Anglo-Saxons; Great Britain -- History -- Anglo-Saxon period, 449-1066
Local nomenclature also demands a short explanation. Most of the Roman
towns continued to be called by their Roman names: Londinium, Lunden,
London; Eburacum, Eoforwic, Eurewic, York; Lindum Colonia, Lincolne,
Lincoln. Often _ceaster_, from _castrum_, was added: Gwent, Venta
Belgarum, Wintan-ceaster, Winteceaster, Winchester; Isca, Exan-ceaster,
Execestre, Exeter; Corinium, Cyren-ceaster, Cirencester. Almost every
place which is known to have had a name at the English Conquest retained
that name afterwards, in a more or less clipped or altered form.
Examples are Kent, Wight, Devon, Dorset; Manchester, Lancaster,
Doncaster, Leicester, Gloucester, Worcester, Colchester, Silchester,
Uttoxeter, Wroxeter, and Chester; Thames, Severn, Ouse, Don, Aire,
Derwent, Swale, and Tyne. Even where the Roman name is now lost, as at
Pevensey, the old form was retained in Early English days; for the
"Chronicle" calls it Andredes-ceaster, that is to say, Anderida. So the
old name of Bath is Akemannes-ceaster, derived from the Latin _Aqua_,
Cissan-ceaster, Chichester, forms an almost solitary exception.
Canterbury, or Cant-wara-byrig, was correctly known as Dwrovernum or
Doroberna in Latin documents of the Anglo-Saxon period.
On the other hand, the true English towns which grew up around the
strictly English settlements, bore names of three sorts. The first were
the clan villages, the _hams_ or _tuns_, such as Bænesingatun,
Bensington; Snotingaham, Nottingham; Glæstingabyrig, Glastonbury; and
Wæringwica, Warwick. These have already been sufficiently illustrated;
and they were situated, for the most part, in the richest agricultural
lowlands. The second were towns which grew up slowly for purposes of
trade by fords of rivers or at ports: such are Oxeneford, Oxford;
Bedcanford, Bedford (a British town); Stretford, Stratford; and
Wealingaford, Wallingford. The third were the towns which grew up in the
wastes and wealds, with names of varied form but more modern origin. As
a whole, it may be said that during the entire early English period the
names of cities were mostly Roman, the names of villages and country
towns were mostly English.
CHAPTER XX.
ANGLO-SAXON LITERATURE.
Nothing better illustrates the original peculiarities and subsequent
development of the early English mind than the Anglo-Saxon literature. A
vast mass of manuscripts has been preserved for us, embracing works in
prose and verse of the most varied kind; and all the most important of
these have been made accessible to modern readers in printed copies.
They cast a flood of light upon the workings of the English mind in all
ages, from the old pagan period in Sleswick to the date of the Norman
Conquest, and the subsequent gradual supplanting of our native
literature by a new culture based upon the Romance models.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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