The origin of every English city's name

[@RobWords]

Find your city using the timecodes in the description. And go to ground.news/robwords to stay fully informed and see through the headlines. Save 40% on unlimited access to the Ground News Vantage Plan for one month only.

[@CAP198462]

Best Cester is Twistedcester.

[@JakeSpeed1000]

I'd love to see you tackle the Scottish cities!

[@jonathancauldwell9822]

My own home town - not far from yours - is Heanor, which comes from "high ridge" in Anglo-Saxon.

[@MKAdamski]

In Milton Keynes there's 2 villages Fenny Stratford & Stony Stratford. Stratford is an Anglo Saxon word meaning "A roman settlement near a river crossing". So we have the "roman settlement near a marshy river crossing" and "the roman settlement near a stony river crossing. Stoney is in the north and Fenny is in the south of the city. We also have 3 villages called Loughton, Broughton and Woughton with all 3 being pronounced completely differently.

[@MsPippah]

Could the word 'London' come from the Old English words 'Long' (which meant ...Long) and 'Don' (which was one of the Old English words for river!) Making the description, (which most ancient Britons used for place names,) "LongDon"! With the place that became known as "London" being slap bang on a LONG RIVER, (Long Don becoming known as London!) Just a thought!

[@gilesfarmer5953]

Regarding the Normans not being able to pronounce Snottingham, so, Nottingham. Luckily for the people of Scunthorpe, they managed to resist the change.

[@Iskandar64]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@pwensor]

Got there before me 😄

[@weegiewarbler]

😂😂😂 ooh, that would've smarted .... 😅

[@anshka2023]

Hahaa, Brilliant! I don't know how I'll work that joke into a dinner party, but I'm stealing it if that's OK. 👌😂👍

[@tonys1636]

I feel sorry for Scunthorpe residents that get the name blocked when completing some online applications that require a full address not just street and postcode. Those Bots are acting like see you next Tuesdays'.

[@joemacleod-iredale2888]

London was named after the Londis at the petrol station that was the first building there.

[@davidfoley5128]

Ah, now I'd always thought London was named after the sportswear brand, Lonsdale 🤔👍

[@davidyoung9561]

London is a cess pit.

[@joemacleod-iredale2888]

@@davidfoley5128 Lonsdale is named after the dale of Londis surrounding the original Londis, as originally Yorkshire stretched all the way to the South coast.

[@Guybadicle]

I was on holiday few years ago and was talking to an American,nice guy,friendly.he asked where I was from and I said Glasgow , he replied … “ is that in like London” 🙈

[@Guybadicle]

@MD-cd1wwcourse he was wrong , how the fk is Glasgow in London ? 🙈 Wither it’s a shithole is neither here nor there. No riots yet certainly 😑

[@caseyhamm4292]

this is why the names of tolkien’s places feel so real. he does this for all the places in his books, considering the past and present people who live there and their history

[@dylanryall]

Being a professor of linguistics he was probably very familiar with the histories of English place names.

[@paulcocks7299]

Kinda suggests that the Beornings are from Birmingham.

[@04nbod]

Lindon and Lond Daer...hmmm...

[@eekee6034]

He said he wrote the stories for the languages rather than the other way around, to give his languages an environment in which to develop. :)

[@AndreiBerezin]

Let me tell you like it is. For any one outside English speaking countries all Tolkiens names, persons or places, sound gibberish and too closely alike, almost can't tell one from the other. It was disturbing when reading his books as a Russian teenager before the internet

[@IronBridge1781]

It tickles me no end the simplicity of Newcastle’s name origin: “Finally, we’ve finished the new castle!” “What should we name it?” “Not sure, but we’ll think of something eventually, so let’s just call it the Newcastle for now.”

[@joanne9317]

Similarly; "What shall we call this settlement that's at the South End of a village and it sits On the Sea?"

[@davidstockhoff8801]

I once stayed near a 14th-century monastery in the Piemonte region of Italy. It is known only as the New Monastery, because it grew out of and replaced a smaller 12th-century monastery.

[@Sam_Green____4114]

I wonder why Battle near Hastings was called Battle ? Anybody know ?

[@EShirako]

There is nothing quite as permanent as 'a temporary fix'. Good to know this has been the case for many, MANY years. :)

[@krigsgaldr7603]

Ely makes total sense as "eel island" because during the Saxon/medieval period Ely used to be an island, surrounded by marshes and fenland which was extensively farmed for eels since the Neolithic period. That's over 3,000 years of eel fishing so I'd say that deserves having a settlement named after the local industry.

[@binarydinosaurs]

We still call it the Isle of Ely.

[@thewingedporpoise]

​@@binarydinosaursthe isle of eel isle all eyes see isle of eel isle while I'll say lies

[@GiraffeFeatures]

The Isle of Ely surrounded by the Fens. The shortened version of Fenlands which is the old English word for Wetland, or as we like to call them, Marshes. Eels are known to live in that sort of environment. All connects beautifully like pieces of a puzzle!

[@EmrahUncu]

I liked how Rob used different fonts for different nations who ruled Britain. I especially liked Times New Roman being used for Romans.

[@jimfairgray4607]

Ooooo! Good spotting, l missed that.

[@SierraNovemberKilo]

I was just watching the different coloured countdown number (max visibility against the map used to illustrate). Robs been honing this fabulous presentation into an art form all in itself!🏆

[@mrrandom1265]

Modern-day woke Britain should use Comic Sans MS.

