A Concise Dictionary of Modern Place-Names in Great Britain and Ireland By Adrian Room 1985

Room, Adrian

ISBN 10: 0192819003 / ISBN 13: 9780192819000

Published by Oxford University Press, London England, 1985

About this Item

### A Concise Dictionary of Modern Place-Names in Great Britain and Ireland By Adrian Room 1985 ### ## THIS BOOK: Classified as FINE: This is the 1985 Edition; the cover is full gloss and laminated. A very clean and tidy book, page edges slight discolouring. It probably was never read right through as pages are still tight to the spine. A fascinating read for all into the history of Great Britain and Ireland. Previous owner?s small inscription on free endpaper ## ## MANY of the place-names with which we are most familiar in the British Isles are ancient names, long-established to designate a particular geographical object, even where that object today has changed out of all recognition from its original. Thus as we travel north out of London on the Al, following for much of the way the route of the old Great North Road, we pass through or near many places with such historical names: Hatfield, Stevenage, Letchworth, Biggleswade, Eaton Socon, Alconbury, Stilton, Stamford, Colsterworth, Newark-on-Trent, Blyth, Doncaster, Chester-le-Street, Gateshead, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Berwick-upon-Tweed, finally reaching our destination in Scotland?s capital city, Edinburgh. These names, the latter included, provide a microcosm of English place names of different kinds. ## ## Hatfield, for example, has a name meaning roughly ?heather field? that was recorded by Bede (as Haethfeld) as long ago as the eighth century. In contrast, Biggleswade, registered in the ?Domesday Book? of 1086 as Pichelesuuade, has a name that means ?Biccel?s ford? and is based on a personal name. Eaton Socon, originally ?Eaton? (Etone in the ?Domesday Book?), has an old phrase, commonly found all over the country, to mean ?river settlement?. The Old English tün giving modern English? town?, with the second half of the name, meaning ?soke? (an old administrative district, as in the former Soke of Peterborough) added to distinguish this particular ?Eaton? from the many others. The name of Stamford was recorded as long ago as 922 (as Steanford) to mean ?stony ford?, and both Doncaster and Chester-le-Street are Roman-based names meaning ?fort on the Don? and ?fort by a Roman road?. ## ### INTERNATIONAL BUYERS: Please Note. FREE SHIPPING IS UK ONLY. Please get in touch with me for a shipping quotation. ###.

Seller Inventory # MMXL-317-enghist

Bibliographic Details

• Title: A Concise Dictionary of Modern Place-Names in Great Britain and Ireland By Adrian Room 1985
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, London England
• Publication Date: 1985
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0192819003
• ISBN 13: 9780192819000
• Binding: Soft Cover Full Gloss
• Condition: Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket
• Signed: No Author signature
• Seller catalogs:
  • English History

About this title

Synopsis

This dictionary fills a major gap in the study of British and Irish place names, being the first to give full coverage to the origins of names that have arisen since 1500. Room traces the origins of over 1,000 names, providing an informative and entertaining excursion through the social history of Great Britain and Ireland over the last 500 years.

Synopsis

Adrian Room's dictionary reveals the origins of more than 1,000 names of towns and villages that have come into being since 1500, thus filling a major gap in the study of British and Irish place-names.