A Dictionary of English Place-Names (Oxford Paperback Reference) [Paperback]

A. D. Mills (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0192800744 | ISBN-13: 978-0192800749 | Publication Date: August 27, 1998 | Edition: 2

This is the most authoritative and up-to-date dictionary of English place-names available in paperback. From Abbas Combe to Zennor, it gives the meaning and origin of over 12,000 place-names, tracing their development from earliest times to the present day. This second edition adds 300 new entries, expands existing ones, and holds a glossary and extensive bibliography.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Another volume for every local historian's bookshelf."--Local Historian

"a book which will prove to be an invaluable travelling companion"--Landscape History

About the Author

A. D. Mills is Emeritus Reader in English, University of London, and Editor of The Place-Names of Dorset (English Place-Name Society). He is a member of the Council of the English Place-Name Society, and the Society for Name Studies in Britain and Ireland.

Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 2 edition (August 27, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0192800744
• ISBN-13: 978-0192800749
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,300,026 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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11 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars He looks in only one direction for his etymologies, November 11, 2003

By 

F. P. Barbieri "Fabio Paolo Barbieri" (London UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Dictionary of English Place-Names (Oxford Paperback Reference) (Paperback)

For a while now, I have been noticing, to my displeasure, that the study of etymology - which ought to be a scholarly pursuit - is frequently motivated by a catch-all nationalism that seeks to ascribe as much as possible to a favoured language. For instance, in his recent DICTIONARY OF CLASSICAL WELSH LEGEND, Peter Bartrum tries, disastrously, to ascribe the obviously English name Gwenfrewi (Winifred) to Welsh origins; which is total nonsense. The same is true of this otherwise pleasant work of reference, which seems incapable of recognizing any word root that is not Anglo-Saxon. For instance: in the highly Romanized far south of the country, we find three villages in a valley (Latin UALLIS) Over, Middle and Nether Wallop. Listen to the desperate shifts to which Mills commits himself rather than suggest that the Valley of Wallop might have preserved a Latin root: "Possibly 'Valley with a spring or stream', Old English WELLA, WAELLA+HOP. Alternatively, the first element may be Old English WEALL 'a wall' or WALU 'a ridge, an embankment'." Not UALLIS, then? Uh-uh. Guess not. Even worse are the etymologies proposed for Costessey ("Island, or dry ground in marsh, of a man called *Cost"; the name being "Old English, or perhaps Scandinavian") or Antingham ("Homestead of the family or followers of a man called *Anta" - the strange "Anta" being ascribed without hesitation to Old English). Sir, I have two personal names for you: Constantine and Anthony. Is it really so difficult to imagine that they might have been known in post-Roman Britain? Place-name evidence shows that the conquering English allowed the conquered Britons certain amounts of land, some of which - the various Waltons - bear their ethnic name to this day. We also know that Latin names that did cross over into English tended to lose their final syllable - DUROVERNUM into DOR[CHESTER], AUGUSTA into AUST - and John Morris has made a credible suggestion that the Latin name AMBROSIUS survived in various Central and Southern English place-names in AMBER- ; Ambrosden, Amberley, Ambersham, Amblecote, Arminghall. So why should Costessey not pertain to the popular British name Constantine, or Antingham to an otherwise unknown Anthony - or indeed, for that matter, to an Antistes or Bishop? No reason at all, really; except the need to ascribe everything and his brother to the Anglo-Saxons, even at the cost of inventing AS names that are testified nowhere and make no sense whatever in Old English. The names I have singled out are only two out of dozens. Until Dr.Mills has uprooted the nationalism from his mind, I do not feel that I can conscientiously recommend this dictionary.