The Origin & Meaning of English County Names

[@General.Knowledge]

*Which country's regions / provinces should I make a video on next?*

[@benjiestcor3232]

Spain's provinces!! (Not autonomous regions)

[@Expert_Noob]

RUSSIA!

[@furawatchi23]

I think you should do the Indian subcontinent

[@danhess2]

Switzerland’s cantons are super fun and fascinating because you’re sourcing names not just from medieval sources, but medieval sources of like 4+ different ethnic groups. Different Germanic tribes, Frankish, Celtic, Roman, and more

[@DavidLimofLimReport]

New Zealand's historic provinces

[@Ibis117]

A worthy effort on the pronunciations: the Map Men (Jay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones) have a video pointing out the complete lack of logic/consistency in English place name pronunciation. It's almost as if we've designed to be unintelligible.

[@General.Knowledge]

They do! They make great videos.

[@CardinaliamYT]

@@General.Knowledge Yeah, those videos are addicting.

[@DylanSargesson]

17:23 It's not "North Hamptonshire", its "Northamptonshire", which like many of the -shire counties is just named after its County Town, Northampton.

[@jacobparry177]

Henffych well i fy nghyd-wladwyr yng Ngymbria! Greetings to my fellow compatriots in Cumbria. Extra fun facts: the Cy in Cymru is pronounced exactly like the Cu in Cumbria. The Cy/Cu in the two names mean Fellow, together. The mru/mbri means Land. The older Latin name for Wales was Cambria, before it got replaced with Wallia (The Latinized form of Wales, or older Wealas). Another interesting point is that the name Cumbria looks a lot closer to the Brittonic word Kombroges, because it retains the mb sound cluster, which has disappeared in Welsh. Some of the oldest Welsh Poetry, like Y Gododdin (The Votadini, note that Latin V = a W sound, and that Common-Brittonic Wo became Go in old Welsh), is set around Northern England and southern Scotland. There were also Brittonic (essentially old welsh) speaking kingdoms around modern day Cumbria, the most notable Being Rheged, after which a cultural heritage centre in the county is named. There are also a few Old Welsh placenames in the county, such as Penrith (Pen = Hill, headland, rith could either be Rhyd, a ford, or Rhudd, ruddy) and Carlisle (Caerliwelydd- Caer = fort, Liwelydd, Lugus, a Celtic god). In the aforementioned poem, Y Gododdin, a few places are named, and some of them have modern names: Llwyfennydd - Lyvennet Arfderydd Gwenystrad Derwennydd - Derwent. Some people believe that a unique Celtic language was spoken in and around Cumbria, linguists call it Cumbric, and it survives through placenames and personal names, like Gospatrick (Gwas Padrig- gwas meaning servant). Others believe it was merely an early dialect of Old Welsh and not too dissimilar to the dialects of Welsh spoken in modern Wales and what we now call Shropshire and Herefordshire. And to finish off my nerdy facts, here's a quick guide to Welsh pronounciation: Welsh has 8 vowel sounds represented by 7 vowel letters: A E I O U W Y A as in Hand, bat, father E as in End, friend, and the a in care. I as in Sweet, heave, and as in the Y in yes, yellow. O as in Gone, on, horn. U as in the i in kit, fit, hit. W as in Cool, fool, pool, also as in Water, wait. Y as in the U in Run, fun, and as in the Y in Wynne, win, pin. Consonants: B as in bet, never doubt or debt. C as In Cumbria, never science, cell. Ch as in the proper Scottish pronounciation of Loch, or scouse book. D as in Do, dare. Dd as in the th in This, that. F as in Of, very, voice Ff as in Off, find, fair. G as in Gone, never gel, germ. H as in Help, never hour. J as in Jam, never fjord. L as in Label. Ll = place your tongue in the position you would to pronounce an L, but sort of hiss from one side of your mouth, keeping the tongue jn the same position. M as in mam, merry N as in No, never P as in Pen. Ph as in Physics R rolled R. Rh an aspirated rolled R. S as in See, said, never as in dogs, dares. If followed by an i and another vowel, e.g. Siarad, the the Si is pronounced Sh (sharad) T as in Ten, twenty. Never a glottal stop as in Bohle (bottle) waher (water) Th as in Thin, think. Also, quick look at the celtic family tree: Proto-Celtic > Proto-Brittonic: Welsh Cornish Breton Possibly Cumbric and Pictish. Proto-Celtic > Proto-goidelic: Irish: Scottish gaelic Manx Possibly Pictish (Pictish is disputed, but from what evidence we have, we can say it was most likely a descendant of Proto-Celtic.

