Danish-Norwegian Names of Places.
On the extremity of the tongue of land which borders on the north the
entrance of the Humber, there formerly stood a castle called Ravnsöre
(raven’s point—in old Scandinavian, Hrafnseyri), and afterwards
Ravnsere. _Öre_ is, as is well known, the old Scandinavian name for the
sandy point of a promontory. Ravn (or Raven) may possibly have been
either the name of the man who first conquered the surrounding district
and built the castle; or, what is certainly far more probable, the
Northmen, on erecting this important castle on one of their first
landing places on the greatest river in north England, named it after
the bird sacred to Odin, which fluttered in their banner, and
prognosticated to them victory in the fight. In that case it was a
singular coincidence that Harald Haardraade’s son Olaf should, after the
battle of Stamford Bridge, have embarked at Ravnsöre for the Orkneys and
Norway with the feeble remnant of the Norwegian army. The very place
which had before so often seen multitudes of Northmen, intoxicated with
victory, land with Odin’s raven-flag, now beheld the flight-like
departure of their successors, after they had combated in vain under
that celebrated banner “Landöde” (the land-ravager), which had
accompanied Harald Haardraade in his expeditions to the East, against
the Saracens and other enemies of Christianity. It was one of the many
proofs that “White Christ” was not yet for the Northmen, at least in
battle, what Odin had been previously.
It is, however, at least certain that the name “Ravenspurn” (Ravnsöre)
is derived from the Scandinavian conquerors. An Icelandic Saga, written
a hundred and fifty years after the conquest of England by the Normans,
or after the battle of Hastings (1066), says that “Northumberland was
mostly colonized by Northmen; for after Lodbrog’s sons, who conquered
the country, had again lost it, the Danes and Norwegians often harried
it; and there are still many places to be found in the district that
have names taken from the Scandinavian tongue, such as Grimsby,
Hauksfliot, and numerous others.”
Old English chroniclers also state that many towns in England had new
names given to them by the Northmen; for instance Streaneshalch came to
be called Whitby, and Northweorthig was named in the Danish language
“Deoraby.”
A surer and more decisive proof than all written historical accounts of
the Danish-Norwegian settlements and diffusion in the midland and
northern districts of England is, that the above-named places, namely,
Grimsby (“the town of Grim”), Whitby (Hvidby, “the White town”), and
Deoraby Dyreby (“town of deer”), contracted to Derby, are to be found to
this day in Lincolnshire, Yorkshire, and Derbyshire; and also that in
these old Danish districts there is, moreover, a very considerable
number of towns with names of just as undoubted Danish origin. A close
inspection of even a common map of England will soon show that there are
not a few names of places in the north of England, whose terminations
and entire form are of quite a different kind from those of places in
the south.
The greater number of names of places in the south of England end in
——ton, ——ham, ——bury, or ——borough, ——forth or ——ford, ——worth, &c.
These, which are of Anglo-Saxon origin, and which also serve still
further to prove the preponderating influence of the Anglo-Saxons in
that part, are, it is true, also spread over the whole of the north of
England. But, even in the districts about the Thames (in Kent, Essex,
Suffolk, and Norfolk) they already begin to be mixed with previously
unknown names ending in ——by (_Old Northern_, býr, first a single farm,
afterwards a town in general), ——thorpe (old Northern Þorp, a collection
of houses separated from some principal estate, a village), ——thwaite,
in the old Scandinavian language Þveit, tved, an isolated piece of land,
——næs, a promontory, and ——ey, or öe, an isle; as in Kirby, or Kirkby,
Risby, Upthorpe and others. As we approach from the south the districts
west of the Wash, such as Northamptonshire and Warwickshire, the number
of such names constantly increases, and we find, among others, Ashby,
Rugby, and Naseby. As we proceed farther north, we find still more
numerous names of towns and villages having in like manner new
terminations; such as, ——with (_i.e._ forest), ——toft, ——beck, ——tarn
(_Scandinavian_, tjörn, or tjarn, a small lake, water), ——dale, ——fell
(rocky mountain), ——force (waterfall), ——haugh, or, how (_Scand._,
haugr, a hill), ——garth (_Scand._, garðr, a large farm); together with
many others. The inhabitants of the north will at once acknowledge these
endings to be pure Norwegian or Danish; which is, moreover, placed
beyond all doubt by the compound words in which they appear.
