Synopsis:
Originally published in 2004, this alphabetical dictionary is a major reference work, based on the archives of the English Place-Name Society and reflecting the scholarship in the subject, of all the names of cities, towns, villages, hamlets, rivers, streams, hills and other geographical locations included in the Ordnance Survey Road Atlas of Great Britain (1983). It provides a reflection of contemporary England, not just its historical past. Every place-name entry has a unique National Grid reference number, a list of historical spellings, the age and meaning of the name and its etymology (pre-Indo-European, Indo-European, Celtic, Primitive Welsh, Anglo-Saxon, Old Norse, Old French, Middle English, Modern English). Where appropriate, a commentary is provided on comparable names, on the problems, history and significance of the name for settlement, economic and social history, the development of the language and on its variant pronunciations and spellings.
About the Author:
Victor Watts is Master of Grey College and Dean of Colleges, Durham University. He is the Honorary Director of the English Place-Name Society and Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London. In addition to many articles and reviews on place-names, he has written Book 17 De herbis et plantis in On the Properties of Things: John Trevisa's Translation of Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Rerum Naturae (1975), and translated Boethius: The Consolation of Philosophy (1969/1999).
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