[@ferretyluv]

That’s interesting. There’s a kid in a class of mine who goes by Rhys, which should be pronounced “hrrus” according to you but he pronounces it “Reese.”

[@jacobparry177]

@ferretyluv @ferretyluv So, the thing with the Welsh Y is that it can be pronounced two ways, as mentioned in my main comment. In names like Rhys the Y is pronounced with a long version of the i in Kit (I'll represent long vowels with a doubled vowel) so Hrriiss (as opposed to Hrriss which would rhyme with Kiss) There are rules which dictate when Y is pronounced like the U in Run, or like the i in Kit, but as a fluent speaker of Welsh, the rule just comes naturally, so I couldn't really explain why Y is sometimes pronounced like the u in run or the i of Kit. Some words with 2 Ys have both pronounciations, like: Tywys (to lead) - Tu-wiss Mynydd (mountain) - mun-ith (th as in the) A safe bet is to assume that if a word is longer than one syllable, the first Y will be U, and the second i. But in words/names with only one syllable the Y will most likely (but not always) be the i sound: Rhys - Hrriiss Tŷ (house) - tii Tyst (witness) - tist Yw - iw (think of the w here as in the w of Ew) But: Dy (your) - du Dylan (du-lan. Not di-lan) And so on. Apologies if that was overly long and made no sense👀

[@thespectre717]

When your pronouncing shire it’s always pronounced as sheer, example being Berkshire is pronounced Barksheer, Derbyshire being Darbysheer, Cheshire being Chesheer, Hertfordshire being pronounced Hartfordsheer, and Leicestershire is pronounced as Lestersheer but honestly you did your best, much love from Wiltshire Uk 🇬🇧

[@stuiec]

Tbf personally I don't really pronounce the r bit at all unless the next word starts with a vowel (and I think a lot of people are the same) it's just sh and a "schwa" /ə/ sound.

[@davidhillyeah]

Worcestershire is pronounced Wuss-ter-sher (UK) Don't over complicate it. The city of Worcester is Wuster. Shire is pronounced "sheer" So it's "wustersheer".

[@thomasbowers5199]

From what I remember from Map Men's episode on the topic, it depends on the UK accent. "-shire" can be pronounced "sheer" or "sher". Then again, there might be a preferred pronunciation per county kzbin.info/www/bejne/nnTGYYKprrKVh80

[@davidhillyeah]

@@thomasbowers5199 lets be honest its the worcester part that people struggle with the most. sheer or sher is either or really. but in the midlands area we probably lean more to the sheer pronouncation.

[@noahbrock349]

And Leicestershire is pronounced "Lestersher", Hertfordshire is pronounced "Hartfordsher" and the "Here" in Herefordshire is has two syllables.

[@ferretyluv]

He’s Portuguese, give him a break.

[@cdanerz3677]

He's Portuguese and lives in Portugal so we should just give him the past cos even Australians would probably say shire not sheer

[@MTPF2903]

Love your content! I have a small correction: Londinium is not a pre-Roman name, that is a Latin name theorised to be based on a pre-existing Britonnic name, which has been reconstructed as Londinion and is generally accepted. The segment is otherwise correct as far as I know, and it would still mean the same thing, but the -um suffix is Latin.

[@MTPF2903]

Also, Leicestershire is pronounced like Lestershire, and Worcestershire is pronounced like Wustershire. They both have three syllables when spoken but it looks like four when written if you are unfamiliar. I can't explain why, and I know plenty of English people that make these mistakes! Overall, great attempts. No criticisms here just looking to provide some extra info :)

[@General.Knowledge]

Thanks for the correction!

[@rogink]

@@MTPF2903 Burk-shire, Durby-shire!

[@brettevill9055]

The Saxon term "wealas", which appears in the etymology of "Wales" and "Cornwall", is a bit more specific than "foreigners". It referred to speakers of Latin and Romance languages, and subjects of the Roman Empire. Its cognates appear in, for example, "Wallachia" (in Romania), "Wallonia" (in Belgium), "Valland" in Old Norse legends. It seems to come originally from the name of a prominent Celtic group, the Volcae or Οὐόλκαι, who were as far as the early German were concerned the people who lived across the Roman frontier from them.

