I have been travelling so much about in the country since I left England, that I have not always the opportunity of seeing your "N. & Q." until long after the publication of the different Numbers. I have in this way seen some Queries put to me about matters connected with the history of the Danish settlements in England. But as I have had no particular information to give, I have not thought it worth while to write to say that I know nothing of any great consequence. Just when I left Copenhagen, some days ago, a friend of mine showed me that MR. TAYLOR, of Ormesby in Norfolk, asked some questions regarding the Danish names of places in Norfolk. In answer to them I beg to state, that all the names terminating in _-by_ unquestionably are of Danish origin. MR. TAYLOR is perfectly right in supposing that several of these names of places contain the names of the old Danish conquerors. But I do not think that Ormesby originally has been Gormsby. Gorm certainly is the same as Guthrum; but both of these names are distinctly different from the name "Orme" or "Orm," which, in our old language, signifies a serpent, and also a worm. (The famous ship, on board of which King Olaf Tryggveson was killed in the year 1000, was called "Ormen hin lange," _i.e._ the long serpent.) I have observed that several English families (undoubtedly of old Scandinavian descent) at this day have the family-name "Orm" or "Orme." Among the other names of places quoted by MR. TAYLOR, Rollesby most probably must be derived from the name "Rollo" or "Rolf;" but I regard the origin of the other names as being much more doubtful. If we had the original forms of these names, it might have been easier to decide upon it. As the names are now, I do not see anything purely Scandinavian in them, except the termination _-by_. It is not at all unlikely that the name Ashby or Askeby might have been called so from "Ash-trees" (Danish "Ask eller Esk"), but I dare not venture into conjectures of this kind. I should be very happy if I in any other way could be of any service to MR. TAYLOR in his researches about the Danish settlements in East Anglia. His remarks upon the situation of the villages with Danish names are most interesting and instructive. I always sincerely wish that inhabitants of the different old Danish districts in the North and East of England would, in the same way, take up the question about the Danish influence, as I feel fully convinced that very remarkable and important elucidations might be gained to the history of England during a long and hitherto very little known period. J. J. A. WORSAAE. * * * * * CLEANING OLD OAK. (Vol. vii., p. 620.; Vol. viii., p. 45.)