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Origination of my Village/Town name

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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

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).

We are going to try to translate the current village/town name that you enter into a description of the location 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.

 
From our research it would seem that the saxon village names describe the location and are rarely family name derived. 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
 

To see the place name snippets please click on the [Place names] tab and choose any one of the snippet selections.

The last 20 translations requested
 
Castle Rising
     castle derived from castellum - Words starting in castle were probably small Roman forts
ris derived from ræs - a whirlpool or rapid tide
ing derived from ænge - troubled village(appear to be fortlets or pallisaded villages)
Beeston
     beest derived from bæst - rope making - the inner part of the linden or lime-tree was mostly used for making ropes
on derived from on - near
Tupholme
     tup derived from tæppa - ribbon, tape etc
holme derived from holmr - small island
Bayworth
     bay derived from baie - a bay
worth derived from weort/worð - wort, herb/land
BEESON
     be derived from bi - bees
es derived from æs/æst - meat/east
on derived from on - near
Harrisburg
     har derived from here - an army, a host, multitude
ris derived from ræs - a whirlpool or rapid tide
burg derived from beorg - a high place - hill
Hadham
     had derived from hæsel/hæƿ - hazel trees / heath or wasteland where heather grows
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.
Great Ayton
     great derived from great - big, tall, thick, stout, massive; coarse
ay derived from æg - an island also eye, ye, sea
ton derived from tun - a small town
Winthorpe
     win derived from win / wein - a pasture / wine
thorpe derived from ƿorp - a crowd - a village
Garth
     garth derived from garðr - enclosure
Scargill
     scar derived from carr - a rock
gill derived from gil - a ravine or valley
Barnsley
     barn derived from beorn - burn,fire or light
s derived from s - of as in 's(belongs to) or multiple
ley derived from æg/leah - an island near the sea / woodland clearing if inland
Hendon
     hen derived from hen - old
don derived from daen/den-bera - a valley / woodland swine pasture
Sheldon
     s derived from s - of as in 's(belongs to) or multiple
hel derived from hell - the grave - burial place
don derived from daen/den-bera - a valley / woodland swine pasture
Swadlincote
     s derived from s - of as in 's(belongs to) or multiple
wad derived from waad - woad - blue dye
lin derived from lin/lind - flax/lime tree
cote derived from cotlyf - a small village
Rainham
     ra derived from ra - roebuck - deer
in derived from en - the people of
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.
Yorkshire
     york derived from eofor wick - eofor wild boar
wick vicus - small provincial roman town
shire derived from scir - office, charge, business, administration, government - administrative area
Sowerby
     sower derived from saurr - mud, dirt or tainted ground
by|by derived from buð - shelter
Bedworth
     bed derived from baed - bed or bath
worth derived from weort/worð - wort, herb/land
Elmham
     elm derived from ellm - elm tree
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.
 

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
 

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Author Simon M - Last updated - 03/04/2017 12:29
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