[@samuell.foxton4177]

Parish Councils are a different type of entity... Counties are (usually) divided into Boroughs or Districts, which are the municipal (local) authorities. Many of these are "parished", having local Parish councils which usually cover a village, town or part of a town (and these are called "Community Councils" in Wales). To make things even more confusing, a "Town Council" is usually the level of a Parish council, and there can exist Town and Borough/District councils with the same name. Also, some local authorities are only partly parished, with areas that don't have a Town/Parish Council. Oh, and some Counties are now either non-existent as authorities (eg Berkshire) or a Unitary Authority of themselves...

[@docksider]

You are right about rivers, many rivers in England are called Avon, from the Welsh word Afon, which means river (the single f is pronounced as a v).

[@charlievaughan7823]

I think you made the right decision on which map to use. Most people in England know the ceremonial counties best and they're the ones whose borders are on the road signs.

[@D.B-s9x]

NO! I for one will never accept them!!

[@animatechap5176]

Me neither, my home county of Warwickshire has been robbed of Coventry and Birmingham lol

[@noahbrock349]

@@charlievaughan7823 I will never except such vain, artificial constructs.

[@brahmhenkins8732]

The "shire" suffix is pronounced as "sher". :) The pronunciations take a while to wrap your head around. But then there is Wales. Thank you for the interesting facts.

[@krisinsaigon]

Shire is pronounced to rhyme with Fire But when it’s on a county it is pronounced differently, with an -uh- not and -I- sound Cheshuh Lancashuh

[@calum5975]

Depends on your accent. For me it's "Lanca-shih"

[@Hendricus56]

I feel like you should have watched the MapMan video on English county/city names. Would have probably cleared up a lot of confusion for you

[@leemycookiesofficial]

The way you pronounced "shire" in Yorkshire is how it should be pronounced in every single one of these 😊

[@IkarosWaltz]

Your Old English pronunciation is pretty good, a few minor mistakes, but I can correct if you need to use Old English again haha. Sc in Old English is "Sh", so the "scir" in words is just "Shire" pronounced "Sheer" back then. Most (but not all) Cs are a soft "Ch" (typically marked with a dot: ċ, to differentiate from the hard C), which is why the "Castra" became "Chester". Brycg Stowe would be pronounced "Bridge Stow". Eoforwic would be something like "Yover witch" or "Ever witch" or somewhere roughly between the two. "Scrobbesbyrigscir" would be "Shrobbas bee-ree sheer". þ and ð are both "Th", typically ð would be as in "Then", and þ in "thing" but they can and were often used interchangeably, and W is always W, rather than V, which was a later development in Continental Germanic languages, which used to use W too, but only English and Dutch seem to have kept. But, otherwise you did pretty well for someone with no experience, certainly better than my first attempts lol.

[@jonathanwebster7091]

The 'Lynn' in respect to Lincoln (my home city!) and by extension Lincolnshire, originally referred to Brayford Pool (the enclosed body of water-not quite a lake as its connected to the sea via the River Witham and Fossdyke, but almost) that the city was built around. When the Romans arrived, there was already celtic settlements (Oppida) around what is now Brayford Pool, and they built their city on the ridge above it, and built the Fossdyke (Britain's oldest working canal) to connect the Brayford to the rivers Trent and Humber, and ultimately the sea in the opposite direction. The original celtic name was probably something like 'Llandun' or 'Lynndon'. So from that, it was latinised and became 'Lindum Colonia'-a Colonia or Colony being a Roman city where retired soldiers were allowed to settle once they retired (Cologne had a similar origin to its name, as it was also a Colonia). And when the Saxons invaded and took over the area, they simply shortened 'Lindum Colonia' to 'Lin-coln'-Lincoln.

[@CaseyJonesNumber1]

1:46 in England (and British English) it is pronounced "Leftenancy".

[@calum5975]

A bit more on Bristol. The W became an L due to snobbery. In some accents in England (namely around London), Ls at the end of a word get reduced into a kind of W. So, ball becomes baw. Bristol doesnt have this accent quirk, but rich londoners who despised the working class londoners who did have this accent quirk, decided that "Bristow" must have been an 'incorrect' form of Bristol. The name was then spelt with an L to 'correct' it.

[@catherinebutler4819]

Interesting - I've always thought it's because of the quirk that the Bristol accent does have, of adding an "l" to words that don't have a consonant ending. "Area" becomes "areal", etc. So, "Bristow"' --> "Bristol" makes sense.

