Germanic toponyms are the names given to places by Germanic peoples and tribes. Besides areas with current speakers of Germanic languages, many regions with previous Germanic speakers or Germanic influence had or still have Germanic toponymic elements, such as places in France, Wallonia, Poland, Northern Portugal, Spain and Northern Italy.
In round brackets, the contemporary cognate for the toponym in the respective language is given. In the square brackets, the most frequently used name in English is given.
The Goths left toponymic traces in France, particularly in the south, however towards Savoy and further north of the Alps it was the Burgundians who also spoke an East Germanic language. [24]
Iberia was mostly occupied by the Visigothic Kingdom from the 5th to the 8th century, in which the ruling classes spoke the East Germanic language Gothic. A limited number of Germanic-derived place-names survive in Spain. [25] Examples include:
Proto-Norse is documented in Denmark as far back as 400 AD. As is general in Scandinavian countries, Denmark's toponymy is characterised by uniformity, as the country did not experience language changes during the period in which the names were given; thus the languages that gave rise to the oldest names, Proto-Germanic and Proto-Nordic, are the direct precursors of the languages Old Norse and Old Danish in which the later names were coined.
The vast majority of place-names in Norway were coined in the North Germanic language Norwegian.
The Duchy of Normandy in modern-day France had its roots in the early 10th century, when the Scandinavian Viking leader Rollo became a vassal of the King of the West Franks, Charles III and, in exchange for homage, acquired territory on the lower Seine. The area was subject to significant Scandinavian settlement. One legacy of such settlement is a body of place-names derived from the North Germanic language Old Norse. Such names include:
Both from Old Norse djuprdalr ("deep valley") (c.f. Deepdale, Yorks, England).
In the 9th and 10th centuries, some parts of Northern, Midland and Eastern England formed a part of the Danelaw, an area of England which formed a confederacy under the Kingdom of Denmark and was subject to Scandinavian settlement. As a result, place-names containing North Germanic elements are common in much of the former Danelaw, especially in Lancashire, Yorkshire and the East Midland counties such as Leicestershire and Lincolnshire. North Germanic toponyms are also common in neighbouring parts of Durham, and in other areas of Norse influence, such as Cumberland and the Wirral Peninsula in Cheshire. They are rare in the West Midlands and most of southern England. Notable examples include:
All from Old Norse kirkju-bȳr ("church farm"). [29]
As with the "Kirby" group, all from kirkju-bȳr ("church farm").
Place-names derived from the North Germanic language Old Norse have been established in Scotland since around the 9th century. There is a plurality of such names in Orkney and Shetland as these remained a part of the Kingdom of Norway until the 15th century, and the Norse daughter language Norn remained in use there until c. 1850. Norse toponyms are also frequent in the Hebrides, the Highlands and south-west Scotland, but are uncommon in most other regions. [30] Norse place-names in Scotland include:
France originates with the kingdom Francia of the 5th-9th centuries, which was established by the Germanic Franks. Some place-names in France originate in the Franks' West Germanic language Frankish (and the descendants of that language, Dutch and Flemish), and in other West Germanic languages. [27]
There are some place-names with Saxon or Old English etymologies in France (Normandy and Boulonnais), including:
The Suevi spoke a West Germanic language: an Elbe Germanic or a Weser–Rhine Germanic language. They left some toponyms and male personal names included or not[ clarification needed ] in the Romance toponyms.
Most place-names in Germany are derived from the West Germanic language German.
