Old English Place Names and the Early History of England

[@Fairysnuff]

I’m 55 now, and have never been academic in the slightest… I struggle, and always have, with anything cerebral.. much to my surprise, this video came up in my YT recommendations and i was reminded of my interest (when I was about 14), in the language of the CAnterbury tales at school (thank you mr Mason for that… this amazing man made a class full of hideously behaved teenagers beg to be allowed to read ‘just one more’ chapter of a story that none of us would EVER have picked up left to our own devices )… your wonderful video is now going to lead me down a long and interesting rabbit hole of English language and place names I might have no qualifications from school or beyond, but YT gives me the chance to learn now and I do SO enjoy it… Subscribed !!

[@Odo55]

Fairysnuff, I love your comment‼️

[@jk-gn2fu]

Please come back to us... We need you. Teach us more...

[@jonathanconnor8190]

My favourite English place name is Giggleswick. Which means goose farm in modern English.

[@starrcitizenalpha7847]

Ƿes þu hal! That was a delightful and illuminating presentation. We see many of the same names used here in Australia, although, of course, we don't have the same direct historical connection. It's still fascinating to learn of the origins of the names. Iċ þancie þē. Be well.

[@FredPauling]

How does this channel not have more subscribers? Fascinating history, well presented.

[@curtpiazza1688]

Enjoyable informative video! 😊

[@DudeFromDust]

Thanks for the videos about Old English! 3 years ago I started learning it with your videos and now I earn money making analyses of old English passages for the students of our linguistic university. Thanks again!

[@thijsporck]

A great way to make a living :)

[@danielpanizza]

Sounds like a wonderful way to make money! Could you tell me a little bit more about this?

[@DudeFromDust]

@@danielpanizza well, you won't earn a lot, that's for sure) i do it because of love to this subject. Money just proves my prowess and hence makes me happy) if you want concrete figures: i earn approximately $350 a year)

[@danielpanizza]

@@DudeFromDust Ok, I guess it's better than nothing :)

[@neywen01]

This is fascinating and brilliantly done. I could watch a hundred hours of this and not be bored at all. Greetings and many thanks.

[@Sungawakan]

Norwich and Sandwich in my opinion are from Germanic wick - fence because the first parts nor(th) and sand are also of Germanic origin. Last but not least both the Germanic and the Latin word have the same Indo-European root.

[@xXxSkyViperxXx]

why does the video keep on blurring the map at irregular intervals? it makes my eyes confused

[@davidhuber7552]

Would the Anglo-Saxonplace name ending -throp (as in Winthrop and Northrop?) be a variation of "thorp" = German

[@jonathanlong6497]

Is Leiden University acknowledged as a centre of excellence? I’m easily persuaded on the basis of these.

[@joshuabradshaw9120]

I think it's important to mention place names that combine elements of Brittonic and Old English to demonstrate the coexistence of both peoples. For example, the words 'combe' (valley) and 'pen' (hill) are Brittonic in origin and used as suffixes and prefixes respectively and given to various place names in England. There was actually extensive contact between the two groups and they were not always adversaries. Many Celtic Britons continued to live in their ancestral lands while under Anglo Saxon rule. King Ine of Wessex ruled over an area that also included Kent in eastern England in the late 7th and early 8th centuries, and laws were made that reflected the social status of both groups that favored the Germanic peoples over the subjugated Celts. However it should be noted that some of the previous kings of Wessex (Cedric, Cynric, Cenwahl, Caedwalla) as well as Mercia (Penda, Pybba) had Celtic names, so it's likely they had knowledge of Brittonic while at the same time encouraging the adoption of Anglo Saxon culture and language amongst the lower classes of Britons. Notably the predeccesor of Ine, King Caedwalla, had a Celtic name and ruled in the late 7th century so it seems that Brittonic faded away slowly rather than rapidly.