[@brianlewis5692]

Anglo-Saxon England lasted up until 1066~1154 AD. 'Derbyshire' - this is pronounced like "DARB-i-shur"

[@maiquedrop]

Fellow tuga here, I think "-cester" is pronounced "stuh" and "-shire" is pronounced "shuh", so Worcestershire should sound like "Wostuhshuh" if i'm not mistaken Great video though, keep it up :)

[@z0phi3l]

Now you gotta do Scotland and Ireland (both )

[@JoeBidenOfficial]

And Wales

[@Redcoat_]

Also Northern Ireland.

[@OscarPlymouth]

@@JoeBidenOfficial Don't do that to him. That's just cruel!

[@calum5975]

Scotland's a little confusing as they no longer use Counties though.

[@z0phi3l]

@@calum5975 Like for this video he can use the old traditional counties or whatever they're called

[@dnstone1127]

A 'Derby' in football comes from the famous Epsom Derby horse race, meaning a big event, which local rivalries always were.

[@mattihp]

Maybe the Map men will do a video on your stuff now :D great vid as usual

[@andyjwall2]

Brave attempt. Bristol is. CUBA (the County Used to Be Avon) but also next door there is BANES (Bath and North East Somerset) ceremonial counties have limited relevance in The UK. The main issue is what colour your bins are! 7 out of 10, good effort

[@z_1599]

The "Ford" part was sooo ineresting to me, since my city of Vilvoorde, Belgium has a similair etymology (Villa by the Ford) Also since it shows another germanic similaritie between English and Dutch

[@annehersey9895]

I love learning more about Geography from the General! For Geography nuts like me, there is a great game NOT Wordle BUT WorLdle about the World. You get a new place every day and I know my Geography but this tests us well! Another one just about the US is called Statele which is also challenging and you also get a new one daily. That’s how I prefer to keep,my brain sharp-not words or number puzzles but Geography puzzles!

[@jacobduncan2142]

In the UK most place names ending in shire are pronounced sure. Like New Hampshire in the US.

[@dnstone1127]

Berkshire, Derbyshire, Hertfordshire are pronounced 'Bark', 'Darby', 'Hart'.

[@leehallam9365]

The historic counties are the ones that are alive in people's heads. No Yorkshireman thinks of themselves as a West Yorkshireman. I live in a part of Greater Manchester that was in Lancashire and people still consider themselves Lancastrians, still use Lancashire on their addresses. The big modernisation was over 50 years ago, but the pull towards old names has been strong. East Ryding of Yorkshire is a recently restored name to an area renamed Humberside in the 70s. Bristol is the last bit of the modern county of Avon, the rest of which escaped back to Somerset and Gloucestershire to which they originally belonged. Rutland had been encorporated into Leicestershire, but has since reappeared as a unitary authotrity. Just last year Cumbria ceased to operate as local authority with the reappearance of the two original counties of Westmorland and Cumberland as unitary authorities, I suspect eventually they will become counties and Cumbria which is a ancient name for the area, but never a county till the 1970s will go back to its vague position. That will continue some cities that are too big for the counties they were not the focus of will continue as Bristol has done, but gradually as more places become unitary authorities the old counties will return.

[@CaseyJonesNumber1]

I once had a Yorkshireman tell me my home county of Middlesex no longer existed. I pointed out that it was only the Middlesex County Council that was abolished in 1965, not the county, but he was adamant: no county council = no county. He wouldn't have it, so I pointed out that there is no "Yorkshire County Council" as such, to which he agreed. I suggested to him that on that basis then, Yorkshire as a county didn't exist either! He shut up then! 😄

[@hhk8811]

This video is really useful. Greetings from Derbyshire, cheers!

[@General.Knowledge]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@eliasmarud2791]

The "monster" on the Moomin mug is called "Morran" in Swedish, they are deeply missunderstood and just wants to have company =(

[@General.Knowledge]

They do look very nice!

[@johntauren]

You showed the wrong Humber (at 17:50) The picture you showed was of the same named river and bay in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Although the river is certainly named after the same river in the UK.

[@General.Knowledge]

Aaaaaah! My bad. Thanks for the correction.

[@lindakay9552]

WOW! My maiden name is Edgerton, directly descended from the Egerton nobility of Cheshire. My 10th great grandfather was a Knight of Ridley, Cheshire. His brother was Sir Thomas Egerton, 1st Viscount Brackley. My 9th great grandfather fought in the Pequot war. (William Bradford was also my 10th great grandfather. Myles Standish was my 9th great grandfather . Major Joshua Ripley was my 8th great grandfather. ) All had female descendants married into my paternal line. ) My 8th paternal great grandfather fought in King Phillip's War. My 7th great grandfather fought in the American Revolution . At least 2 of my great grandfathers on my paternal side fought in the Civil War. And paternal grandfather fought in WWII. I would say Cheshire is a military mill! P.S. I wonder if Castro derives from Castrá. I also have a 10th great grandfather Robert Abell , who was from Hemington, East Northamptonshire Borough, Northamptonshire.