It is not of course very easy to point out the meaning of every name of
a place that has a Danish or Norwegian termination; the original form
having been partly corrupted by later differences of pronunciation, and
partly changed, by the ancient Scandinavians having often merely added a
Scandinavian ending to the older names, or at most re-modelled them into
forms that had a home-like sound to their ears. Still there are names
enough of places whose signification is quite clear. To instance some
derived from the situation or nature of the place: Eastby (_Dan._,
Ostby; _Eng._, the eastern village), Westerby (_Eng._, the western
village), Mickleby (_Dan._, Magleby; _Eng._, the large village),
Somerby, Markby (_Eng._, the field village), Newby (_Dan._, Nyby;
_Eng._, the new village), Upperby (_Dan._, Overby; _Eng._, the upper
village), Netherby (the lower village), Langtoft (the long field),
Kirkland (church-land), Stainsby (the stone village), Haidenby (_Dan._,
Hedeby; _Eng._, the heath village), Raithby (_Dan._, Rödby, from
_rydde_, to clear away), Dalby (village in the dale), Scawby and Scausby
(village in the wood), Scow, Askwith (_Dan._, Askved, or Askeskov,
_i.e._ Ashwood), Storwith (_Dan._, Storved, or Storskov; _Eng._, the
large wood), Lund (Danish for _grove_), Risby (the beech village),
Thornby (the thorn village), Birkby (_Dan._, Birk; _Eng._, the birch
village), Ings (_Dan._, Enge; _Eng._ meadow), Brackenthwaite
(Bregentved, from Brackens), Northorpe (_Dan._, Nörup; _Eng._, north
village), Millthrop (_Dan._, Möldrup; _Eng._, mill-village), Staindrop
(_Dan._, Stenderup; _Eng._, stone village), Linthorpe (_Dan._, Lindrup;
_Eng._, lime-tree village), Stonegarth (_Dan._, Steengaard; _Eng._,
stone farm), Dalegarth (_Dan._, Dalsgaard; _Eng._, valley farm),
Fieldgarth (_Dan._, Fjeldgaard; _Eng._, rocky farm), with others. A
village on the river Eden in Cumberland is called Longwathby (from a
long ford, or wading place; _Danish_, at vade); and north and south of
the Humber, at a spot where there is a ferry over the river (_Dan._,
Færge), lie north and south Ferriby! Almost all these names, to which a
great number of similar ones might be added, answer to names of places
still in use in Denmark, only with this difference, that _thwaite_ has
there passed into _tvede_, or _tved_, and _thorpe_ into _trup_, _drup_,
or _rup_.
The following examples may be cited of Danish-Norwegian names of places
in England, called after animals: Codale (Cowdale), Swinedale,
Swinethorpe, Hestholm (_Eng._, Horse-holm), Calthorpe, and Hareby.
Names of places containing personal names are, however, beyond
comparison far more numerous, and were probably taken from the first
Scandinavian conquerors; as, for instance, Rollesby (Rolfsby), Ormsby
(Gormsby), Ormskirk, Grimsdale, Grimsthorpe, Haconby, Gunnerby,
Aslackby, Swainby, Swainsthorpe, Ingersby, Thirkelsby, Asserby, Johnby,
Brandsby, Ingoldasthorpe, Osgodby, Thoresby, and several others.
Among this species of names of places are found such as Tursdale,
Baldersby, Fraisthorpe, and Ullersthorpe. Now it is certainly probable
that these were only derived from men named Thor, Balder, Freyer, and
Uller, or Oller; yet we cannot avoid thinking of the old gods who bore
these names, particularly as it was a common custom among the ancient
Scandinavians to name towns and estates after them. In England also are
found Asgardby, Aysgarth (or Asgaard, in Yorkshire), as well Wydale and
Wigthorpe, or Wythorpe; which two names have undoubtedly the same origin
as the old sacrificial and assize town Viborg, in Jutland (from Vébjörg,
or the holy mountains); namely, from _vé_, a sacred place. Even the name
of one of the most important sacrificial places in the Scandinavian
north, is to be found in Yorkshire, in Upsal (from Upsalir, the high
halls). The names of places in England which have preserved traces of
the Danes after they had become Christians, may all the more assure us
that we are not mistaken in regarding the names just mentioned as
remarkable remains of the short period of their domination when
heathens. The names of Bishopsthorpe (Bispetorp), Nunthorpe (Nonnetorp),
Kirkby, Crosby, and Crossthwaite, sufficiently prove that Christian had
succeeded to sacrificial priests, and that church and cross were now
erected where heathen altars and temples had formerly stood.