[@joshadams8761]

Strong video! I would broaden the analysis to Scotland, where cities like Dumfries and Edinburgh also have interest etymologies. On an unrelated note, a variant of the -ham suffix is also present in the French village name Bazinghen.

[@stumccabe]

This is not my subject, but I have heard it stated that the origin of the river names "Thames", "Tamar" and similar variations, is pre-Celtic.

[@natanaeltorres6892]

Thank you for the information ❤

[@anibalcesarnishizk2205]

Superbly done!!!!.Congratulations!!!.Years of research and hard work bring these results.So ,Stanley would sound in German this way:Steinslage.

[@milosit]

I understand my hometown of Bradford to be the site of a broad ford across a river or stream.

[@leornendeealdenglisc]

Lovely video. I enjoyed this and a learned a lot!

[@LearnRunes]

While realising that it's popularly believed that the name of England comes from the Old English "Ængla land" (meaning, Angles' land), given what you say @4:15, and how in Scots England is spelt "Ingland", could an alternative etymology for England render the meaning of "the land of the people"?

[@callummason6589]

Ing-land, ingwaz or freyr in norse was the god of the English commen people especially the farmers class who would have settled England, the elites worshiped woden, the mercenaries or warriors thunor and the farmer ING. ING is named as kin in the word k-ing and his title means Lord, he is named in many names and verbs in English (equivalent to the norse son).

[@longuevalnz]

England is pronounced Ingland in modern English. The reason is simple : it’s the effect the the nasal ng sound has had on the vowel sound before it, raising from an original a (angla-land) to e (engla-land) to then to i (ingland, the modern pronunciation). It’s just a phonetic thing.

[@santosh99samuel]

So Southampton is south home town?

[@xXxSkyViperxXx]

the northern saxons were more likely the saxons that settled in mercia and wherever north, but since they were spread out more, there was no single place to call a place that meant north saxon. those saxons in the north most likely just got assimilated to the english populations in those northern areas

[@LiamsLyceum]

Was that ecclesiastical pronunciation for “vicus”?

[@marijntaal1531]

Very nice video! That 'badger' looks suspiciously like a skunk though...

[@RogerRobinson79]

Is he changing his accent as he names the places depending on where they are in the country ?

[@Dunkle0steus]

Aw I missed the premiere

[@fortheloveofmusic860]

Nice presentation though with one mistake; the -wich element in Norwich and Ipswich isn't roman. Both are Anglo-Saxon. Wich/Wyc is an early loan word from latin vicus though.

[@freebornjohn2687]

Nice video. Why do the Celts have anvils on their heads?

[@thijsporck]

Not an anvil, but my MS Paint rendition of the Waterloo Helmet! See en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterloo_Helmet

[@invisableobserver]

I have heard that in the 1500's that the English language was influenced by satanic & witch spells so that saying the words is like saying an incantation unknowingly, even the word "spell" is an incantation. Have you noticed all the words Shakespeare added to the language? It was a time when English was being reformed & history re-written, also why was it being reformed? Thank you for your videos.

[@clairewood9038]

Can anyone help me? I have recently been perturbed by a couple of videos I’ve seen saying that actually the English used to sound like Americans do now. Is there any truth to that?

[@nobodyqwertyu]

No, it's not even close really. This comes from a misunderstanding of historians trying to re-create Shakespeare's accent. If you find some productions on KZbin from the globe theatre that did a Shakespeare production with a reconstructed accent, you can hear it sounds like a lot of different modern accents blended together. But it doesn't sound anything like a Standard upper-class British accent

[@clairewood9038]

@@nobodyqwertyu thank you for responding - I love all the accents from around the UK and can appreciate how they have probably developed and changed over time but the idea that old English sounded American just made me … sad, for some reason.

[@harrynewiss4630]

No it's nonsense but Americans keep on repeating it anyway

[@_blank-_]

The Normans didn't leave a mark 🤔

[@martinemussies]

Seven more days... 😅

[@Judesmood118]

🤣 norsex…. Nossex… no sex