[@andrewlewis9231]

All your pronunciation of county names are spot on - except for Herefordshire! (which is where I come from). It should be pronounced 'Hairy' (without the H as Herefordian's don't pronounce it in any word) 'Ford' (is pronounced 'third' as in the number) and then the Shire as in Harry Potter.------ Airy-third-shire. As to its meaning - its more likely to derived from its Welsh name - Henffordd - 'Old Crossing/road due to the old Roman route still found in Stretton Sugwas (pron 'Suggas;)

[@MaximeLoze]

For Cornwall, an interesting fact is that it's called "Cornouailles" in French. The point is that the French word for horn is 'corne', which can be found in the word ">Corn

[@cass2239]

It's a cognate because of the heavy Cornish influence on Brittany!

[@D.B-s9x]

Yes there was also a traditional Breton district of ‘Corniuaille’

[@General.Knowledge]

Thanks! And yes, that's a good idea with the French ones :)

[@MaximeLoze]

@@General.Knowledge you're welcome :)

[@iml_mistikk2592]

You forgot that Leicestershire has its etymology from The Guinness Book of World Records category for hardest tongue twisters

[@dude12494]

Long time watcher, i think for the first time commenter; would love to see the origin and meanings of some of the eastern us state counties, such as Pennsylvania with the large amount of native tribe names and language used as well as European influence

[@citationneeded-hy9iz]

This is your best video to date.

[@runtd7795]

If you ever do this with France, please do so with the historical provinces

[@HarveyJennings-zn2pl]

First mispronunciation was shire as it is pronounced shear of sher not shire

[@HarveyJennings-zn2pl]

Also is there is a e before an r it is normally pronounced as a a

[@kwhite749]

My mum was born in Oxfordshire ❤

[@davesventurestudios]

Gloucester/shire pronunciation -- Gloster/shire. The 'uce' is silent.

[@CaseyJonesNumber1]

The reason the Gloster Aircraft Company chose to spell its name that way was so foreign customers could pronounce it without difficulty!

[@davelucas7337]

​@@CaseyJonesNumber1Makes sense. We say things based on how we read.

[@rogink]

Derby? Of course the name is designed to confuse. The shire is pronounced like the city - Derby. And the contest between local teams. But I thought it originated with two teams around Ashbourne. I think his pronunciation of olde English names sounds pretty good - it's the modern names that he struggles with :) As for the counties - literally no one thinks of Bristol as a county. It's a city. A bit like saying Bremen is a state not a city.

[@CaseyJonesNumber1]

Most proud Bristolians know that Bristol is a county as well as a city! 😉

[@mammuchan8923]

An excellent job!

[@General.Knowledge]

Tjaml ypi!

[@samsonsoturian6013]

The jurisdictional insanity is from England's long history where it has broken up and reformed many times and old constitutions are rarely overwritten even when they are obsolete. America and Canada has this same problem but it is so new that they mistakenly believe they have a "one size fits all" constitution.

[@General.Knowledge]

Okay! That explains it. Thank you.

[@Stant123]

Except that your statement is NOT true for America (not Canadian so I cannot speak on their behalf). The US has one constitution at the Federal level that provides a base level of rights for the people. For example, our first amendment, giving us all the right to freedom of speech. Outside of that, the laws and rights you have depend entirely on where exactly you are because every state is different, every county is different, and every city is different. Nothing is one size fits all in the US except for the bare minimum set of rights given to all people at the Federal level, and even this in some cases isn't true as multiple laws conflict with each other. For example, the US constitution's second amendment says we can all own guns, however various states, counties and cities progressively limit what is legal and what isn't, getting as far as some cities effectively banning guns because of all of the restrictions they have in place. Each State has a constitution of their own that grants a lot more rights locally to the people that live there. We have 50 states, so that means Americans are governed by 51 different constitutions. An example of rights granted by the states, the big issue is abortions. Some states allow it outright all the way to birth, some allow it up to a certain point, and some only allow it in very specific circumstances. No state flat out bans it, contrary to the popular narrative going round. The rights you have do vary by state. Another right that varies is recording someone. Some states require two party consent, meaning both the person recording and the person being recorded must give consent to being recorded in order for it to be legal which is why you may often times see signs posted outside of businesses openly stating that you agree to be recorded by entering their building. By entering you effectively are giving your consent. Some states only require single party consent meaning if you record a phone conversation to use in court, only one person being recorded needs to know they are being recorded, usually the person doing the recording is giving consent, but this isn't always the case as sometimes corporations record their phone systems while in use which means at least one party on the line must be aware and agree to it that recordings are being made. Things vary by state because we openly acknowledge one size does not fit all and we have accounted for that. Where we really begin to differ is the county level and lower. Instead of constitutions guaranteeing rights, we use charters to establish the "government" and then a series of codified laws to govern actions and activities. Counties and cities are not responsible for giving you "rights" but they do govern how you do things. Parking is a good example here. Many places do not care how you park a vehicle so long as you leave enough room for others to get by you. Some places are so strict, they not only govern how you park, but even the exact number of vehicles allowed to be parked on your property at any given time. They don't give you the right to park, but they govern how you do it. Of course, there are many shades of gray in between.