[@TesterAnimal1]

@@mrrandom1265get over yourself or you’ll spend the rest of your life shouting at clouds. 😂

[@mandowarrior123]

​@@TesterAnimal1let him have his amusement. Due to comic sans' hideous irregularity it is easier for those with dyslexia to read thus it is fitting for the DEI motivated.

[@lottifuehrscheim]

As a Northern Dutchman interested in the Mediaeval past, I like these old English names, as they are often such close sisters of our Old-Dutch, Old-Frisian and Old-Saxon developments.

[@tux_duh]

Before William the conqueror English Nordic and Germanic people could communicate without learning each other's languages, there's a saga from Iceland that talks about William the "bastard" ending this "sharing of tongues" It's called 'Gunnlaugs Saga Ormstungu" and I believe you can read it online

[@vasskolomiets41]

@@tux_duh I am very not sure Danes could communicate with Saxons so freely

[@memkiii]

@@vasskolomiets41 Old English wasn't so different to Friesian was it?

[@vasskolomiets41]

@@memkiii Yes, but Scandinavian dialects, including the language of Danes, drifted away enough to become not just other dialects...

[@tux_duh]

@@vasskolomiets41 I didn't say it was the same exact language but they were close enough still that communication wasn't as hard as it would be now also if they communicated quite frequently or traded they probably picked up on each other's unique words, unlike the romance languages Germanic people's were fascinated by common tongue instead of seeing it as a bastardization of a true tongue

[@robinmichel9048]

"Londinium, we have no idea what it means or where it came from." Off to a good start. 😂

[@Bob94390]

It obviously comes from the documentaries about Asterix and Obelix. Londinium is mentioned there.

[@nigelwylie01]

Nothing as good as an honest ‘I don’t know’. Helps me to trust the other information.

[@evileve5958]

I wondered how we can be so sure that it has nothing to do with "lindon"...

[@paulgeraghty1448]

Londonistan

[@mikkoolavijarvinen3653]

That's the thing with place names, here in Finland names of a couple of the largest lakes (at least Saimaa and Päijänne) are "probably remnants of some ancient, otherwise unknown local language".

[@mattwash7661]

Each new RobWords video is like a piece of guilt-free chocolate cake delivered straight to the brain.

[@albinocosta9727]

Fun fact. We in Portugal have a beautiful southern city named Évora. And its origin it’s similar/equal to York.

[@jeanpaulsinatra]

Idk how nobody ever thought to do a town twinning

[@vangogh330]

As someone from New England, this explained the meaning of so many local cities and towns. Thanks!

[@RobWords]

Great!

[@akg9991]

As a Pennsylvanian - same here! Chichester and Derby - which in the US we spell it Darby. Where I was born

[@danquaylesitsspeltpotatoe8307]

@@RobWords Do you realise the way the decide if a story is biased is from their biased rating of who made the story? You partnered with them because they pay!

[@chiefaberach]

It's funny how place names are re-used without any thought of their original meaning. I live in Melbourne, where there are loads of British place names, like Preston & Doncaster. I was surprised to find an Old Kent Road, which is the newest Kent Road, and is nowhere near Kent. It is a road, though.

[@christinedunwoody1854]

Came to say the same!

[@Liberated_from_Religion]

Your videos have become so professional. Congratulations! I can't even imagine how much work you have researching all this and then making the videos. They should be shown on TV. Thank you!

[@RobWords]

That's very kind, thanks!

[@adamdodd6971]

As someone who taught in Bristol, the sound change from Stowe may be even simpler. To this day, there is a tendency to add the letter ‘L’ to all sorts of words. Children would often tell me that they had an ideal, rather than an idea, and they would express these ideals, and other things, in their drawlin’s (for drawings). I have no idea why they do it, but it does make one L of a difference to the words they use.

[@SierraNovemberKilo]

How lovely. It suggests the people like to feel their tongue finishing words - unlike in Estuary English where the mouth is just flabby.

[@adamdodd6971]

@@SierraNovemberKilo What a lovely way to think about it; that would never have occurred to me, but makes complete sense.

[@olddeuteranomaly5112]

Open the windle and let in some fresh air.

[@daredemontriple6]

I'ze a brizzl'n born an bred...*ahem*, I've lived in Bristol since I was born here. You're absolutely right - true Bristolian English puts Ls all over the place - ideals instead of ideas as you say. A classic is Asda which becomes Asdawls. Again as you say another trait of the dialect is to replace an ing sound with a lin sound, as in Drawlin for drawing, meowlin for meowing. Anything with that 'awl' sort of sound tends to go this way. Another facet is the tendency to drop Ts from words - Bristol becomes Bris'le, or often spelled Brizzle. Similarly the TH sound that is often dropped in favour of an F. Thermometer becomes fermomiter, Thatchers becomes fatchers. And of course there is the great drawn-out Rs of all west country accents.

[@bonnie115]

My mother Dora always hated being called Doral. There’s a nice video around showing a segment from the 1970s news and current affairs show Points West: it shows clearly how it’s not “w” transforming into “l”, it’s when words end in a vowel sound they have a “l” added to it.

[@montecarlo1651]

As a self aware descendent of the people of Snot, I was glad you covered this so theatrically.