The name of the village of Thingwall[7] in Cheshire affords a remarkable
memorial of the assizes, or _Thing_, which the Northmen generally held
in conjunction with their sacrifices to the gods; it lies, surrounded
with several other villages with Scandinavian names, on the small tongue
of land that projects between the mouths of the rivers Dee and Mersey.
At that time they generally chose for the holding of the _thing_, or
assizes, a place in some degree safe from surprise. The chief ancient
_thing_ place for Iceland was called like this Thingwall, namely
Thingvalla (originally “Þingvöllr,” “Þingvellir,” or the
_thing-fields_).
Footnote 7:
Wall, _Dan._, Vold, a bank or rampart.
The before-mentioned names Bishopsthorpe and Nunthorpe apply to estates
that belonged to the church; the following ones, viz., Coningsby,
Coneysthorpe, Coneysby, Kingthorpe, and Kingsby, denote property
belonging to the kings, or destined for their maintenance. Some towns
are named after the trade or business of the original inhabitants as
Smisby (Smithby) Weaverthorpe, and Copmanthorpe (Kjöbmandsthorpe,
_i.e._, merchants-thorpe); others point to the descent of the
inhabitants, such as Romanby, Saxby, Flemingsby, Frankby, Frisby and
Fristhorpe (but this possibly came from “Freyr”), Scotby, Scotsthorpe,
Ireby, Normanby, Danby or Denby, and Danesdale.
It also deserves to be mentioned that many of these names of places have
by degrees become family ones, which are constantly heard in England;
for instance, Thoresby, Ashby, Crosby (whence again Ashby and Crosby
Streets in London), Thorpe, Sibthorpe, Willoughby, Scoresby, Derby,
Selby, Wilberforce, &c.
In order, lastly, to convey an idea of the abundance of Scandinavian, or
Danish-Norwegian, names of places, which occur in the midland and
northern districts of England, a tabular view of those most frequently
met with is here subjoined from the English maps. This list, which is
principally drawn up for the use of those readers who have not a
comprehensive map of England at hand, will, with all its deficiencies,
clearly and incontestably prove the correctness of the historical
accounts, which state that the new population of Danes and Norwegians
that immigrated into England during the Danish expeditions, settled
almost exclusively in the districts to the north and east of
Watlinga-Stræt, and there chiefly to the west and north of the Wash.
Norfolk, Northamptonshire, and Lancashire, have each only about fifty
names of places of Scandinavian origin; Leicestershire has about ninety;
Lincolnshire alone, nearly three hundred; Yorkshire above four hundred;
Westmoreland and Cumberland each about one hundred and fifty. The
colonization has clearly been greatest near the coasts, and along the
rivers; it had its central point in Lincolnshire (the Northmen’s
“Lindisey”), and in the ancient Northumberland, or land north of the
river Humber. Yet it was not much extended in Durham and the present
Northumberland, each of which contains only a little more than a score
of Scandinavian names.
A TABULAR VIEW OF SOME OF THE MOST IMPORTANT DANISH-NORWEGIAN
NAMES OF PLACES IN ENGLAND.
