seaxe left Anglo Saxon History

English Place-Names

seaxe right

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 translations requested
 
Branbrook
     bran derived from bran - raven
brook derived from broc - a brook or stream
Halden
     hal derived from heall - hall
den derived from daen/den-bera - a valley / a forest swine pasture, most were settled after Domesday
Kings Somborne
     kings derived from cyng - the king's
s derived from s - of as in 's or multiple
om derived from hjem - home - A village or location originally found in valleys with sea access hence Home for the Saxons - in later years this derivation changed to mean near water.
borne derived from burn - a brook or stream
Thaxham
     thax derived from paca - roof covering(possibly reeds)
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.
Kings Cliffe
     kings derived from cyng - the king's
cliffe derived from clif - a cliff or steep decent
Thaxley
     thax derived from taxe - a toad
ley derived from æg/leah - an island near the sea / woodland clearing if inland
Theydon
     they derived from þæc - roof covering(possibly reeds - thatch)
don derived from daen/den-bera - a valley / woodland swine pasture
Bishops Stortford
     bishop derived from bisceop - land owned by a bishop
s derived from s - of as in 's or multiple
stort derived from steort - a promontory, tongue of land
ford derived from forda - shallow place where a river can be crossed
Saint Leonards On Sea
     saint derived from sanctus - saint
leonards derived from leonard - Saint Leonard of Limoges
on sea derived from sea - usually means near the sea
Gainsthorpe
     gain derived from þegn - thane - a servant, one who does service for another
s derived from s - of as in 's or multiple
thorpe derived from ƿorp - a crowd - a village
Acsted
     ac derived from aac - oak trees
sted derived from stæde - a place or pasture
Croham
     cro derived from craw/crog - a crow the bird/a small bottle - amphora
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.
Woods Green
     wood derived from wudu - wudu, earlier widu tree, trees collectively, forest, grove.
s derived from s - of as in 's or multiple
green derived from grene - grassy
Ringles
     ring derived from ringe - spiders/spider webs
les derived from læca - leech
Stelling
     s derived from s - of as in 's or multiple
tel derived from teala - farmer
ling derived from el hring - people of a ringed village(probably by a pallisade)
Kings Lynn
     kings derived from cyng - the king's
lynn derived from lean - a gift/reward
Arun
     arun derived from hærn - tidal
Adur
     adur derived from ædr - vein or artery
Ouse
     ouse derived from use - the river ouse possibly derived from osle - blackbirds
Cuckmere
     cuck derived from cuc - quick or rapid
mere derived from mære - sea or lake (large body of water)
 

External References in no particular order :-
Anglo Saxon Chronicles
Online Anglo Saxon dictionary
Online Etymology dictionary
Open Domesday Book - The first free online copy of the Domesday Book
The Ermine Street Guard Roman re-enactment and research Society
The "Kent A" cadastre - page 5 - Peterson 2002
Archaeologia Cantiana Online
Romney Marsh Research Trust
Romney Marsh the Fifth Continent
VillageNet the reference guide to villages in Kent & Sussex
Global warming Flood Maps
The Anglo Saxon Chronicles
Google Maps - the core of the system
GeoPlaner - Useful site for plotting map data
Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars 55BC(Books 4 & 5)
Wikipedia - Caesar's invasions of Britain
Wikipedia - Portus Istus
The Geography of Claudius Ptolemy (Bill Thayers)
Roman Britain.org
Runetree Beowulf
Bayeux Tapestry Online
The Secrets of the Norman Invasion
Chronicles of John of Worcester
Battle Historic Society
Binsted village website(Mearcredesburnan Steðe)
The Spears of Andred
Find British Archaelogical Sites
Wealden Iron Research Group
Topographic Map of the UK
 

Copyright saxonhistory.co.uk 2013 - 2024
Contact Simon
Author Simon M - Last updated - 08/11/2024 13:30
All pages on our site (Sitemap)
 
Local Interest
Just click an image
World War 2 Vehicle database
Winchelsea Museum
Rye Museum
Battle Museum of Local History
(Hard to find but worth the Visit)
Ninfield History Group
The Bald Explorer for local documentaries
Sigi
Wealden Iron Research Group
The Rudes as lots of people call us, are an outdoor touring theatre company specialising in taking new & original theatre to mainly small rural communities and a few towns across the South of England. We were founded in 1998 & first toured in the Summer of 1999. Currently we tour only in the summer performing 50+ times nightly during June, July & August. https://therudemechanicaltheatre.co.uk
Bexhill Museum
Talk in Code fabulous new Album
Battle and District Historical Society