[@rogink]

@@Stant123 Yes, the constitution that was so perfect they had to keep amending it :)

[@samsonsoturian6013]

@@Stant123 No one read that. You ever heard of the territories, DC area, treaty organizations, extraterritoriality agreements, annexed Indian nations, and banana republics?

[@samsonsoturian6013]

@@rogink It was well written enough that the essentials still apply even though the Federals have expanded exponentially. Their jurisdiction is over matters in multiple states, and that expands automatically with as states become more densely populated and interconnected.

[@councilofknowledge]

Great video man! 👍🏻 You inspired me to work on my channel and similar videos! Cheers!

[@williambrooker2030]

I am from Bristol! Great to hear some of these facts!

[@mariajoaoferrazdeabreu150]

Very interesting video.

[@NotUmais_10]

Leicestershire is pronounced: Lester+Shire (Shir) and Leicester City is pronounced 'Lester'.

[@hotdatedave]

This is a bit hard to listen to: when 'shire' is part of a county name it is pronounced sher not shire! Bedfordshire is pronounced Bed'-fud-sher; Berkshire is pronounced Bark'-sher, etc. I gave up on this one!

[@catherinehiley3274]

Very informative and 10 out of 10 for effort mate

[@Ciech_mate]

Gr8 job m8

[@adamaalto-mccarthy6984]

Derby has other sport connections. The Earl of Derby raced horses on his land (Oaks Park in Sutton). The Derby & The Oaks both get their names from this.

[@alexpotts6520]

I think Kent is my favourite one of these. I'm just imagining this Greek guy slogging his way across the Mediterranean, through the Gibraltar strait, going all the way round Iberia and the west coast of France, and finally happening upon a desolate, uncivilised pile of rocks. "Erm, what should I call this barren, featureless wasteland? Well, it's on the corner - that'll do."

[@sydhenderson6753]

He eventually made it to Ultima Thule. Still debating whether that was Scandinavia, the Shetlands, the Faroes or even Iceland.

[@JesusLovesYou-nd1rz]

English counties are specifically complicated to understand, how many there are depends on what version of the map you look at, etc. The counties of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are easier to understand.

[@rankdHQ]

Loved it! Do one for countries next!

[@General.Knowledge]

I did one a looooong time ago for European countries. I might re do it!

[@bearcraig]

That Humber River map in the Northumberland section isn't the one in England, it's the one in Canada (Toronto).

[@stephenmcnally8583]

Darling the pronunciations are cray cray ❤

[@daveh893]

How about doing a video on the regions in Portugal?

[@Miagrellum]

Great video! Its clear that it was a lot of work to make, but the quality is perfection as always 🎉

[@General.Knowledge]

Thanks!

[@Pyeknu]

By the way, I wonder if you realize that the map you show at around 18:01 shows the Humber River and Humber Bay in TORONTO, Ontario.

[@Kurogane-san]

Chinese Provincies Next, please

[@General.Knowledge]

Great idea!

[@ferretyluv]

But Chinese provinces are all literal.

[@Kurogane-san]

@@ferretyluv but has meaning behind. And I don't speak Chinese.

[@sydhenderson6753]

Worcester, Massachusetts preserved the British pronunciation. At least Connecticut had the sense to change the spelling of Hertford to Hartford.

