Distinctive additions in English place-names

Abstract

Distinctive additions in English place-names

Distinctive additions are treated in the relevant literature as a specific class of specifying elements joined to the generic constituent to differentiate otherwise identical English settlement names. Utilizing the explanations of Eilert Ekwall’s etymological dictionary (1960) and adapting the theoretical background of place-name analysis provided by István Hoffmann (1993) the present author classifies the distinguishing epithets of English habitation names according to their semantics. The five most frequent semantic categories are distinctive additions referring to the former possessor of the settlements (e.g. Milton Keynes, Priors Hardwick), differentiating elements localizing the settlements by giving the point of the compass (e.g. North and South Molton), distinguishing epithets referring to the relative size of the settlements (e.g. Great and Little Saredon), additions featuring a prominent geographical object nearby (e.g. Mount Bures, Water Fulford) and epithets indicating the relative situation of the settlements (e.g. High and Low Hesket). The linguistic characteristics of the distinctive additions are also discussed.