A Dictionary of British Place-NamesThis revised edition of the Dictionary of British Place-Names includes over 17,000 engaging and informative entries, tracing the development of the featured place-names from earliest times to the present day. Included place-names range from the familiar to the obscure, among them 'Beer', 'Findlater', 'Broadbottom', and 'Great Snoring'. The A to Z entries are complemented by a detailed introductory essay discussing the chronology and development of English, Irish, Welsh, and Scottish place-names, as well as an extensive bibliography, maps of Britain showing old and new boundaries, and a glossary of common elements in place-names. Also new to this edition is an appendix of recommended web links pointing to relevant online resources, thereby expanding the scope of the dictionary and providing the reader with an opportunity to explore the subject further. Both accessible and up to date, this dictionary is an ideal companion for anybody travelling around the British Isles, as well as for researchers and students with an interest in toponomy, local history, cartography, and lexicography. |
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Somewhat useful. However, I have found at least 15 incorrect meanings for village names within a 12 mile radius of my house. This maybe because the author has simply regurgitated the meanings given by so called historians and archeologists (usually by attributing the name of a random unknown person rather than looking at the landscape) instead of making a serious study of how anglo-saxons used language to describe places.
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All 5 reviews »Anybody who includes Ireland in a book about "British Place-Names" really is nailing their jingoistic British Empire-loving anti-Irish politics to the highest mast available. Really pathetic stuff. Well done, David Mills
Contents
Dictionary of British Place Names | 1 |
Glossary of Some Common Elements in British Place Names | 519 |
Select Bibliography for Further Reading | 526 |
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Common terms and phrases
12th cent Antrim Baile burh dative byrig burna Cambs Celtic river-name meaning Ches church Cill Cork Cornwall Cumbria dative plural form denu Derbys Devon Distinguishing affixes Donegal Dorset E. R. Yorks early possession Essex Estate associated examples include family or followers farm farmstead or hamlet Farmstead or village feld ford Gaelic Galway genitive plural Glos grow halh ham or hamm Hants Herefs hill Homestead or enclosure Homestead or village hyll Identical in origin ingas island Kent Kerry Lancs leah Leics Limerick Lincs Manorial affix Mayo name genitive name means Nook of land Norfolk Northants Northum Notts OE pers OE tun Offaly OFrench Open land OScand Outlying farmstead Oxon place name Possibly farmstead previous name Probably farmstead ridge River settlement Shrops Somerset spring or stream stronghold Suffolk Sussex Tipperary Townland tu¯n Tyrone valley Warwicks wella Welsh Westmeath Wilts wood or clearing Woodland clearing Worcs wudu
Bibliographic information
| Title | A Dictionary of British Place-Names Oxford Quick Reference Oxford paperback reference Oxford reference online |
| Author | David Mills |
| Editor | David Mills |
| Edition | illustrated, reprint, revised |
| Publisher | OUP Oxford, 2011 |
| ISBN | 019960908X, 9780199609086 |
| Length | 532 pages |
| Subjects | › › Reference / Atlases, Gazetteers & Maps Reference / General Science / Earth Sciences / Geography |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |