Books 2013: The Book of English Place Names

I started reading this book more than a year ago, then got busy and forgot all about it until now. My friends laugh at me for enjoying reading this kind of literature, but it is really interesting. But I guess you need to have a certain relationship to England to see the joy in it! This is, as the title suggests, a book about place names. The author, Caroline Taggart, has structured the names according to geographic regions and you can jump back and forth between your favourite places, or read it from a -z, like I did, starting with the South-West and ending with the North-East.

I like etymology, and I like to know the meaning of place names. And it's not boring at all. Taggart writes for you and me and everyone interested in the history of place names. You certainly don't have to be an expert to enjoy it. Here are lots of examples of how place names changed because the Normans couldn't pronounce the original name, which is why we get Skipton and Kirk in the north (Scandinavian influence) and Shipton and Church in the south. It also turns out that quite a few of the river names actually mean river! Esk (Axe-, Exe- etc.) comes from the Celtic word for water or river. Ea or ey in place names (like Romney) often means river (we have the same in Norway - å). The Thames and Avon are other examples of names which apparently mean river.

A lot of place names also come from persons, particulary 'lords of the manor', which gives us Milton Keynes and Bovey Tracey for instance, or up north where you find Scarborough, after the viking warrior Thorgil, nicknamed Skarthi.

I find it fascinating to read about the Scandinavian influence on English place names, seen, for example, in names ending with -by, the Norwegian word for town. Or the celtic influence, that is particularly strong in Cornwall and Wales, like Tintagel meaning "fort by the neck of land". I could go on forever ... There are so many interesting explanations and so  many examples of how history is everywhere, even in names.    


Taggart, Caroline (2011): The Book of English Place Names: How Our Towns and Villages Got Their Names. Ebury Press.