Hampshire - Etymology

Etymology

Hampshire takes its name from the settlement that is now the city of Southampton. An Old English name for Southampton was Hantum, and references to the county - Southampton and shire - became Hantum plus Scir. This is where the abbreviation Hants originates from. The county was known by the Anglo-Saxons as Hamtunschire and was recorded in the Domesday book as Hantescire. From 1889 until 1959, the administrative county was named the County of Southampton.

Read more about this topic:  Hampshire

Famous quotes containing the word etymology:

    The universal principle of etymology in all languages: words are carried over from bodies and from the properties of bodies to express the things of the mind and spirit. The order of ideas must follow the order of things.
    Giambattista Vico (1688–1744)

    Semantically, taste is rich and confusing, its etymology as odd and interesting as that of “style.” But while style—deriving from the stylus or pointed rod which Roman scribes used to make marks on wax tablets—suggests activity, taste is more passive.... Etymologically, the word we use derives from the Old French, meaning touch or feel, a sense that is preserved in the current Italian word for a keyboard, tastiera.
    Stephen Bayley, British historian, art critic. “Taste: The Story of an Idea,” Taste: The Secret Meaning of Things, Random House (1991)