98 



(ALL EIGHTS RESERVED.) 



ON THE ETYMOLOGY OF PLACE NAMES IN 



THE FOREST OF ROSSENDALE AND 



ITS CONNECTED DISTRICTS. 



By JAMES KERR, L.S.A.L. 



The Eev. Dr. Isaac Taylor in "Words and Places" says: — 

 Local names, whether they belong to provinces, cities, villages, 

 or are the designations of rivers, mountains, &c. are never mere 

 arbitrary sounds devoid of meaning, and may always be regarded 

 as records of the past, inviting and rewarding careful historical 

 interpretation. 



Of the prehistoric old stone age and the neolithic age or new 

 stone age we have no knowledge of any word. 



By Heroditus the British Isles were called the Cassiterides or 

 Tin Islands, which the Phoenicians designated Albion and Irene, 

 and called tliem the British Islands beyond the Celtae. 



Then came a tribe of Huns or Bulgarians into Eastern Europe, 

 and settled in the Spanish peninsula, possibly some sixteen 

 centuries before the Christian era. 



They were known as Iberians, Ugrians and Euskarians, and so 

 far as we know, were the first to give our country a name, 

 Britain or Britannia ; giving us also the names Hibernia, Siluria, 

 and Caithness, which are words not belonging to the Aryan or 

 Hindoo European languages, but to the Turanian. 



These were superseded by the Phoenicians, from whom we 

 have Marazion, "a hill by the sea" and Polgarth from Kartha 

 a city, both in Cornwall. 



Through these Phoenicians the Romans found their way to the 

 Tin Islands. 



The race found in our islands by the Euskarians were probably 

 descendants of the valley and cave men, and of stray Celts who 

 had crossed the channel from Gaul. 



The next dominant race were undoubtedly Celts. They were 

 divided into two tribes, the Gadhelic and the Cymric. 



In B.C. 55 and B.C. 54 Julius Ctesar invaded Britain, and the 

 Romans held it until A.D. 410. At this date they left the Celts 

 to govern themselves, and did not return, except for a brief space, 

 to assist the English Celts against their enemies, the Picts and 

 Scots of North Britain. 



The chief place-names left by the Eomans were those of 

 Military Stations and Military Eoads ; the names they gave to 

 provinces, cities, towns, and temples being mostly used only by 

 themselves, soon after they departed fell either into disuetude, or 



