Wouldn't you just love to live in a place called Great Snoring, Beer or Crackpot? And whether you lived there or not – in Norfolk, Devon and North Yorkshire respectively – wouldn't you be fascinated to know how such a name originated?
You can find out in the revised edition of A Dictionary of British Place-Names, edited by David Mills, where such eccentricities are among more than 17,000 entries ranging from the mundane to the marvelous. It's a reference book you just cannot resist dipping into time and again.
Needless to say, in such cases as those above, the origins of place-names many centuries ago bear no relation to the amusing readings we give them today. Those three names, again respectively, come from a family name (Old English, 'Snear'), 'a place by a grove' (Old English, 'bearu'), and a limestone cleft visited by crows or ravens (Old Scandinavian 'kráka' and Middle English 'potte').
Strange, Exotic and Borrowed Place-Names
This easy-to-use dictionary will be the perfect companion for the tourist in Britain and, indeed, Ireland which is also covered despite not being mentioned in the title, as well as a boon to students and researchers across many fields – for example, local history, lexicography, cartography, toponomy and literature – and to the plain curious.
There are about 200 new entries in this updated edition, including some more strange ones, from the distant past as well as more recent times – for instance, Wham, Pennycomequick, Pant, Old Wives Lees, Flash and Boot. There are also a number of rather exotic borrowed place-names, such as Quebec, Lilliput, Botany Bay and California, and some famous ones with special associations: Anfield, Maiden Castle, Piccadilly and Sutton Hoo.
Several old names dating from the Anglo-Saxon period are now covered (Worgret, Tibenham, Evesbatch, Deanshanger, Baulking), some of Viking origin (Antrobus, Galby, Minsmere), and others from the Celtic (Conock, Dunchideock).
Development of Place-Names from the Earliest Dates
Each entry indicates the development of the place-name from the earliest date down to the present, and a substantial introduction covers the chronology and development of English, Irish, Welsh and Scottish place-names. There's a valuable bibliography, maps of Britain and Ireland displaying old and new boundaries, and a glossary of common elements in place-names.
A number of corrections have been made to existing entries in the dictionary (first published in 1991), and some explanations revised or improved following findings of the latest research. The dictionary is also web-linked to recommended websites where relevant online resources can be found, widening its scope and allowing the reader to delve further into the subject.
David Mills is a former Reader in English at the University of London, and is a member of the Council of the English Placename Society and of the Society for Name Studies in Britain and Ireland. Previous books of his include The Place-Names of Dorset, The Place-Names of the Isle of Wight, and A Dictionary of London Place-Names.
- Mills, David, ed., A Dictionary of British Place-Names: First Edition Revised. Oxford University Press, 2011. UK £10.99 / US $19.95. ISBN 978-0-19-960908-6.
Geoff Ward - Geoff Ward, MA Lit., is a British journalist, media consultant, author and lecturer/tutor in literature and creative writing
