names is now forgotten, it is often possible to establish likely meanings, based on comparative methods. 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.

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. Willesden ('stream hill') [http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/english/ins/kepn/detailpop.php?placeno=4803. Retrieved 3/7/08.] , Croydon ('crocus valley') [http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/english/ins/kepn/detailpop.php?placeno=8264. Retrieved 3/7/08.] .

*Convergence occurs when place names drift towards other familiar phonemes in place names; e.g. in Abingdon (Aebbeduna - Aebbe's hill) [http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/english/ins/kepn/detailpop.php?placeno=3160. Retrieved 3/7/08.] , 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. Matlock - 'Maethelac' ('Moot-oak') [ http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/english/ins/kepn/detailpop.php?placeno=3357. Retrieved 14/7/08] . Or, as the parent language changes, attributes which already form part of a name may be appended to the name. For instance Portsea Island - 'Port-island island' [http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/english/ins/kepn/detailpop.php?placeno=6807. Retrieved 3/7/08.] ; 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 Anglo-Saxon 'Eoforwic' ('Boar-town') became Old Norse 'Jorvik' ('Horse-bay'), and modern English 'York'.

*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' [ http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/english/ins/kepn/detailpop.php?placeno=14567. Retrieved 14/7/08] ; or 'little' and 'great' [ http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/english/ins/kepn/detailpop.php?placeno=5869. Retrieved 14/7/08] (or the equivalent in Latin, 'parva' and 'magna'). Alternatively, two geographically separated places might be distinguished by local features; e.g. Newcastle-under-Lyme and Newcastle-upon-Tyne; or Newton-le-willows, Newton-by-Frodsham, Newton-under-Roseberry (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 Mandeville [ http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/english/ins/kepn/detailpop.php?placeno=11347. Retrieved 14/7/08] . Some elaborations (particularly in Latin) were added relatively recently; for instance Weston-super-mare ('Weston-on-sea'), or Bognor Regis ('Royal Bognor') [ http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/english/ins/kepn/detailpop.php?placeno=6919. Retrieved 14/7/08] ;.

Names of natural features

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 - Todmorden - 'Totta's boundary valley' [http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/english/ins/kepn/detailpop.php?placeno=14564. Retrieved 3/7/08.] (name + function + feature)
*Personal name + function - Grimsby - 'Grimr's farm' [http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/english/ins/kepn/detailpop.php?placeno=10469. Retrieved 3/7/08.]
*Existing name + function - Exeter - 'River Exe (Roman) fort' [http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/english/ins/kepn/detailpop.php?placeno=15743. Retrieved 3/7/08.]
*Function + natural feature - Church Fenton - 'Marsh Farm (with a church)' [http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/english/ins/kepn/detailpop.php?placeno=14622. Retrieved 3/7/08.]
*Personal name + natural feature - Barnsley - 'Beorn's clearing' [http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/english/ins/kepn/detailpop.php?placeno=14373. Retrieved 3/7/08.]
*Existing name + natural feature - Cockermouth - 'River Cocker mouth' [http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/english/ins/kepn/detailpop.php?placeno=4525. Retrieved 3/7/08.]
*Function - Keswick - 'Cheese farm' [http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/english/ins/kepn/detailpop.php?placeno=4485. Retrieved 3/7/08.]
*Natural feature - Blackburn - 'Black stream'

These basic elements can also be found in place names in other countries; e.g. Amsterdam ('River Amstel dam'), Liechtenstein ('Light-stone'), Copenhagen ('Merchants' harbour), Paris ('Home of the Parisii'), Shanghai (approximately 'Seaport'), Tashkent ('Stone city'). These elements are also clearly present in the less 'weathered' New World place names - e.g. Fort Knox, Louisville, Little Rock and so on.

Countries which have seen repeated large-scale cultural and/or linguistic changes, such as England or 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 Anglo-Saxon, Norse, Celtic or Roman origins. Conversely, countries with a more uniform cultural/linguistic history tend to have less broken down and diverse place names - Wales for instance (especially when compared to neighbouring England).

Place name origins in Britain & Ireland

Origins

The place names of the United Kingdom are unusually rich and diverse, primarily as a result of historical changes in language and culture. These affected different parts of the British Islands to different extents, resulting in a mosaic effect in the names of places. The exact nature of these linguistic/cultural changes is often controversial [ Pryor, F. Britain AD, ISBN 9780007181872 ] , but there is a general consensus.

The British Isles were inhabited during the Iron Age by people most probably speaking Celtic languages, thus the general underlay of British and Irish place names is Celtic. Until relatively recently, Celtic languages were still spoken in Scotland and Cornwall, and still are in Wales and Ireland. In England most place names were replaced later, but Celtic elements may still be found in the names of rivers (such as Derwent) and other natural features (such as Helvellyn).

The Roman period in Britain resulted in many new place names, however, very few of these have survived. Following the end of Roman Britain (after c.450 AD), the part of the British Isles now known as England was invaded, in a linguistic sense at the least, and probably in a migratory sense, by the Angles and Saxons [ Thomas MG, Stumpf MP, Härke H. Evidence for an apartheid-like social structure in early Anglo-Saxon England. Proc Biol Sci. 2006 Oct 22;273(1601):2651-7. ] . Most place names in England are derived from this period, and are Anglo-Saxon in origin.

During the Viking era the north and east of England, and the islands and coasts of Scotland were settled extensively by Norse and Danes, leaving a large number of 'Old Norse' place names in these parts of Britain. These were often hybrids with, or modified from existing place names, but are clearly Norse in style. At roughly the same period, Scotland was 'settled' by the Scotti, an Irish, spreading their Gaelic language across Scotland; thus most place names in mainland Scotland are Gaelic in form (rather than Brythonic, as in Wales and Cornwall).

Ireland also saw Viking settlement, especially on the east coast, and some place names (such as Wexford) derive from this period. However, most Irish place names are Gaelic in origin, although often Anglicised by the English rule in Ireland (c. 1170-1916).

Elements in British place names

England

Most English place names are Anglo-Saxon. 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 most place names are Cornish in origin, whilst in Cumbria there remain a number of place names in Cumbric, the Brythonic language of this region, examples including Carlisle, Helvellyn and Blencathra.

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 - 'Diva', 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-formations from towns on their banks. Cambridge, 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.

Wales

The vast majority of place names in Wales are Welsh by origin, containing elements such as Llan-, Aber-, Pen- etc. Along the border with England there are a number of towns with Anglo-Saxon names, Wrexham for instance. Along the south coast of Wales, where English has historically been more widely spoken, many place names are commonly anglicised, such as Newport (W. Cas-Newydd), or have alternative English names e.g. Swansea (W. Abertawe).

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 - 'Church of St. Bridget'.

cotland

In the islands of Scotland, particularly the Orkneys and Shetlands, but also the Western Isles, there are many names of Norse 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.

In lowland Scotland, names are of more diverse origin. Many are Gaelic, but many are also from the Brythonic branch of Celtic languages (such as Ayr). There are also place names from the Scots dialect/variant of English, such as Edinburgh.

Ireland

Most Irish place names are Gaelic by origin, though their current form is often anglicised, e.g. Dublin. Along the east coast, there are names of Norse origin, such as Wexford and Waterford.

Place name origins in the United States

Place names in the United States are often taken from the European nation that first colonized the land. Many place names are taken from Native American names.

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.

Place name origins in Australia

Place name origins in New Zealand

ee also

*Toponymy
*British toponymy
*Welsh placenames
*Place names in Irish
*Etymological list of counties of the United Kingdom
*New Zealand place names

References