[@futureliverpool4449]

Liverpool is named after Laver, a kind of seaweed, and pool which went inland all the way to the area where the beginning of the Mersey tunnel now stands. If you look at the Liverpool coat of arms you can see a cormorant with Laver in its beak.

[@stegorm]

Liver comes from same words as liffey in Ireland and llyf in Wales and it means to flood.

[@littlemissy2883]

I've heard that Liverpool gets it's name from the colour of the water, at the time, the pool as you mentioned, resembled the colour of a liver,

[@LiNoeliam93]

I do believe I've become addicted to your videos. They are very interesting, informative and highly enjoyable - and you Sir, are very engaging. Bloody good show my friend! Keep 'em coming! ❤

[@raindropsneverfall]

I grew up close to the Danish equivalent of Derby. In Danish, it is 'Dyrby'. Sunderland is easy for me to translate: It would be called 'Sønderland', and it means the same thing as you proposed. 'Dyr' in Danish just means animal today (if it's a noun).

[@briansammond7801]

Deer used to just mean animal in English as well, but changed by around the 15th century to the modern meaning.

[@michaelball93]

​@@briansammond7801 Carrying on the theme of meanings of words becoming more restricted with time, the word 'meat' originally just meant 'food', hence why mincemeat doesn’t have any actual meat in it.

[@SvendleBerries]

@@michaelball93 Speaking of "meat", the word for food in Norwegian/Swedish is "mat", and "mad" in Danish. So for these languages, "meat" still means food. Pretty neat.

[@NaomiClareNL]

Interesting. One Dutch word for animal is dier.

[@SvendleBerries]

@@NaomiClareNL That's how it is for all Germanic languages. In German it's "tier" (German tends to switch D's for T's: day/dag/tag). Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Icelandic etc, its "dyr" or a close variation. All pronounced similarly. The fun thing about the Dutch word "deir" is that it's pronounced exactly like English.

[@entropie138]

You’ve explained quite a few cities here in the States too. Thanks!

[@beeble2003]

Well, most US city names are either "It was named after the place in Europe where the guys in charge came from", "It was named after the original guy in charge (or occasionally his wife)", "It was named after some famous person", "It was named after some place in antiquity" (all those Smyrnas and Cairos, for example), "It's something in one of the native languages" or "It's something in Spanish or occasionally French."

[@DASyam-tb7qt]

I know three Truros and have been in 2 of them (UK & Canada). I know there is one in the US.

[@macosbyanthony896]

I could listen to you all day long. Watching you from The Macosbys, Ga East, Accra Ghana.

[@jenniferch3ck]

I like that you record outside, it's very soothing

[@apataye]

¡¡¡¡YES, YES!!!! I TOTALLY AGREE. It IMPROVES the video a lot, ¿right? It´s a super pleasant environment &, as you stated, very SOOTHING.

[@deeser]

The Sheaf wasn't just a simple boundary. The river Sheaf marked the boundary between the Kingdoms of Wessex and Northumbrian. It was in fact in Dore (now Sheffield, previously Derbyshire) that Eanraed yielded to Eccbert in 829, making the latter the first overlord of all England. To this day it marks where for instance churches answer to York or Canterbury. Arguably the actual North/South divide.

[@benjaminm.9700]

I absolutely love your videos, Mr. Words. You come across as a highly practiced public speaker more than a KZbinr. Your geographical videos are my favorites. This one in particular is a banger, feeling more like a college or university lecture than internet content. Perhaps it's the qualities of your overall subject matter, but you and KZbinrs such as yourself have that timelessness about you. Brava & cheers!

[@StamfordBridge]

Extra points for slipping in "Mr. Words."

[@RobWords]

That's extraordinarily kind, thank you.

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

The peopleof Scunthorpe had more luck in getting the Normans to pronounce their town's name properly.

[@wyrdstone85]

Loved Rob’s enthusiasm on the phrase “It’s Viking Time!” I get a similar reaction from the wife when I get round to doing jobs around the house…… I thought doing those was all about keeping her happy, but her comment is always “It’s About Viking Time!!” Or something like that…..

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

Now imagine you said that in southern scandinavia in the 9th century. Suddenly your entire village starts loading the ships.

[@sesambernd6467]

Bin mega glücklich deinen channel gefunden zu haben die Themen die du ansprichst sind absolut genial!!! ❤😊

[@monicacall7532]

You’re my favorite “word nerd” and you provide me with hours of intellectual fun. Thanks!😊

[@tomaszbojarski5165]

English is not my native language but when I was younger (and more handsome) I lived for five years in Cambridge. This gave me enough to now apreciate your movies. Thank you very much!!! I do not know should I be sad that I discovered those movies so late or happy that I have so much to catch up :) Greetings from Poland.

[@SpiritmanProductions]

Interestingly, your choice of syntax in "I lived for five years in Cambridge" is like Dutch (Nederlands), rather than English, where we would say "I lived in Cambridge for five years". ;-)

[@tomaszbojarski5165]

@@SpiritmanProductions Maybe it's because of my "education" :) I'm from a generation that was forced to learn Russian in schools. I learned English by myself. First on simple cartoons (e.g. Two Stupid Dogs), then on ones where characters talked more (The Jetsons, The Flintstones), and finally by creating Polish subtitles for movies myself. And finally, assuming that no school would give me what life can, I went to England.

