131 



hood of Bath, and so giving a local colouring, I hope my short 

 paper may have an interest which it would not have otherwise. 



The process of naming places by our early ancestors was a 

 very simple one. Like all uncivilized people they chose out 

 their settlement in the places best fitted for their mode of life, 

 looking out for the necessary requirements of water, wood and 

 shelter. Tacitus described it in his terse way (speaking of the 

 Germans) "Colunt discreti ac diversi, ut fons, ut campus, ut 

 nemus placuit — suam quisque domum spatio circumdat " * — 

 and having so squatted they named the place after the fons, 

 campus or nemus — giving it one of the many names signifying 

 stream, or wood, or meadow. But as the squattings increased in 

 number it was necessary still further to distinguish them, and so 

 they looked out for some distinctive natural feature Avhich would 

 mark out their special property, and among these natural 

 features trees and plants would readily present themselves for 

 the purpose of place-names.f It is these place-names from trees 

 and plants which form my subject to-night — and I shall try and 

 shoAv^ not only that the trees and plants enter largely into place- 

 names, but also that their use as place-names tells us something 

 about the plants. I begin with the forest trees — and first with 

 The Oak. AVe are fond of calling this grand tree the British 

 Oak, and rightly so ; there is no doubt whatever that it is a 

 native tree, and it forms a part of some place-names. In its 

 present form of Oak it is not much used in this part of the 

 country. There is an Oakhill, near Bath, but I fancy that is a 

 modern name, and there is an Oaksey, near Cirencester, which 

 we, with a little stretch, can claim as a neighbour. But its 

 older form of ac, which we retain in acorn, is also retained in 

 many place-names. We have, in this neighbourhood, Iron Acton 



* Germania, c. 16. 

 t Names so distinguished are of course not so old as the simpler 

 forms — and many of them may be comparatively modern. 



