in Brittany, a stream; _e.g._ Ster-boueux (the muddy stream); Stercaer (the stream at the fort); Sterpoulder (of the black pool), etc. According to Forsteman, there is a Teutonic river-root, _str_, which he finds in the names of 100 German streams; _e.g._ Elster, Alster, Wilster, Gelster, Laster, and _Ister_--an ancient name of the Danube--Stour, Stura, etc. [Sidenote: STER (Scand.),] Old Norse _setr_ (a station or place), contracted from _stadr_ (a place); _bu-stadr_ (a dwelling-place), contracted to _bister_ or _buster_; _e.g._ Grunaster (green place); Keldabister (the place at the well or fountain); Kirkbuster (the dwelling at the church); Hesting-ster (the settlement of Hesting). The same word appears in the names given by the Danes to three of the provinces of Ireland--Ulster, for the Irish _Uladh_, _i.e._ _Ulla-ster_; Leinster, Irish _Laighen_ or _Layn_; Munster, Irish _Mumha_ (named after a king). [Sidenote: STOC, STOW (Teut.),] literally a stake or the trunk of a tree, applied at first to a place protected by a stockade, or surrounded by stocks or piles; and in German topography sometimes applied to hills, as in Hochstock (high hill); Stockheim (the home on the hill); sometimes to places built upon stakes, as in Stockholm. In Great Britain, standing alone, it means simply the place, as Stock, in Essex; Stow, a parish in Mid Lothian; Stoke-upon-Trent; Stow-in-the-Wold or waste land; Stoke-Bardolph, Stoke-Fleming, Stoke-Gabriel, Stoke-Poges, Stoke-Edith (named from the proprietors); Stow-market (the market-place); Stow-Upland (the place in the high lands); Kewstoke (at the quay); Elstow, in Wilts (old place); Elstow, in Bedford (St. Helen’s place), the site of a nunnery dedicated to that saint; Basingstoke (the place belonging to the Basings, a patronymic); Bridstow (St. Bridget’s place); Bristol, anc. _Briegstow_ (the place at the breach or chasm, _brice_, through which the R. Avon passes)--its Celtic name was _Nant-Avon_ (on the valley of the Avon); Padstow, in Cornwall, anc. _Petrocstowe_, Welsh _Llan-petroc_ (the place or church of St. Petroc); Tavistock and Tawstock (places on the Rivers Tavy and Taw). As a prefix, _stock_ often denotes the chief place in a district, as in Stockton (the chief town on the Tees), and in Stockport (the chief port on the Mersey). [Sidenote: STOLL (Ger.),] a mine-shaft; _e.g._ Stollenberg (the hill of the mine-shaft); Stollenschmeide (the smithy at the mine-shaft); but Stollenkirchen, _i.e._ _Stallinchirchun_, is from Stalla (a person’s name). [Sidenote: STOLPE (Sclav.),] a rising ground in a marshy place; _e.g._ Stolpe, the name of a circle and of several towns in Hungary and Pomerania; Stolpen, in Saxony. [Sidenote: STÖR (Scand.),] great; _e.g._ Störfiord (the great bay); Störhammer (great hill); Störoe (great island); Störaa (great river); Störsjon and Störsoen (great lake); Störa-kopparberg (the great copper mountain), in Sweden and Norway.