[@SpiritmanProductions]

@@tomaszbojarski5165 What a great example of the determination to succeed. Congrats!

[@SBZ5809]

The Wetherspoons pub chain obviously think that Truro derives from "three rivers" as their Truro establishment is called "Try Dowr" - "Three Rivers" in Cornish.

[@adamcetinkent]

But doesn't that disprove itself?

[@alynwillams4297]

“Try dowr” would mean “the three waters” in Welsh it’s “ Tri dwr” Welsh and Cornish are very similar as they both came out of Brythonic.

[@lulupepper1467]

I love reading comments for videos on this channel. Lots of interesting facts and ideas brought up by the viewers. Thanks for the videos Rob and for creating a forum for more discussion.

[@jeaneltawil]

Another great video! Since you did mention Scotland and Wales at the end I'll have to say that I can't wait for more videos about the city names in these countries too!

[@jacobparry177]

Here's a list of the cities mentioned in the vid that have Welsh (and Cornish) names. Some of the names are evolutions of Celtic to Brittonic to Welsh, others are Medieval in origin, and some are incredibly modern: London - Llundain Colchester- Caercolyn Chichester- Caerfuddai Winchester- Caerwynt Manchester- Manceinion Chester- Caer or Caerlleon Lancaster- Caerhirfryn Doncaster- Dinas y Garrai Exeter- Caerwysg Leicester- Caerlŷr Worcester- Caerwrangon Gloucester- Caerlöyw The Trent in Stoke-On-Trent - Trennydd Cambridge- Caergrawnt (preserves the Granta via Grawnt) Oxford- Rhydychen Hereford- Henffordd Salford- Rhydhelyg Lichfield- Caerlwytgoed Portsmouth- Llongborth (Cornish, Aberporth) Plymouth- Welsh and Cornish: Aberplym Bath- Caerfaddon Bristol- Bryste Liverpool- Lerpwl (Lerpwll, Llynlleifiad) Canterbury- Caergaint Salisbury- Caersallog Peterburough- Trebedr Westminster- San Steffan Preston- Trefoffeiriaid Nottingham- Tŷ'r Ogofau York- Efrog or Caerefrog (1 F = V in Welsh) Durham- Caerweir Newcastle-upon-Tyne- Castellnewydd-ar-Tein Carlisle- Caerliwelydd Truro- In Welsh: Truru, in Cornish: Truru or Treverow. Quick summary of Welsh spelling A, E, I, O, U, W and Y are Vowels. A as in Cat, father. E as in End or the a in Care. I as in the Ee in sweet, fleet, also as in the Y in Yellow, Yes. O as in Gone, For. U as in the I in Kit, hit. W as in the Oo in food, cool, or as in the W in Water, Would. Y as in the U in Run, fun, and as in Hymn, Physics. Consonants: B C Ch D Dd F Ff G Ng Ngh H J L Ll M Mh N Nh P Ph R Rh S T Th There are no silent letters in Welsh. B, D, H, J, L, M, N, P, PH, T and Th (Th as in thin, thought, not this, though) are pronounced exactly as in English. C is always as in Could, Can, Consider, never City, Cite or Circle. Ch as in Scottish Loch or Scouse Chichen. Dd as in the Th in This, though. F as in Of (v) Ff as in Off (f) G as in Gone, good. Never Ginger, gel. Ng as in sing, thing (not thing-g) Ngh as in the above, but followed by a H. H as in house, horror. Never hour, or the American pronounciation of Herb. Ll place tongue in position to say an L sound, but hiss air out. (Can't get the hang of it? Just use a normal L, not Kl or Fl) Mh is just an M followed by a H, Same for Nh, just an N followed by a h. If anyone wants me to explain the Welsh names let me know.

[@fonkbadonk5370]

As a non-native English speaker, I find the distinction between th and dd very interesting, and only realized why it could be made after wording out the examples you gave. I'd thus describe th as "fricative" and dd as more "voiced" (or "thick" th). Would that be a valid assessment?

[@jacobparry177]

@fonkbadonk5370 Yeah, the sounds represented by Dd and Th are apparently quite rare across the world, so I could see why you'd be intrigued by the distinction (English used to make this distinction using the letters ð (dd) and þ (th), both later represented by Y for a bit (Hence Ye Olde Tavern). The sound of Dd is called a Voiced dental fricative, Th = voiceless dental fricative.

[@fonkbadonk5370]

@@jacobparry177 As a mild English language enthuiast, I've been aware of both, ð and þ, but until today never really noticed that there is more difference to them than looks and/or places they've been used in (and still are). þanks!

[@daveybd7]

@@fonkbadonk5370 dd - the th sound in them. th - the th sound in throw

[@SteveDonaldson-r5k]

As an English boy who went to school in Llanelli and Milford Haven I was very grateful that somebody taught me how to pronounce the 'LL'. Put the tip of your tongue on the roof of your mouth and breathe out. So easy! It pains me now to hear my countrymen pronouncing Llan as clan. One thing that confused me was the explanation that Llan means church (Llanelli=Elli's church), but most of the churches were called chapels.

[@rowleyma]

I'm from Massachusetts so hearing someone saying all these place names properly is refreshing!

