More British Placenames Quiz | Etymology

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1. In Welsh placenames (LLandudno; Llandovery; Llangollen; Llanthony) the word 'Llan-' often pops up. What does it mean?

Answer: church

Although Llananthony seems to mean St. Anthony's Church the origin is Llandewi Nant Hodni, which means St. David's Church in the valley of the Honddu River. Llangollen = St. Collens Church. Llandudno is St.Tudno's church. Llandovery = church by the stream.

2. There is a long list of 'mouth- names' in England. Dartmouth, Plymouth, Falmouth, Teignmouth, Exmouth, Weymouth, etc. In Wales there are many town-names that refer to a rivermouth as well. Which of these Welsh words is the equivalent of -mouth in Welsh placenames?

Answer: aber

Cwm stans for combe, valley. Cwmbran; Cwmcarn. Combe can be found in a number of English placenames as well. Winchcombe; Combe Martin;High Wycombe; Salcombe; Ilfracombe. Pwll is the equivalent of pool. Pontypool; Welshpool; Pwllheli. Rhos for moorland appears as Rhos and as Ross - Rhos-on-Sea; Ross-on-Wye. Among the Aber-names many are near to the sea: Abergele; Aberdovey; Aberystwyth; Aberporth; Aberaeron.

There are also some 'inland-rivermouths' ,or rivermouths of rivers flowing into another river.

3. A frequent phenomenon among Welsh placenames are the Car- and Caer- names. 'Car-' and Caer-' mean a fortified place. Which of these means the 'fort of the legions'?

Answer: Caerleon

Caerleon originally was called Isca Legionis. Isca referred to the river Usk. Later it became Caer Legionis. Caernarvon is where the Roman camp of Segontium was. The name means Fort ar Fon, Fon being the Welsh name for Anglesey. In other words: fort facing Anglesey.

The river here is called the Seiont. Cardiff means fort on the Taff. Carlisle the fort of Luguvalium. Luguvalium was eroded to Luel. Car Luel was finally re-interpreted as Car-Lisle.

4. Street stood for a 'Roman Road'. Yet not every name that looks like a 'street'-name is one. Which of these is the only real 'street'-name?

Answer: Streatham

Strathclyde means Valley of the Clyde. Strath derives from Srath - valley. Mor is Gaelic for great. So Strathmore literally means the Big Valley. Stratton developed from Straetneat on Triconscire. Or Valley of the Neat-river in the territory of the Tricorii, the tribe of the so-called 'three-army people'.

There are some other Strattons however in which the link is indeed with strata: road; steet. Examples: Stratton Audley; Stratton on the Fosse;Stratton St. Margaret. Streatham in Greater London (SW16) means: house or homestead near to the Roman street.

5. Bourne, burn, born is very common. Examples: Eastbourne, Fishbourne, Bournemouth, Blackburn, etc. What do those endings mean?

Answer: a spring or stream

A typical phenomenon is that here English has another position of the R than German or Dutch, which have Brunnen or bron. Only Middle Dutch preserved the R in the original position: e.g. the hamlet Driebornen, meaning place with three springs.

6. What do all of these placenames have in common: Londonderry; Kildare; Greenock; Matlock?

Answer: Their name refers to the proximity of oaktrees

Matlock means meeting-place by the oaks. Greenock is quite simply a green oak. Daire is an oakwood. Londonderry now comically seems to mean: London-style oakwood. Kildare: church of or near the oak. Maybe a Christian chapel was built near a holy oak? Oakham looks like an oak-word but is not; it means Occa's home. Cp. Ockam the philosopher. Baldock has no link with oaks either.It is a phonetic evolution of Baldac - the early French word for Baghdad! The town was founded by the Lord Templars.

7. Ness is Old Norse for a cape, a piece of land that protrudes like a nose. Which of these names is the only one that both means village on the cape and is purely Scandinavian in its composition ?

Answer: Thorpeness

Thorpe means farm or village and is related to German Dorf. 'Inver-' is a Gaelic alternative for Aber:rivermouth. Usually written as inbhir. Barrow-in-Furness means 'headland or hill' in the peninsula of furness (from futh - ness). Sheerness means bright headland. Sheer is Old English. Another ness-name is Bowness-on-Windermere.

8. Ey as an ending can either derive from Anglo-Saxon ea (water), Anglo-Saxon eg (island) or Old Norse ey (also island). Some of the island names are easy to read: Sheppey is of course 'island with the sheep'.Ramsey seems easy but does not mean rams' island at all. 'Hramsa' = wild garlic. What is usually accepted to be the meaning of Anglesey?

Answer: island of the Angles

The island of the eels was Ely amidst the Fens in Cambridgeshire (and Norfolk). Anguilles means eels and would have been known by the Normans, but it's not the Normans who called the island Anglesey. In the 12th century the historian William of Malmesbury explained it as Anglorum Insula, the island occupied by the Angles.

As it was flat it was easier to conquer than e.g. Snowdonia. This explanation is contested by some who think it is related to a personal name, possibly Ongull. What is definitely certain is that the Celts called it Mon, and the Romans made Mona of it. And Mon means, illogically enough for a completely flat area: mountain!

9. The placenames Stow-on-the-Wold and Woodstock, which are relatively near to each other, both mean the same

Answer: True

Stock, stow and stoke all mean (holy) meeting-place. As wold is identical to wood the two placenames have indeed the same meaning. Other meeting-places: Radstock; Tavistock; Stoke-on-Trent.

10. Some names of cities are found all over the world, but then in a local version. Which of the following English placenames mirrors the basic meaning of world-famous cities as Novgorod in Russia and Naples (in Greek Neapolis) in Italy? Or also Neuville, Vilanova, ..?

Answer: Newtown

Novgorod is not a port. An equivalent of Newcastle might have been Neufchateau in Belgium or Chateauneuf in France and also Neuchatel in Switzerland. Newport, Newhaven, Nyhavn, Nieuwpoort ... all are 'interchangeable' as to meaning.

Source: Author flem-ish

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More British Placenames Trivia Quiz

Part of British history can be found back in the many Latin, Welsh, Old Norse and Gaelic placenames that complete the Anglo-Saxon picture a map of Britain offers. Finding out what a placename means is often easier than you might think. Just have a try.

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