[@foundationofBritain]

The Historic Counties were used for administrative purposes until 1888/89 when Administrative Counties were created by the The Local Government Act 1888. Administrative Counties were then the first-level administrative division from 1888 to 1974 when they transferred administrative functions from the quarter sessions to the new elected county councils. The Historic Counties have thus been essentially preserved having never been abolished and there continued exists is only really though and for cultural and historical significance and purpose. They could be restored to there administrative functions as a restoration of ancient Local Governance, which I think would be a popular move, but unfortunately, its not likely to happen any time soon, which means we will continue to have very poor local governance for the foreseeable future.

[@notmuch8078]

I'm from the city of deer, an interesting area on Derby is Chester green where there's Roman settlement remains, also English is weird. Derbyshire is pronounced the same as Derby. Berkshire is pronounced like Bark-sher

[@noquochoke]

And in Massachusetts, Berkshire County is pronounced Berk-shah.

[@rogink]

Don't some locals call it 'Durr-bee', like he did?

[@notmuch8078]

@@rogink I've never heard it be called durby, maybe some people do but, and it originally was supposed to be pronounced that way, but those from Derby pronounce it with a strongish 'ar' sound

[@leehaseley2164]

Almost no English people pronounce shire as shire when it is a suffix. We pronounce it as shur/shire. The Hert in Hertfordshire is pronounced as Hart.

[@noahbrock349]

The idea of entities, such as "ceremonial" counties and "local government" counties are an absolute anathema to our culture and heritage. "Merseyside", "Greater Manchester" and "Greater London" are artificial constructs with no real cultural or historical significance. Liverpool and Manchester are in Lancashire, Central, North and West London are in Middlesex, South London is in Surrey, South East London is in Kent and most of East London is in Essex.

[@General.Knowledge]

It does seem rather odd. Why were they created in the first place?

[@hpsauce1078]

As a brit i actually prefer the new ceremonial counties, they just make more sense to me, the old Lancashire exclave will forever bug me.

[@noahbrock349]

@hpsauce1078 I think you're in a minority.

[@noahbrock349]

@@General.Knowledge I think the Local Government Act of 1972 was designed to devolve more power to metropolitan regions, although they could have kept the historic counties as the ceremonial counties while introducing new administrative boroughs.

[@foundationofBritain]

@@noahbrock349 The historic counties were never abolished and still exist, though only really for cultural and historical significance/purpose, they are essentially preserved and have been since the creation of administrative counties by the Local Government Act 1888. Administrative counites was a first-level administrative division from 1888 to 1974, its this that got abolished in 1974, not the historic counties. Administrative functions were transferred from the quarter sessions to the new elected county councils.

[@SirFrankieCrisp94]

You should do the counties of Ireland.

[@pirukiddingme1908]

I’ve always heard that the Derby in any sport is from Wigan vs St Helens in rugby league, the name being given by the Earl of Derby, whose holdings included the land of west Derby, a subdivision of Lancashire around Liverpool and south west Lancashire. Not sure why they would use it for two churches in one particular town when there will have been loads of instances of that in various sports throughout the 19th century

[@_AstaLily]

Great video! Although Berkshire is pronounced “Bark-sheer” or “Bark-sher” lol 😅 English pronunciation is so confusing that even I don’t get it right all the time and I live here!

[@stuiec]

Parabéns, um vídeo muito informativo e tb divertido. Sendo nativo de Northumberland nunca tinha reparado que vem do nome do Rio Humber. Nota 10 para fazer esforço de falar os nome tb sendo que nomes de lugares são entre as palavras da língua inglesa mais complicadas de pronunciar.

[@OscarPlymouth]

Super interesting. That was a difficult subject and a challenge for you with those pronunciations. 😆 It was funny for any UK people to listen to. But you did your best. Don't ever try with the counties in Wales. Even I can't pronounce most of them. :)

[@pepintheshort7913]

I find something to help me remember the pronunciation of a lot of the cester places is the -ce goes with the previous letters. Leicester is not Lei-ces-ter, it’s Leice-ster. Worcester? Not Wor-ces-ter, it’s Worce-ster. Cirencester screws that up though.

[@CaptainQuark9]

Since you are not a native ENGLISH English speaker, I shall forgive your mispronunciation of 'lieutenant', which in ENGLISH English is pronounced 'LEFtenant', not 'LOOtenant'. Don't ask why, it's just the way we British do it, therefore it's right. 😁 😂

[@pembrokeshiredan]

We take the pronunciation from Italian and the spelling from French, or something like that.

[@ferretyluv]

@@pembrokeshiredanThat’s colonel.