[@danielhayes3607]

I knew it wouldn’t be long until they named a place after a mass shooter

[@JeremyLawrence-imajez]

With one exception though because the locals pronounce Bath as Barrth. I was surprised that Rob pronounced Bath with a short 'a', because that's how folk up North pronounce what you bathe in. It's a long 'a' down South, where Bath is located and Rob doesn't sound exactly Northern otherwise. Not that Derby is that North anyway. 😀

[@boop-9167]

@@JeremyLawrence-imajez I'm from Cornwall and my friend is from Bath. When we were young, she would always get so annoyed that we all pronounced it as "Baff" (with a short a) and would correct with Bath (with a long a) XD

[@danw152]

​@@JeremyLawrence-imajez Us Midlandsers also use the sort a sound, including in the name of the city of bath.

[@71hammyman]

We can all pronounce it correctly, we've all watched American TV, you're safe don't worry

[@b4ttlemast0r]

9:52 we actually also have a town named "Herford" in Germany, coming from Low German elements of the same meaning. If coined from standard German elements, it would be "Heerfurt" (compare Frankfurt).

[@Indigenous_Briton.007]

In my city, Stoke-on-Trent, in England, we also have Dresden for our districts name. England and Germany are deeply connected, no surprise for me

[@jacquesdehue2290]

@@Indigenous_Briton.007 The name of the city of Dresden is of Slavic origin, or more precisely (as you can read on Wikipedia): ‘Its name comes from Sorbian Drježdźany (current Upper Sorbian form), meaning "people of the forest", from Proto-Slavic *dręzga (“woods, blowdowns”).’ In fact large parts of the North-East of nowadays Germany were once settled by Slavs (the city names of Berlin, and Leipzig for instance are also Slavic in their origins). Never heard before though that the Slaves actually made it so far west as the British Midlands!

[@davidwright7193]

@@jacquesdehue2290They didn’t. Dresden was the first place in Europe to make Chinese style porcelain. Stoke is the centre of the potteries and became the leading pottery manufacturing area in the UK during the 18th and 19th centuries. Apart from the original 5 towns the districts are named after factories or by the pottery owners who built them. So the name will come from a factory making porcelain or “Dresden china”.

[@HamnaTabuu]

I often wondered if Herford, NRW [HF] should have been called Werreford, as it was a ford over the river Werre.

[@kcaleb]

It's irrational how much I enjoy this channel. I've never even been to England, why did I just watch this whole video!? ... Worth it.

[@mrjourneyman]

Even by your channel’s extremely high standards, this was a cracking, rollicking, information-packed ride! Thank you, Rob! You really do your research and put them across so well! 💕💕💕👏☺️

[@AxR558]

Superb video Rob, really pleased that us Lincolnites get a premium position in the list. Definitely worth a nod to the modern Welsh word llyn and Cornish word lynn which also mean lake/pool, along with linn, lhing and linne (Irish, Manx and Scottish Gaelic).

[@Baddroneflying]

I grew up halfway between Lincoln and Boston, and was told the dum bit in lindum was hill, so colonia by the lake (Brayford) by the hill

[@AxR558]

@@Baddroneflying The only thing I can recall seeing about the "dum" part of Lindum is that it possibly comes from a root meaning dark/black. Cornish and Welsh have the word "du", Scots Gaelic and Irish have "dubh" which means black and could be the source of it with a bit of Roman interference - if that is the root of it, it would make Dublin and Lindum effectively the same name. I presume you meant Brayford instead of Bradford ;)

[@Baddroneflying]

@@AxR558 yup. Typo!

[@pmotherat]

Love how you give the back stories to the names and pronunciations. It’s a history lesson in time and place. I get so excited when your videos show up. 👍🏼

[@SoItGoesCAL34]

We always enjoy watching Rob Words with Sunday lunch. Thanks!

[@arthurfox-ache5658]

To expand on Worcester, the Weogora tribe’s name translates to “People of the winding river”. This refers to their location beside the River Severn, the longest river in the UK.

[@TimurDavletshin]

4:20 - there are a lot of rivers in Eastern Europe with "Don" in their names. It is said that they come from Iranian "don"... which is just "river" too. Quite funny that distantly related Celts and Iranians had the same word for it.

[@chaosdefinesorder]

Maybe Rob should do a video about tracing the common ancestor of languages? 🤔

[@ftumschk]

Interestingly, "don" (or "ton" in its unmutated form) means "wave" in Brythonic/Welsh.

[@pawelsz007locp]

​@@ftumschkwhile in Polish "toń" means "depths". Etymologically, Polish "dno" (meaning "the bottom" of a river/sea/lake, etc.) would be closer to the Welsh word you just mentioned.

[@raempftl]

Persian (which is what Iranians speak) is part of the Indo-European language family. So it might actually share the etymology.

[@michellebyrom6551]

​@@chaosdefinesorderhe did that last week with Tracing the English Language. The seven native languages of these great Isles are more closely related than we think.

[@scouser55]

Love your videos. I learnt French and German at school. It was hard and I was rubbish at them (not my strong point - more interested in the sciences). However I married an Italian lady with German siblings (and mother) and a 'Spanish' father (Italian through birth - but born and bred in Spain). I just love the way you draw all the similarities between all the languages. I studied biology and so had a very small insight into Latin (through animal/plant names/anatomy etc) and you help to bring all of these seemingly disparate things together.

