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Toponymy is the study of place names (toponyms), their origins, meanings, use, and typology.

Toponym is the general name for any place or geographical entity. Related, more specific types of toponym include hydronym for a body of water and oronym for a mountain or hill.
A toponymist is one who studies toponymy, see the article on Wikipedia.

My personal theory of the origination of place names is that they are made up of small snippets that when put together describe the settlement's use or its location or a combination of both. In very few cases do the names consist of personal names, and these seem to be only 'famous' people.

For all the villages I have tested with the translator, it has produced about 98% of sensible answers. The snippets that I use in the translator can be seen to the right and when clicked on will pop up in another window.


  Snippets
Celtic
Roman
Jute
Saxon
Viking
Norman
Modern
I am going to try to translate the current village/town name that you enter into the 'Your Location' field using my database of common historic name snippets.

If this fails for you please check the Open Domesday book to see if your location name has changed since 1086. If you still feel that the translation is faulty or incorrect, please sent the location name through on my contact us page(link at the bottom of the page) and I will see if i need to add another snippet.

The majority of Saxon words are taken from 'A Dictionary of the Anglo-Saxon language by Rev J Bosworth(1838)' available from Google Books and now online at www.bosworthtoller.com (a massive achievement).

 
From our research it would seem that the saxon village names describe the location and are rarely family name derived, and are made up of a number of snippets. If you would like to use our translations on your website please click here for instructions.

Your Location


In the Anglo Saxon language there are a number of runic characters used in texts and in our translations these are:-
  Eth Ð(upper Case) ð(lower case) Pronounced th as in then
  Thorn Þ(upper case) þ(lower case) Pronounced th as in thin
  Ash Æ(upper case) æ(lower case) Pronounced ea as in clean
  Wynn Ƿ(upper case) ƿ(lower case) Pronounced as w
  Yogh Ȝ(upper case) ȝ(lower case) Pronounced gh as in night
 

The last 20 updated translations requested
 
Mays Farm
     mays derived from mese/mece – a Table / Swords(meaning defended)
farm derived from feorm – food, provision, goods, substance
Southerham
     south derived from suþ – south
er derived from ere – a person
ham derived from hamm – Denotes a piece of land surrounded with paling, wicker-work, etc., and so defended against water, which would otherwise wash it away, so a valley settlement or settlement with a jetty.
Lower Rise
     lower derived from lower – lower than
rise derived from risan – rise, go up
Barnhorn
     barn derived from beorn – burn,fire or light
horn derived from horn – a horn-shaped projection
Amberstone
     am derived from hamm – Denotes a piece of land surrounded with paling, wicker-work, etc., and so defended against water, which would otherwise wash it away, so a valley settlement or settlement with a jetty.
ber derived from bær – beer or a place where barley was grown
stone derived from stan – stone - probably a roman road, milestone or builders stone
Harebeating
     hare derived from hara – herb haresfoot
be derived from bi – bees
at derived from æt – at (near)
ing derived from ænge – troubled village(appear to be fortlets or pallisaded villages)
West Dean
     west derived from wæst – west
dean derived from daen – a valley
Market Deeping
     mark derived from maerc – a boundary
et derived from æg – an island
deep derived from deop – a deep place on land or deep water near the sea
ing derived from ænge – troubled village(appear to be fortlets or pallisaded villages)
Wilting
     wilt derived from wealte/wælt – a ring or snare/thigh or sinew
ing derived from ænge – troubled village(appear to be fortlets or pallisaded villages)
HighHurstwood
     high derived from hoh – of great height, tall, conspicuously elevated
hurst derived from hyrst – A clearing in the Forest, most were settled after Domesday
wood derived from wudu – wudu, earlier widu tree, trees collectively, forest, grove.
Hydney
     Hyd derived from hyð – hythe - usually a harbour or port, an important or first one, or starting point
ney derived from en æg – en - people of and æg - an island
PunnettsTown
     punnetts derived from pannetts – named after founder of the village
town derived from tun – an enclosed piece of ground, a yard, court
Little Lever
     little derived from lytel – little, small
le derived from leah – A lea, meadow, open space, untilled land
ver derived from fer – a vessel or ship
Bodle Street
     bodle derived from botl – a hall house or mansion(possibly Roman)
street derived from via strata – originally from the latin via strata(high paved road) -Old English stret (Mercian, Kentish), stræt (West Saxon)
Broad Oak
     broad derived from bræd – broad or wide
oak derived from aac – oak tree
Tarring Neville
     tar derived from teoru – tar, bitumen, resin, gum
ring derived from ringe – spiders/spider webs
neville derived from neville – a norman family name
Hastings Bulverhythe
     hast derived from haeste/hasta – in saxon a storm, or wild sea /in latin(roman) it is the generic name for spears
ings derived from ænge – troubled village(appear to be fortlets or pallisaded villages)
bulver derived from burgh wær – burh/beorg - fortified place, castle - usually associated with old Roman forts / a high place - hill
wær - the sea
hythe derived from hyð – hythe - usually a harbour or port, an important or first one, or starting point
High Hurstwood
     high derived from hoh – of great height, tall, conspicuously elevated
hurst derived from hyrst – A clearing in the Forest, most were settled after Domesday
wood derived from wudu – wudu, earlier widu tree, trees collectively, forest, grove.
Little Horsted
     little derived from lytel – little, small
hors derived from heors – horse
ted derived from stæde – a place or pasture
Cadbury Heath
     cad derived from cæd – a boat
bury derived from burh/beorg/berie – fortified place, castle - usually associated with old Roman forts / can also be used to mean high place / berry
heath derived from hæþ – heath or wasteland where heather grows

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