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michael_scarn_21 t1_iyedmv5 wrote

Place names are very interesting and often changed much over the centuries. For example Exeter (we have one in NH and one in RI locally) was founded by the Romans as "Isca," Over the centuries it became Exanceaster, Excester and finally Exeter.

If a town name ends in Cester or Chester, for example Gloucester, Exeter or Worcester, it comes from the old English ceaster which means a Roman fort or town. It is a borrowing from the Latin "castrum."

A name ending in sex denotes a Saxon origin. For example Essex was the land of the East Saxons. There is also Middlesex, Sussex etc.

Borough is a corruption of the Saxon burh which meant a fort or fortified town. King Alfred the great was famous for establishing burhs across his kingdom.

A town name ending in Ham meant village or estate.

Wic means trading settlement or dwelling place.

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pyrusbaku57338 t1_iyejum5 wrote

There is a great video that talks just about that! Map Men

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shoffing t1_iyf0fww wrote

Big +1 to map men, and this is one of their best!

"Could you mispronounce Frome for me?"

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geminimad4 t1_iyetxpk wrote

>A town name ending in Ham meant village or estate.

Ah, so "hamlet" must be related to this?

As a word nerd, I enjoyed your post very much. Upstate NY has interesting names as well -- I learned that the town names ending in "-kill" are related to the Dutch term for "creek".

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3720-To-One t1_iyewj6c wrote

Kill Van Kull always surprised me.

When I first saw it, my first thought was what did Van Kull do that you want to murder him?!

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michael_scarn_21 t1_iyf5jee wrote

Hamlet has really entwined roots. I've copy pasted below because I'll explain it poorly if I do it myself. It's also interesting that while hamlet has partly French routes, town is obviously old English (tun) and city comes from the Latin word civitas.

From Middle English hamlet, hamelet, a borrowing from Old French hamelet, diminutive of Old French hamel, in turn diminutive of Old French ham, of Germanic origin, from Frankish *haim, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *haimaz (whence English home). Equivalent to Middle English ham (“home, village”) +‎ -let (“small”).

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UniverseModulator t1_iyfem5u wrote

The -ham suffix is ultimately related to the word “home.” German cognate is “-heim”, such as “Mannheim.” “Heim” also directly translates to home.

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