(_Extracted and collected from “Walker’s Maps,” London, 1842._)
Part A
┌────────────────┬─────┬─────────┬────────┬─────┬─────┬─────┬─────┐
│Names ending in │ by │ thorpe │thwaite │with │toft │beck │ næs │
├────────────────┼─────┼─────────┼────────┼─────┼─────┼─────┼─────┤
│In Kent, │ 1 │ . │ . │ . │ . │ . │ 4 │
│ north-east of │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
│ Watling Street│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
│In Essex │ 2 │ 3 │ . │ . │ . │ . │ 3 │
│-Bedfordshire │ . │ 3 │ . │ . │ 1 │ . │ . │
│-Buckinghamshire│ 1 │ 2 │ . │ . │ . │ . │ . │
│-Suffolk │ 3 │ 5 │ 1 │ . │ . │ . │ 1 │
│-Norfolk │ 17 │ 24 │ 2 │ . │ . │ 1 │ . │
│-Huntingdonshire│ 1 │ . │ . │ . │ . │ . │ . │
│-Northamptonshire│ 26 │ 23 │ . │ . │ 3 │ . │ . │
│-Warwickshire │ 2 │ 1 │ . │ . │ . │ . │ . │
│-Leicestershire │ 66 │ 19 │ . │ . │ 1 │ . │ . │
│-Rutland │ . │ 7 │ . │ . │ . │ . │ . │
│-Lincolnshire │ 212 │ 63 │ . │ 1 │ 4 │ 8 │ 1 │
│-Nottinghamshire│ 15 │ 20 │ . │ . │ . │ 1 │ . │
│-Derbyshire │ 6 │ 4 │ . │ . │ 1 │ . │ . │
│-Cheshire │ 6 │ . │ . │ . │ . │ . │ . │
│-Yorkshire: │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
│--East Riding │ 35 │ 48 │ 1 │ 6 │ 3 │ 1 │ 1 │
│--West Riding │ 32 │ 29 │ 6 │ 8 │ 2 │ 4 │ . │
│--North Riding │ 100 │ 18 │ 2 │ 6 │ 1 │ 7 │ . │
│-Lancashire │ 9 │ . │ 14 │ 2 │ . │ . │ 2 │
│-Westmorland │ 20 │ 6 │ 14 │ 1 │ . │ 17 │ 1 │
│-Cumberland │ 43 │ 1 │ 43 │ . │ . │ 12 │ 2 │
│-Durham │ 7 │ 7 │ . │ . │ . │ . │ . │
│-Northumberland │ . │ 1 │ . │ . │ . │ 1 │ . │
├────────────────┼─────┼─────────┼────────┼─────┼─────┼─────┼─────┤
│In all │ 604 │ 284 │ 83 │ 24 │ 16 │ 52 │ 15 │
└────────────────┴─────┴─────────┴────────┴─────┴─────┴─────┴─────┘
Part B
┌────────────────┬─────┬─────┬───────┬─────┬─────┬─────┬─────┐
│Names ending in │ ey. │dale │ force │fell │tarn │haugh│Total│
├────────────────┼─────┼─────┼───────┼─────┼─────┼─────┼─────┤
│In Kent, │ 1 │ . │ . │ . │ . │ . │ 6│
│ north-east of │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
│ Watling Street│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
│In Essex │ 3 │ . │ . │ . │ . │ . │ 11│
│-Bedfordshire │ . │ . │ . │ . │ . │ . │ 4│
│-Buckinghamshire│ . │ . │ . │ . │ . │ . │ 3│
│-Suffolk │ . │ . │ . │ . │ . │ . │ 10│
│-Norfolk │ . │ . │ . │ . │ . │ . │ 44│
│-Huntingdonshire│ . │ . │ . │ . │ . │ . │ 1│
│-Northamptonshire│ . │ . │ . │ . │ . │ . │ 52│
│-Warwickshire │ . │ . │ . │ . │ . │ . │ 3│
│-Leicestershire │ . │ 1 │ . │ . │ . │ . │ 87│
│-Rutland │ . │ 1 │ . │ . │ . │ . │ 8│
│-Lincolnshire │ . │ 3 │ . │ . │ . │ . │ 292│
│-Nottinghamshire│ . │ . │ . │ . │ . │ . │ 36│
│-Derbyshire │ . │ . │ . │ . │ . │ . │ 11│
│-Cheshire │ . │ . │ . │ . │ . │ │ 6│
│-Yorkshire: │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
│--East Riding │ . │ 12 │ 2 │ . │ . │ . │ 109│
│--West Riding │ . │ 12 │ . │ 15 │ 2 │ . │ 110│
│--North Riding │ . │ 40 │ 4 │ 7 │ 1 │ . │ 186│
│Lancashire │ 2 │ 13 │ . │ 7 │ . │ . │ 49│
│Westmorland │ . │ 36 │ 6 │ 42 │ 15 │ . │ 158│
│Cumberland │ . │ 16 │ 1 │ 15 │ 9 │ . │ 142│
│Durham │ . │ 5 │ 2 │ 2 │ . │ . │ 23│
│Northumberland │ . │ 3 │ . │ 7 │ . │ 10 │ 22│
├────────────────┼─────┼─────┼───────┼─────┼─────┼─────┼─────┤
│In all │ 6 │ 142 │ 15 │ 95 │ 27 │ 10 │ 1373│
└────────────────┴─────┴─────┴───────┴─────┴─────┴─────┴─────┘
Besides many other names ending in -holm, -garth, -land, -end,
-vig, -ho (how), -rigg, &c., c.
