Does anyone know the meaning of the English word "Billingsgate?"

mibmob

Well it can mean to be abusive after the old fish market in the city of London where people were very coarse in their language (cf. - she's got a mouth like a fish wife). The actual etymology of Billingsgate may simply be that the gate belonged to the entrance to a piece of land belonging to people called Billing or that there was a small stream underneath called the Billing. I didn't come across it when I wrote about place names (plugplug)in London for Time Out. London place names have some extraordinary origins. Aug 06 03, 1:01 PM

riotgrrl

'Billing' is supposedly a corruption of 'Belinus', an apparently mythological King of the Britons. http://www.noelcollection.org/noel/ackermann/billingsgate.html Aug 06 03, 1:06 PM

mibmob

http://www.geocities.com/mikerdna/missalany6.html Says it was named after the god Belenos along with Billingshurst in Sussex... you just can't tell can you. Aug 06 03, 1:13 PM

jackolant

Is 'Billingsgate' an English word? Or is a just a word for somewhere in England? Aug 07 03, 9:37 AM

mibmob

It's a place in the city of London famed for it's fish market. The new Billingsgate where they actually sell fish has moved to Docklands but historically the area in the city still remains. Aug 07 03, 9:42 AM

Flem-ish

By the way the "Belinus" who riotgrrl refers to is called "Bel" by the Goidelic Celts e.g. in the name of the Beltaine Feast. The name of Shakespeare's 'King Cymbeline' is also related to "Belinus".Its Celtic form was more like "Cuno-Belinus" or "Belinus' Hound" Aug 12 03, 4:13 PM