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

Peterborough is the new name for the city. It was original called Medeshamstede, this then became Burgh in the late 10th Century. By the 12th century, it had become Glidenburgh.

[@JM-The_Curious]

I was aware of Medeshamstede but I've never heard of Gildenburgh before. Very interesting, thanks!

[@sydneylaroche8276]

Im Welsh and it's fascinating to me how much celtic toponymy is scattered throughout England

[@joppadoni]

Fascinating.. As someone that is very much not interested in English Language, probably due to terrible teachers as a child, you make the subject incredible. Thank you ❤

[@WaterShowsProd]

"-bury" has an Indo-European tie that stretches to Southeast Asia. In Sanskrit "Puri" means "city" and this word was carried into Southeast Asia where in Thailand you have cities like Phetchaburi (The Diamond City), Ratchaburi (The Royal City), Kanchanaburi (The City of Gold, and also the location of the famous Bridge on The River Kwai), along with many others, and is also the -pore of Singapore (The Lion City). Incidentally, Thailand also has a lion city, Singburi.

[@languagesolehsoleh]

The -pura in Singapura, the Kingdom/state of Pahang was known as Inderapura and the Royal capital was called Pura (The city/The town) now known as Pekan (same meaning). Many places around Hindu-Buddhist Southeast Asia; Malaysia and Indonesia, have Pura in it's name.

[@hckoenig]

Greek 'polis' seems to be a cognate. Naples = Neapolis = "new town". Not to mention police, policy, politics, polite...

[@WaterShowsProd]

@@hckoenig I'm sure it is.

[@HighWealder]

Crowborough, should be Crowberg, crow hill, not a borough.

[@araelthewise]

Always waiting for your next video, thanks Rob!!

[@nez27]

Idk how this ended up on my feed but good thing it did. Very British humour, love it

[@sovereignjoe5730]

Like your 'quirky' style very much Rob, makes for an enjoyable & yet informative & interesting video lesson, ..

[@danchisholm1]

thanks rob. my wife and I found your channel last week and have been binging. we love it. ❤ from los angeles

[@honestiago4738]

Growing up in Liverpool, we were taught that the Liver in Liverpool came from laver, the edible seaweed common in the area. The Liver Birds, symbols of the city, have branches of laver in their beaks.

[@beeble2003]

This is one of the many cases where there are multiple plausible theories, nobody knows which one is really true, but many people latch on to the theory they like the best and promote it as the one truth.

[@BillyBobDingo1971]

Sounds good.

[@davidpriestley1650]

Seeing as laver is the welsh name, and Old Welsh/Brittonic was the language of the area (all the north west up beyond the Scottish border) - it does has a good standing as the possible root. A shallow pool of edible seaweed.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

could "liver" just mean "life"? As in life pool or living pool, inferring that the water was what supplied the people and kept them alive.

[@davidpriestley1650]

@@HappyBeezerStudios Well the 'pool is the pool of life 🙂(and a local band, The Onset, has used that as an album title) "Life" - came in with the Angles and is Germanic in origin. The Brittonic word would be something along the lines of "bywyd" But the language of the region before the Angles, Saxons, Vikings, etc moved in bringing English was variants of old Brittonic - of which the most modern version is Welsh, and that provides such things as " lafwr" - laver, which is the common seaweed in the area and a food. So a settlement next to a tidal pool filled with easily accessible at low tide edible seaweed would likely be named after that feature. Every pool you can get food from would be a "life pool"

[@weegiewarbler]

Your videos are always very interesting, thanks.

[@CrippleX89]

Interesting little fact: there’s quite some places around the world named Oxford - in the local language: Bosporus in Turkey, Osnabrück in Germany and Coevorden in the Netherlands are some examples. Also, Coevorden is probably indirectly the namesake of Vancouver as George Vancouver is believed to have descended from the lords of Coevorden (Van Coevorden - Van Couver). There is (was?) a scaled down copy of the castle of Coevorden in Vancouver.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

Yeah, not a surprise that castles and rivers and especially river crossings have rise to cities named after than.

[@Youtuber-ku4nk]

Had to give it a Like. Not only for the good content, not only for the amount of research you’ve had to do, but also for the amount of video editing this has required 👏 Changing the city number, inserting city names in different fonts according to the time period it came from, panning around the map (I wonder how you did that) and all the transitions.

[@kencory2476]

Living in Canada, it's fun to see how many of these place names crossed the mighty ocean, and became rooted in such places as Newcastle, London, Brighton, Cobourg, Whitby, Peterborough, Durham, York, Kingston, Trenton, Stratford, and so on. One wonders whether Picton, Wellington, Bloomfield, Colborne, Grafton, and Ajax may have also made the crossing.

[@pocketdynamo5787]

What I find so interesting about this topic is that, if you go back a thousand years or so, you can see even more clearly how closely English and German (and all the other languages around us) are related. So many of these words don't just look similar to our German ones, they actually mean pretty much the same. For instance, the "sunder" part in Sunderland meaning "apart from": In German, we have the verb "(ab)sondern" which can mean "to assort" or "to seclude" and also the conjunction "sondern" which means "but" (as in "not this, but that"). It's really cool to find out about all these common ancestors of our words.

[@paulfarndale3334]

Bradford is the 'broad ford'. Translated into modern German is 'breite furt'. My Bradfordian accent pronounces my City as ' Brat'fud'.