The same table still further shows that the names ending in by, thorpe,
toft, beck, næs, and ey, appear chiefly in the flat midland counties of
England; whereas, farther towards the north, in the more mountainous
districts, these terminations mostly give place to those in thwaite, and
more particularly to those in dale, force, tarn, fell, and haugh. This
difference, however, is scarcely founded on the natural character of the
country alone; it may also have arisen from the different descent of the
inhabitants. For although in ancient times Danish and Norwegian were one
language, with unimportant variations, so that it would scarcely be
possible to decide with certainty in every single case whether the name
of a place be derived from the Danes or from the Norwegians; yet it may
reasonably be supposed that part at least of the last-mentioned names
are Norwegian; namely, those ending in ——dale (as Kirk-dale, Lang-dale,
Wast-dale, Bishops-dale); in ——force (as Aysgarth-force in Yorkshire,
High-force, and Low-force, in the river Tees, and in the stream called
“Seamer Water”); in ——fell (old Norwegian, fjall; Mickle-fell, Cam-fell,
Kirk-fell, Middle-fell, Cross-fell); in ——tarn (_Old Nor._, tjörn, or
tjarn, a small lake); and in ——haugh (as in Northumberland, Red-haugh,
Kirk-haugh, Green-haugh, Windy-haugh). Exactly similar names are met
with to this day in the mountains of Norway; whilst they are less
common, or altogether wanting, in the flat country of Denmark. That
Norwegians also immigrated into England, even in considerable numbers,
both history and the frequently occurring name of Normanby in the north
of England, clearly show; but they appear to have betaken themselves
chiefly to the most northern and mountainous districts, which not only
lay nearest to them, but which in character most resembled their own
country. In this respect it deserves to be noticed, that places whose
names end in _tarn_, and are consequently pure Norwegian, are found only
in the most northern counties; and that those in _haugh_—although there
are names of places in Denmark ending in _höi_ (hill)—must also, from
the form, be Norwegian. They are found exclusively in the present
Northumberland, and within the Scotch border.
We may, however, venture to set down the greater part of Scandinavian
names of places in England as Danish. The terminations in _thwaite_ and
_thorpe_, indeed, are to be met with in Sweden, Norway, and Iceland, as
well as in the Saxon and Frisian districts of North Germany; yet as the
corresponding English names are for the most part composed of pure
Scandinavian or Danish words, and as they seldom appear either in the
tracts conquered by the Norwegians in Scotland and Ireland, or in the
southern and south-western, originally Anglo-Saxon, districts of
England, but keep strictly within the same boundaries as the rest of the
Danish names of places, and particularly of those in _by_ (Danish for
town or village), these are valid reasons for regarding them in general
as Danish.
