Origins
The place names of England are of diverse origins, largely due to historical changes in language and culture. These affected different parts of the England to different extents and at different times. The exact nature of these linguistic/cultural changes is often controversial, but the general consensus is as follows.
The British Isles were inhabited during the Stone and Bronze Ages by peoples whose language is unknown. During the Iron Age, we can observe that the population of Britain shared a culture with the Celtic peoples inhabiting Northern Europe at the time. Land use patterns do not appreciably change from the Bronze Age period, suggesting that the population remained in situ. The evidence from this period, in the form mainly of place-names and personal names, make it clear that a Celtic language, termed Ancient British, was spoken across England by the Late Iron Age. At what point these languages spread to, or indeed developed in, England, or the British Isles as a whole, is open to debate, with the majority of estimates falling at some point in the Bronze Age.
The principal substrate of British place names is thus Celtic in origin, and more specifically Brythonic ('British'), to distinguish it from the related Gaelic languages of Ireland. The oldest place names in England appear to be the names of rivers, many of which should certainly be interpreted as Brythonic in origin. In the areas of England in which Brythonic languages were not replaced until relatively late on (Cumbria, Cornwall), most place names are still essentially Brythonic in origin.
After the Roman conquest, many Roman place names appear, particularly associated with military settlements. However, often these were simply latinisation of existing names; e.g. Verulamium for Verlamion (St. Albans); Derventio for Derwent (Malton). After the collapse of Roman Britain, few of these place names survived. Most Roman sites are known by later names; many are marked as Roman sites by the suffix chester/cester/caster (from the Latin castra = camp), but with no reference to the Roman name. The influence of Latin on British place names is thus generally only slight.
In the so-called "Dark Ages" which followed the end of the Roman Empire, major changes in the part of Britain now called England occurred, except in Cornwall. The language of this region became Anglo-Saxon, a hybrid Germanic language originating in north-west Germany and Denmark. Traditionally, this has been supposed to be due to a mass migration of Angles and Saxons into Britain, 'pushing back the Celts into Wales and Scotland'. However, this view is not supported archaeologically, and it is possible that a small ruling class of Anglo-Saxon settlers 'Germanised' this region of Britain over a few generations, both culturally and genetically. Whatever the cause, due to this linguistic (if not cultural) replacement, most place names in modern England are discernibly Anglo-Saxon. A large fraction of these contain personal names, suggesting that they were named after the first Anglo-Saxon to dwell there. Personal names are less common in Brythonic place names.
A few centuries after, in the period c.850-1050 AD, the north and east of England and the islands and coasts of Scotland were settled by Norwegian and Danish 'Vikings'. Many place names in these areas are thus of Old Norse origin. Since Old Norse had many similarities to Anglo-Saxon, there are also many hybrid Saxon/Norse place names in the so-called 'Danelaw' of England. Again, many of the Viking place-names contain personal names, suggesting they are named for the local Norse/Danish lord or chieftain.
After the Norman invasion of England in 1066 AD, some Norman French influences can be detected in place names, notably the simplification of ch to c in Cerne and -cester, and the addition of names of feudal lords as in Stoke Mandeville. However, extension of the Norman system into the lowlands of Scotland resulted in the development of Scots as the spoken language, a hybrid based on Anglo-Saxon. Non-Celtic place names are therefore common in the southern part of Scotland, for instance Edinburgh.
Place names in Britain have remained relatively stable since the early Norman period, breaking down and 'weathering' to modern forms, but without further dramatic changes. At most, some place names have continued to accrue pre- or suffixes, such as 'Little'; or distinguishing features, such as a local river name.
Read more about this topic: Toponymy Of England
Famous quotes containing the word origins:
“Grown onto every inch of plate, except
Where the hinges let it move, were living things,
Barnacles, mussels, water weeds—and one
Blue bit of polished glass, glued there by time:
The origins of art.”
—Howard Moss (b. 1922)
“Compare the history of the novel to that of rock ‘n’ roll. Both started out a minority taste, became a mass taste, and then splintered into several subgenres. Both have been the typical cultural expressions of classes and epochs. Both started out aggressively fighting for their share of attention, novels attacking the drama, the tract, and the poem, rock attacking jazz and pop and rolling over classical music.”
—W. T. Lhamon, U.S. educator, critic. “Material Differences,” Deliberate Speed: The Origins of a Cultural Style in the American 1950s, Smithsonian (1990)
“The origins of clothing are not practical. They are mystical and erotic. The primitive man in the wolf-pelt was not keeping dry; he was saying: “Look what I killed. Aren’t I the best?””
—Katharine Hamnett (b. 1948)