[@mikkolukas]

9:54 In modern Danish, "hær" means army. Easy to see how it is related to "here".

[@pierrefley5000]

... and "Heer" in modern German. There's even a a town called Herford in Germany.

[@robertharris8912]

Hi Rob, good work again. I have always wondered about Brygstowe to Bristol, the locals tend to put an 'L' at the end of words ending in vowels, so an area is sometime pronouced as Areal, the Vauxhall Astra is called an Astral etc, so I've assumed they did the same to Brygstowe to make Brygstowel.

[@OC35]

What a good ideal!

[@OC35]

I always thought that, as I come from that areal.

[@gsigs]

FWIW the Boston (USA) accent puts an "r" at the end of words that end with vowels.

[@Richardincancale]

Bought up in Bristol I recall some footballer being described as a Primal Donnal. Didn’t work out that well for my sister Anna though!

[@joegrey9807]

​@@gsigs which Boston?

[@furrier69]

This chap has a passion for this and it shows, excellently informative and entertaining, thank you

[@nigelmattravers5913]

Rob, I too was brought up around Derby (I went to Derby School founded 1554). I lived in villages with ancient names Burnaston, Melbourne and my primary school was Willington. Neighbouring villages included Repton and Etwall.

[@conversemackem8653]

Very, very informative Rob, especially Sunderland - I'm a Makem and always wondered how the city got is name. I always look forward to your new videos, thanks.

[@kevingray3550]

It's recognised the the original settlement of Sunderland was certainly located on the south bank of the River Wear around the river's mouth. To the west of it and also on the south bank of the river you can still find Bishop Wearmouth. As its name suggests the lands of Bishop Weamouth remained part of the Palatine of the Bishop of Durham and therefore marked the boundaries of the sunder land that had been granted to the monks on the north side of the river at Monkwearmouth.

[@philrob1978]

Very entertaining and informative! Like your style - subscribed! "Sneinton", a suburb in Nottingham could be a holdover from the "Snot" etymology - fascinating stuff. :)

[@Vim-Wolf]

The big one of these for me, albeit not a city, was Ashby de la Zouch which I’d wondered about since I was a kid. The game maker “Ultimate - Play the Game” was based there in the 1980s and made it kind of famous.

[@qstudiomusicandproductions2695]

Thanks!

[@RobWords]

Thank you very much for the support!

[@astraliie]

i was excited to learn what derby’s history was and it turns out you’re also from derby, pretty cool!

[@Chrisey96.]

Leicester Roman name Nottingham AngloSaxon name Derby Viking name within 15 miles of each other. The only place in the country that has that.

[@gingersperg]

I was literally watching one of your videos 10 mins ago to blow my colleagues mind about hyper specific German words, and then this pops up. Love it 😅

[@dahemac]

Culturally, I cannot hear of Bath and Wells without, “the baby-eating bishop of Bath and Wells,” zipping through my mind.

[@RobWords]

Me neither

[@Legionmint7091]

A wonderfully interesting, charming and funny channel that immediately earned my subscription. Impressive knowledge not to mention the excellent pronunciation of tongue twisters.

[@AshPrimeDCFC]

Being a Derby native as well, Snottingham was a highlight of the video.

[@Greennascanbe]

Lincoln being second is a great pride for me

[@corvus1374]

Don is a very common European word for river. Danube and Dnester are examples. Not to mention the Russian river Don;

[@glockenrein]

Danube in German is Donau, even closer there.

[@leod-sigefast]

Some linguists think that river names in Europe are so ancient that their names and common roots (such as Don) maybe reflect a pre-Indo-European origin. Namely, the peoples who lived their many thousands of years ago. The echos of those river names then past down through subsequent tribes and peoples who came later. Quite amazing to think that! I believe British rivers such as the Thames, Tame, Tyne all hold a mysterious ancient unknown origin that may be pre-Celtic.

[@fugoogle9757]

​@@leod-sigefastthe 'Shannon' in Ireland is thought t mean 'old one' or 'old goddess' and is considered t be one of the oldest names in Ireland..

[@andyalder7910]

Vic is not just Anglo-Saxon for settlement, it's also Norse for port / trading place /cove and even brine pit.

[@BillGreenAZ]

So would a Crown Vic refer to a royal port? 😉

[@williamgreen5575]

When talking about Carlisle you mention the extinct dialect of Cumbric. I presume this is where we get Cumbria from. Very informative and entertaining. Thank you.

[@RobWords]

Cumbria is to Cumbric what Cymru is to Cymraeg 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

[@Darkurge666]

As a swede I really enjoy these videos as the old English is very similar to old norse and it makes me appreciate our shared history. 😊

[@MikerBikerB]

Hove is still farm, homestead, garden in modern Old English: Dutch. Deer (Derby) used to mean generic animal, as it still does in Dutch.

[@sebe2255]

Dutch is Modern old English? What?

[@_Y.J]

​@@sebe2255 yh English is a germanic language with latin and Celtic influences.

[@AldWitch]

"We do it to confuse tourists" is one of my stock phrases! Friends from overseas often say " you succeeded!"

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

same fun as when they ask for London Bridge and get disappointed.