The names of places in England ending in _by_ are only to be found in
the districts selected by the Danes for conquest or colonization. With
the exception of a single Kirby, or Kirkby, in Kent, not far from
London, they are nowhere to be found to the south of Watlinga-stræt (for
Tenby, formerly Tenbigh, in Pembrokeshire, is from a different
derivation); whilst towards the north, they cease in the most
north-eastern county of England, the present Northumberland; in the
south-westernmost part of Scotland (Locherby in Dumfries, Sorby in
Wigtonshire); and in the Isle of Man (Sulby, Jurby, Dalby). If we except
Duncansby in Caithness, and Oreby in the Isle of Lewis, as well as some
few villages in Orkney and the Shetland Isles, they do not appear among
the many pure Norwegian names of places in the north and west of
Scotland, and in Ireland; which, as will be explained in its proper
place, have generally quite a different character from the Scandinavian
(chiefly Danish) names of places in England. It can hardly be said that
this was solely owing to the natural character of the country in England
being more favourable for the building of villages than in those
districts in Scotland and Ireland which were occupied by the Northmen:
first, because the Norwegians seem to have dwelt closely together in
many places there, doubtless in order to resist the attacks of the
natives; secondly, because the land there, though often separated by
nature into many districts, as for instance in Caithness and the
Orkneys, by no means prevented them from assembling together in
villages; and lastly, because _by_ originally denoted only a single
estate or farm. In Norway, the Faroe Isles, and Iceland, many names of
places are to be found, which indicate the existence both of single
farm-houses and collections of them, or villages; but they have this
peculiarity, that they generally end in _bœr_ or _bö_, far more rarely
in _býr_ or _by_; whilst, on the contrary, this last form is essentially
Danish. Names of places ending in _by_ are spread over the peninsula of
Jutland quite down to Danevirke and the Eyder; are found in great
numbers in the southern boundary of South Jutland, or Sleswick; as well
as in the islands and old Danish countries of Skaane, or Scania,
Halland, and Bleking; whence they extend themselves over a great part of
Sweden, and far into Finland. From the most ancient times down to the
present, this difference between the Norwegian form _bœr_, and the
Danish _býr_ or _by_, seems on the whole to have clearly prevailed; and
thus that, as early as the eleventh century, the English towns and
villages are written in William the Conqueror’s “Domesday-book,” with
the Danish ending _by_ or _bi_, and not with the Norwegian form _bœr_ or
_bö_, is certainly no slight corroboration of their assumed Danish
origin. Besides, as _by_ is not found in the names of places south of
the Eyder, in Holstein or North Germany, and as it is wholly unknown in
the Saxon or German languages, there is consequently so much the greater
probability that in England it was derived from the Danes.
For the same reasons, towns whose names end in _by_ are most numerous in
the counties situated on the coast opposite Jutland; viz., in
Leicestershire, 66; Lincolnshire, 212; and the North Riding of
Yorkshire, 100. In the two other Ridings, there are altogether about 70
names of places ending in _by_; in Cumberland, 43; and in Westmoreland,
20. For the rest, this termination occurs so frequently throughout the
old Danish part of England, that, of 1370 Scandinavian names of places,
above 600 (as the tabular view given at page 71 shows) end in _by_,
whilst no other names exceed 280; and even this number is reached only
by the ending _thorpe_, which also is certainly pure Danish; whilst the
most numerous after thorpe fall down to 140. This remarkable
preponderance of Danish endings in _by_, will of itself sufficiently
prove the important and wide-extended influence of the Danes in the
midland and northern counties of England.
The not inconsiderable number (1370) of Scandinavian names of places
collected together in the preceding tabular view, could be much
increased if we were to include all the Scandinavian appellations used
by the common people in many parts of the north of England. A hill, or
small mountain, is there called _hoe_ or _how_ (Höi in Jutland: Höw or
Hyv); a mountain ridge, _rigg_; a ford, _wath_; a spring, _kell_; a holm
or small island, _holm_; a farm (_Dan._, Gaard), _garth_, &c., &c. We
might thus, on a very low calculation, compute in round numbers the
clearly recognisable Scandinavian names of places in England at one
thousand five hundred.
That they should have been preserved in such numbers for more than eight
centuries after the fall of the Danish dominion in England, and that
they should have retained, as it has been shown, the original
Scandinavian forms, and that often in a highly-striking degree,
completely disproves the opinion that the old Danish-Norwegian
inhabitants of the country north of Watlinga-Stræt were supplanted or
expelled after the cessation of the Danish dominion (1042), first by the
Anglo-Saxons, and afterwards by the Normans from Normandy; for if such
had been the case, the names of places would naturally have become
altogether changed and impossible to recognise. As the matter stands it
is sufficiently proved that Danes as well as Norwegians must have
continued to reside in great numbers in the districts previously
conquered by them, and particularly in the north; and consequently that
a very considerable part of the present population in the midland and
northern counties of England may with certainty trace their origin to
the Northmen, and especially to the Danes.
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