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 | Anglo Saxon History |  | |
| | Places containing the snippet æg meaning island |
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My current theory on Saxon Place Names
I have was looking at the place names around Hastings, which all appear to be Saxon, with a very few exceptions.
My research leads me to conclude that this area was settled between the take over of Kent by Henghest and Horsa, and the
take over of the South Downs area by Aelle, so around 465AD.
As a lot of villages have similar snippets in their name and I wondered if each of these meant something, and that this
in turn might mean that the settlement names described the use or surroundings of a place.
So what could these snippets mean ??
My conclusions may seem surprising but please read Snippet 1 - what
is an island, eye etc before reading any other snippet pages as this explains the reason for the '4.5 metre line'
described in other snippets.
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| Our modern term island is derived from the Anglo Saxon æg land |
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Our modern term island is derived from the Anglo Saxon æg
land
æg(is pronounced ay and means sea) and land(as we use the word) so æg
land actually translates into sea land(land surrounded by water) and was probably originally pronounced as
'ay land'.
From my research the following early Saxon name snippets are associated with islands.
- ending in eye - example Horse eye
- ending in ey - example Horsey
- ending in ay - example Hilgay
- ending in et - example Thanet
- ending in ly - example Ely
- ending in ney - example Bardney
- ending in sea - example Brightlingsea
- ending in ye - example Rye
- ending in is - example Chatteris
- starting in eg - example Egham
The term 'Isle' which is just a short form of 'Island' appears to be a later addition to the language as
the early islands of Thanet and Oxney have had 'Isle of' attached to the original name, these must have been
added some time after the original meaning was lost.
It is likely that 'Chatteris' was a later name and may have originally been 'Chatter æg
land', as it seems probable that the suffix is is of this later type .
| | Issues with these places being islands |
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A significant number of these locations are now a long way inland, so how can they be islands ?
The following pages explain my findings as to the origin of the ay's
Analysing the ay's in the Pevensey Bay
Analysing the ay's in the Wash
Implications
The implication of the above two articles is that the sea level in Later Roman/Early Saxon times was about 4.5
metres higher than today.
There is a possibility that the sea level rise was only 2 - 3 metres higher as the areas I have used
for the analysis, the Fens and the Pevensey Marshes have been drained over time and therefore the land has sunk by about
2 metres due to the drying out of the underlying peat.
However, the 4.5 metre mark would then show the high tide mark in these areas.
Other articles that imply this 4.5 metre sea level change
Roman Roads that appear to stop and unidentified places
and a theoretical explanation of why which may or may not be correct
Landscape - High Tide changes in the last 2000 years
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Local Interest
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