[@sketchaycat]

My father's middle name was Lester and he never really liked it much. I used to tell him that he should start spelling it "Leicester" to make it more interesting

[@5um0fMe]

Quite interesting! Fun vid! I grew up on a road named Colchester (in the US) In that area naming things after British places used to (and maybe still does) add an air of sophistication and presumed wealth. I see so many neighborhoods named after British places and now I’ll know what at least some of those names mean!

[@gretabrown8320]

You make old English sound really interesting and this episode about names of cities is fascinating. Thankyou😮

[@theanyktos]

That '-ham' suffix meaning home is really interesting to me, because in German 'daheim' meaans 'at home' (and 'Heim' just means home), but in some dialects it's pronounced 'daham'. Wouldn't be surprised if those are related.

[@thearcticlord3920]

In my local dialect from Bath, there is a tendency to add an 'L' to everything ending in a vowel. As in Nigerial is a malarial areal. Nigeria is an area with a malaria issue. Perhaps this explains why Bristow became Bristol.

[@Legionmint7091]

”Tun” is an old word for farmstead in Swedish as well. Hard to believe it’s a coincidence.

[@comradecid]

14:15 the W L correspondence reminds me of the polish shift to using ɫ (now pronounced as 'w' in words like 'złoty'), in contrast with other slavic languages/dialects

[@ludditedred]

This is definitely the video I didn't realise I needed until today 😁

[@o0OHermioneO0o]

I can't tell you how excited I am about this video! Simply because it combines history and linguistics and shows how they resulted in current place names. I'm neither from Britain nor another English-speaking country, but I just love the crossover. 😊❤

[@pwensor]

In Anglo-Saxon times Peterborough was "Medeshamstede" until those pesky Vikings raided and pillaged it. The town was then rebuilt around St Peter’s Abbey.

[@jacquesdehue2290]

On the Dutch coast we have a town called Heemstede and a village called Haamstede, both of the same origin as hamstede in Medeshamstede.

[@silvialittlewolf]

Very interesing! I love finding out where names (of locations or people) come from! The origin of the -ing in English place names is the same as the -ing origin in German place names! 😃

[@MAKgargos]

The Map Men had an interesting video to the topic of getting a city.

[@perjonsson5618]

And one of the origins of British place names too. Looks like Rob might've gotten inspired by their videos.

[@PaleoWithFries]

crossover! .. tun?

[@joshslater2426]

I can’t get Jay’s county song out of my head, and he already explained why it’s very strange as to what can qualify as a city in the UK.

[@BritishAdam]

Wakefield guy here. I never actually knew (or really put thought into) the origins of the city name. Actually a fairly nice name in history. Love these origin videos!

[@moonloversheila8238]

Great video, Rob. One of my favourites of yours, I think. So interesting. I really appreciate all your research and your graphics are always so clear. This was a big subject to tackle!

[@stephanberger3476]

Oxford has the exact same meaning as the Dutch Coevorden and the Bosporus in Turkey.

[@alexj9603]

And of course Ochsenfurt in Germany.

[@Iskandar64]

Coevoden = cow-ford(en) Is this correct? I find it quite mind-bending when you can, as an English speaker sort of read Dutch. Like it is out of focus in the corner of your eye. Then suddenly snaps into view. Now you mention Bosporus, that is Greek isn't it.

[@stephanberger3476]

@@Iskandar64 Yeah, I think so. The English - Dutch thing isn't weird, they are cousins. Even closer related are (Old) English and my other first language (as well as Dutch), Frisian.

[@stephanberger3476]

@@alexj9603 Oxenfurt is from the Witcher (3)! It's in Redania.

[@DavidJames-p9f]

Town and its old form 'tun' derive from the same origin as the German word 'Zaun' meaning fence.

[@leod-sigefast]

And the proto-Germanic word itself was from Celtic origin "Dun" meaning place or fortified place, fort.

[@fugoogle9757]

in Gaelic, its from 'dún' which ultimately translates as 'enclosure'.

[@jacquesdehue2290]

Dutch language has 'tuin' [IPA: /tœy̯n/] for garden, but it's from the same origin als 'town' and German 'Zaun'. And from garden / gaarde / Garten it is not far to the Slavic words grad / gród / gorod (among others), meaning: fortress, enclosed settlement, city. Fascinating, isn't it?

[@DavidJames-p9f]

@@jacquesdehue2290 Yes it certainly is. Also the English word mild, which I think is the same in Dutch and German is related to Slavic words for young, such as 'mlad' in Croatian.

[@saleembarmania5295]

Wales and Scotland gonna be fun

[@susanwestern6434]

Cornwall too.

[@witherkay]

Brilliant stuff as usual Rob.

[@gabrielalexanderkhoury73]

Thanks

[@danielm.1441]

Okay, we definitely need a Scotland/Wales/NI... maybe even ROI... follow up to this one!

[@Wee_Langside]

Definitely

[@wulfgreyhame6857]

The first castle in England was in Shropshire, built in the 1050s. It was built by Normans though. William's mob in 1066 weren't the first Normans here; Edward the so-called Confessor was raised in exile in Normandy and spoke Norman French better than English. He surrounded himself with Norman favourites and granted some of them land. Several Normans fought (and died) on the English side at Hastings in fact, being sworn to the English King.

[@shirleymilton5178]

Where was the first castle to be built in Shropshire?

[@lildiabeto]

Love the videos Rob!

[@Jay32954]

As an Australian, this video is absoutely fascinating, given how many of places here are named after those mentioned in it.