Northern Italy was settled in the 6th century AD by the Lombards, whose West Germanic language Lombardic was used in the region until around the 11th century AD. Some places in Italy have names of Lombardic origin, including:
The overwhelming majority of place-names in most parts of England are derived, at least in their present form, from the West Germanic language Old English, after that language became established in Britain during the Anglo-Saxon period (410–1066). For common Old English place-naming elements see the generic forms in place names in the British Isles. Some prominent place-names with common Old English naming suffixes are:
Many place-names in parts of Scotland are derived from Old English or its descendant languages such as Scots. This is particularly the case in the south-eastern counties of Scotland such as Berwickshire, East Lothian and Roxburghshire, which were part of the Anglian kingdom of Northumbria at its height in the early 8th century. [30] Prominent examples include:
Furthermore, there are a few place-names in Scotland derived from continental Germanic languages such as Dutch and German, mainly from the early modern period (16th-19th century):
Place-names in Wales are overwhelmingly derived from the Celtic language Welsh or its predecessors, but a small number are of Old English origin. Examples include:
In Norse mythology, Ullr is a god associated with skiing. Although literary attestations of Ullr are sparse, evidence including relatively ancient place-name evidence from Scandinavia suggests that he was a major god in earlier Germanic paganism. Proto-Germanic *wulþuz ('glory') appears to have been an important concept of which his name is a reflex. The word appears as owlþu- on the 3rd-century Thorsberg chape.
Yule is a winter festival historically observed by the Germanic peoples that was incorporated into Christmas during the Christianisation of the Germanic peoples. In present times adherents of some new religious movements celebrate Yule independently of the Christian festival. Scholars have connected the original celebrations of Yule to the Wild Hunt, the god Odin, and the heathen Anglo-Saxon Mōdraniht. The term Yule and cognates are still used in English and the Scandinavian languages as well as in Finnish and Estonian to describe Christmas and other festivals occurring during the winter holiday season. Furthermore, some present-day Christmas customs and traditions such as the Yule log, Yule goat, Yule boar, Yule singing, and others may have connections to older pagan Yule traditions.
Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of toponyms, including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of any geographical feature, and full scope of the term also includes proper names of all cosmographical features.
The toponymy of England derives from a variety of linguistic origins. Many English toponyms have been corrupted and broken down over the years, due to language changes which have caused the original meanings to be lost. In some cases, words used in these place-names are derived from languages that are extinct, and of which there are no known definitions. Place-names may also be compounds composed of elements derived from two or more languages from different periods. The majority of the toponyms predate the radical changes in the English language triggered by the Norman Conquest, and some Celtic names even predate the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons in the first millennium AD.
Onomastics is the study of the etymology, history, and use of proper names. An alethonym or an orthonym is the proper name of the object in question, the object of onomastic study.
This is a list of etymological lists.
Grangues is a commune in the Calvados department and Normandy region of north-western France.
Frankish, also known as Old Franconian or Old Frankish, was the West Germanic language spoken by the Franks from the 5th to 9th century.
"Uncleftish Beholding" (1989) is a short text by Poul Anderson, included in his anthology "All One Universe". It is designed to illustrate what English might look like without its large number of words derived from languages such as French, Greek, and Latin, especially with regard to the proportion of scientific words with origins in those languages.
An English exonym is a name in the English language for a place, or occasionally other terms, which does not follow the local usage. Exonyms and endonyms are features of all languages, and other languages may have their own exonym for English endonyms, for example Llundain is the Welsh exonym for the English endonym "London".
-hou or hou is a place-name element found commonly in the Norman toponymy of the Channel Islands and continental Normandy.
Present-day Irish has numerous loanwords from English. The native term for these is béarlachas, from Béarla, the Irish word for the English language. It is a result of language contact and bilingualism within a society where there is a dominant, superstrate language and a minority substrate language with few or no monolingual speakers and a perceived "lesser" status.
Félag was a joint financial venture between partners in Viking Age society.
In Germanic paganism, a vé or wēoh is a type of shrine, sacred enclosure or other place with religious significance. The term appears in skaldic poetry and in place names in Scandinavia, often in connection with an Old Norse deity or a geographic feature.
Placenames in Normandy have a variety of origins. Some belong to the common heritage of the Langue d'oïl extension zone in northern France and Belgium; this is called "Pre-Normanic". Others contain Old Norse and Old English male names and toponymic appellatives. These intermingle with Romance male names and place-name elements to create a very specific superstratum, typical of Normandy within the extension zone of the Langue d'oïl. These are sometimes called "Normanic".