A couple of months ago someone asked about the meaning of a village name so I reserved the library book 'The Dictionary of Suffolk Place-Names". I've finally got around to writing a post .
So many of our village names in Suffolk date back to Old English - that is mid 5th to mid 12th Centuries. They often feature the name of Anglo Saxon settlers who came here after the collapse of the Roman Empire from areas in and around what is now Germany.
If not named from the landowner then the name often derives from the landscape where the village began.
The Doomsday Book from 1086 has the first references to almost every parish, later mentions are on estate maps for villages belonging to the Lord of the Manor or belonging to religious Abbeys and Priories.
The names have changed bit by bit over the years until the time most people could read and write and then the spelling became more fixed, this usually happened around the mid 1700s.
These are the meanings of a few of the villages in Mid Suffolk.............
Haughley = Hawthorn wood or clearing. Earlier recorded names were Hagenet,Haugle,Hawleigh
Mendlesham = Myndel's Homestead. Earlier recorded names Melnesham, Meldeham
Wetherden = Wether Valley. (Wether is a castrated ram) Earlier names were Wederdena, Wethirden
Bacton = Bacca's estate, farmstead. Earlier names were Bachetuna, Baketuna.
Cotton = Codda's estate farmstead. Earlier names were Codetuna, Cottuna
Stowmarket = Meeting place with a market. Earlier names were Stou, Stowe Sancte marie and but more mentions of Tornai or Tonei which became Thorney Green an area of open land on the edge of Stowmarket.
Ipswich (County Town) =. Probably from Gip or Gippis trading port/ harbour. Or an old English noun gip meaning gap or opening referring to the estuary. Earlier names were Gypeswich, Gippewici,Ipswyche.
Something I didn't know was that while we think some village names come from the rivers that run through them it's actually the other way round. Rivers were not named until maps were needed and in common use - and the map makers would name the river from the village sometime making up names that sounded right.
For instance the River Lark that runs through Bury St Edmunds, is a back formation from Lackford and has tributaries called 'The Linnet' and 'The Dove' - names unknown until they were labelled on an early map.
Thank you to whoever asked about a village name meaning and I can't remember which name they asked about - but looking through this book has been interesting.
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Thank you for this, place names are so interesting. People often try to guess what they mean but languages change a lot through time. Here in Brittany some local historians have gathered and studied them but there are not many books. I recently met someone who spent over 20 years travelling Breton-speaking Brittany to record place names pronunciation.
ReplyDeleteMaguy
What an interesting thought that rivers were named after settlements etc. I've never come across that before, love the rivers Lark, Linnet and Dove.
ReplyDeletePenny
So fascinating, thankyou!
ReplyDeleteVery interesting thank you. Regards Sue H
ReplyDeleteUK place names are a history in themselves. Where I grew up in North Yorkshire many names are from the Norse, because of Viking incursions.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great book! I used to really like looking up all the place names. It's so interesting where the names came from. I also used to look up the names of the streets around where I used to live. A lot of the older ones used to be named after the families who lived on the 'estates' that became the housing estates when the old houses were torn down, same with some of the parks around where I lived. I do like history!
ReplyDeleteThe origins of place names are interesting and often give a clue to the pronunciation at the time and how accents have changed and maybe standardised.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this, at school I struggled to pay attention and now I'm a lot older have plenty of learning to catch up on and I enjoy that!
ReplyDeleteAlison in Devon x
love books like this one. I recently purchased one of the origins of place names in Wales.
ReplyDeleteAs part of a "get out the vote" project I'm writing postcards to potential voters and have found place names (and even street names) in a unfamiliar to me part of my state to be a fascinating side study. Many seem to repeat place names from "home" but others are based on local geologic features (Stony Creek for example, or Low Ground Road). I would enjoy a book like the one you are reading! Maybe I'll have to write one.
ReplyDeleteCeci
My city, Naperville, is named after Joseph Naper who settled here in 1831 so not so long ago compared to your villages! ;)
ReplyDeleteRe Haughley deriving from Hawthorn Wood with Hagenet being one of the early versions, in German hawthorn is Hagendorn. There's your Anglo-Saxon.
ReplyDeleteChristine in Germany
We have a Bacton in the Dore Valley of Herefordshire. Your book sounds very interesting reading. Names here are of course Welsh. Our River Lugg, derives from the Welsh Afon Llugwy - "bright stream".
ReplyDelete"Baketuna" sounds like some kind of casserole. That IS interesting about the rivers. I always thought the river names came before the town names.
ReplyDeleteSo very interesting on how the names of the villages were chosen and how some might have changed.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
Fascinating read, thank you! Of course you left me with a very big question...so how did Bury St Edmunds get its name...and there i went, down another rabbit hole!
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