Geographical etymology: a dictionary of place-names giving their derivationsBlackie, Christina
History
Geographical etymology: a dictionary of place-names giving their derivations
Blackie, Christina
Names, Geographical
an enclosure, a town. The primary meaning of this word comes from
the Gothic _tains_, Scand. _teinn_, Ger. _zaun_, a fence or hedge
formed of twigs. Originally it meant a place rudely fortified with
stakes, and was applied to single farm-steadings and manors, in which
sense _tun_ is still used in Iceland, and _toon_ in Scotland. The
word _toon_ retained this restricted meaning even in England in the
time of Wickliffe. These single enclosures became the nucleus of a
village which, gradually increasing, became a town or city, in the same
manner as villages and towns arose around the Celtic _duns_, _raths_,
and _lises_. This root, in the names of towns and villages, is more
common than any other in Anglo-Saxon topography, being an element
in an eighth part of the names of dwelling-places in the south of
Great Britain. The greatest number of these names is connected with
those of the original proprietors of the places, of which but a few
examples can be given here. In such cases, the root _ton_ is generally
preceded by _s_ or _ing_--_qu. v._; _e.g._ Grimston, Ormiston, Ribston,
Haroldston, Flixton, Kennington (the property of Grim, Orm, Hreopa,
Harold, and Felix); Canewdon (of Canute); Addlington and Edlington
(of the nobles); Dolphinton, Covington, and Thankerton, parishes in
Lanarkshire, took their names from Dolphine, Colban, and Tancred, to
whom the lands were given in very early times; Symington and Wiston, in
Lanarkshire, are found mentioned in old charters, the one as Symington,
in Ayrshire, named from the same Simon Lockhart, the progenitor of the
Lockharts of Lee; Cadoxton, _i.e._ Cadog’s town, in Wales; _Ecclesia
de uilla Simonis Lockard_ (the church of Simon Lockhart’s villa), and
the other, _Ecclesia uilla Withce_ (the church of Withce’s villa);
Haddington (the town of Haddo); Alfreton, Wimbledon, Herbrandston,
Houston (of Alfred, Wibba, Herbrand, Hugh); Riccarton, in Ayrshire,
formerly Richardston, took its name from Richard Waleys, _i.e._
Richard the Foreigner, the ancestor of the great Wallace); Stewarton,
in Ayrshire, had its name from the family which became the royal race
of Scotland; Boston, in Lincoln (named after St. Botolph, the patron
saint of sailors); Maxton, a parish in Roxburghshire (the settlement of
Maccus, a person of some note in the reign of David I.); Flemingston
and Flemington (named from Flemish emigrants); Woolston (from St.
Woolstan); Ulverston (from Ulphia, a Saxon chief); Wolverhampton and
Royston (from ladies who endowed religious houses at these places);
Minchhampton (the home of the nuns, _minchens_); Hampton (the enclosed
home); Preston and Presteign (priest’s town); Thrapston (the dwelling
at the cross-roads); Broughton (the town at the fort or mound), a
parish in Peeblesshire, with a village of the same name; Albrighton
(the town of Aylburh); Harrington (of the descendants of Haro); Barton
and Barnton (the enclosure for the crop; literally, what the land
bears); Shettleston, in Lanarkshire, Lat.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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