[@pembrokeshiredan]

@@ferretyluv You're right! And, now I've looked it up, it seems that the "f" pronunciation doesn't seem to have an etymology. But there are some spelling variants that include the F: leftenaunt and lieftenant.

[@archstanton6102]

Thanks for this. Northumbrian here.

[@PLuMUK54]

Well done on your pronunciation. It's sometimes hard for native born Brits to cope with our pronunciation/spelling. I'm fairly certain that your critics must be fluent in Portugese if they are unimpressed by your English. (Sarcasm, for those uncertain.)

[@fatosshubert7272]

“LONDON” seems from Chinese word LUNG ( dragon, snake ) plus TURKISH Word Don ( icy cold)

[@pampoovey6722]

I love that you now know more about counties than I do. Growing up in London, we don’t really think about counties. Because we’re better.

[@afuckingblackhawkhelicopte5203]

Yeah but you’re not better. You still worship a fake monarch.

[@jamespusey7186]

felt that (as a fellow londoner)

[@C_B_Hubbs]

What is the outro music at the end during the credits scrolling but before he talks about redoing the video 3 times?

[@isychi7314]

Very good video. Loads of info and etymology I didn't know about. I wouldn't fault you on the pronunciations though they weren't all correct but I see the effort. Also since leicester is my home I'll tell you how it's said. Leicestershire is just 'lestershur' and Leicester is just 'Lester'. And for our iconic town which foreigners never get right Loughborough is just "lof'brah" 😂😂

[@MC_aigorithm]

the map at 17:55 is definitely a map of Toronto which has a Humber Bay 😂

[@Hydraas]

1:32 May I ask what the third type of county was meant to be labelled as?

[@General.Knowledge]

The three types are Historical, Ceremonial, and Local Government!

[@billps34]

First mistake: the Berk in Berkshire is pronounced like "Bark". The Leicester in Leicestershire is pronounced like "Lester", and the Derby in Derbyshire is like "Darby".

[@pedromenchik1961]

I thought lieutenant was pronounced as "leftenant"

[@NocturnalPlatypus]

In a number of British English accents (including Received Pronunciation, 'RP'), as well as many varieties of Commonwealth English, it is! 🙂

[@noahbrock349]

It is.

[@General.Knowledge]

I think both are correct depending on which pronunciation you choose? I might be wrong though

[@gurrrn1102]

Please don’t pronounce it like that.

[@rinotilde2699]

8:43 Cymru is pronounced "ˈkəmrɨ"

[@saulalvarez220]

Are the English local government counties the same as American counites in the United States?

[@General.Knowledge]

I think pretty similar? I'd imagine the US model was taken from England

[@CaseyJonesNumber1]

​@@General.Knowledgethere was no individual government of counties (known as "County councils", often referred to as "local authorities") in the UK until 1889. Before then, there were just the historical counties, essentially being controlled by central government.

[@DannyIO]

also most of the shire names arnt pronounced "shy-er" and more "sher"

[@DavidLimofLimReport]

War-rick

[@TheLiamster]

I’m from East Sussex

[@jch-oz6yw]

Do one about spain or portugal

[@General.Knowledge]

Yes! Good idea

[@jch-oz6yw]

@General.Knowledge thankss

[@baldyhead]

Well done for having a go (your English is far better than most British people can speak any foreign language) but most of the pronunciations were as painful to hear as nails on a chalkboard.

[@General.Knowledge]

Ahahah I can imagine. Thanks for putting up with it.

[@ToastieBRRRN]

Should've done historical counties instead. Most people I know, don't like being seen as part of "Greater Manchester" or "Merseyside" instead, refer to themselves as coming from Lancashire. Especially places like Wigan, Warrington etc.

[@noahbrock349]

I agree. I was born in Southport, which is now lamentably part of "Merseyside", but I would still recognise it as a Lancastrian town.

[@johnawalker9261]

Shire at the end of a county name is pronounced shear.

[@leehallam9365]

I think you did a great job and the pronunciation, well, you speak American English as a second language so you struggled with exactly the ones an American would, and no worse. There really is no logic to how we pronounce place names, the spelling was long ago left behind by speakers. For example the word wear is pronounced as you said it, but in Tyne and Wear it is pronounced weer.

[@joãoAlberto-k9x]

Talk about Portugal and Spain. It is better to you. From Brazil.

[@NottsAiry]

TIL my origin is "Snot's person" 😢

[@rickygrimshaw1255]

Dorset 👍

[@DavidLimofLimReport]

Gloss-ter..the shire is silent

[@billytompkins6633]

East Saxons represent