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Anglo Saxon place names


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surnames were not used in England before the mediaeval period - at around the mid to late 14th century, actually - unless you were of the very high aristocracy/gentry, in which case your surname would tend to reflect a placename. Johannes de Stoke or some such.

Wow! you really ARE an aristo, then! I KNEW it! ;)

Edited by Northern Neil
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Who opened this can of worms? Oh well....

Well me, actually....

 

I'm sorry, but I don't think Dauntsey means 'Isle of the Danes'. It was recorded as 'Dometesig' in the year 850, and seems to mean 'Island of a man named Domgeat' (an Old English personal name).

The translation was made by someone far more learned than me, and there's no guarantee that the place wasn't renamed for some reason after AD850. But I take your point.

 

Sorry this is so long, but you took me back a few years: I did an essay on place names for my Ancient History degree. Oh dear, it's all coming back to me now! Help......

Don't apologise. It was worth posting and adds to the debate.

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In the Viking languages there was a tendency to change the soft 'sh' sound to a harder 'sk' sound. Therefore, 'shirt' and 'skirt' originally meant the same thing. Only later has there been the divide into two separate items of clothing.

 

A nice thought, sonic. I am now picturing an early Germanic tribesman waking up in the morning, looking vaguely at his one undifferentiated item of clothing, and trying to remember: "Above or below the waist?"

 

Safest to go back to sleep.

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