330 



SCIENCE, 



[Vol. VIII., No. 193 



Saxon settlements in Britain and in other coun- 

 tries. We have, for example, the name Hadding- 

 ton, as the town of the sons of Haddo ; Symington 

 and Thankerton; Campbelton and Hartington ; 

 Boston, which is St. Botolph's town ; Northamp- 

 ton and Southampton ; and many more. But 

 the suffix ton, as the most common local termina- 

 tion of our Britisli local names, is worth a little 

 more examination. The word is the Low-German 



^ form of the High-German zaun (a hedge) ; and the 

 word tun or ton meant in the older times a place 

 surrounded by a hedge, or fortified by a palisade. 

 In this sense it indicated a croft, a homestead, or 

 a farm ; and tliis sense it still retains in Scotland. 

 Thus the isolated ton might become the nucleus of 

 a village, the village might grow into a town, and 

 the town into a city with millions of inhabitants. 

 In the same way, a stoTce is a place stockaded, 

 a place surrounded and guarded by stocks and 

 piles. The word takes the four different forms of 

 stock, stoke, stow, and stol. We have it in Stock- 

 bridge, the suburb at the bridge over the Leith ; 

 in Stockholm and Woodstock ; in Stoke-upon- 

 Trent ; in Stow ; and in Bristol, which was in the 

 oldest English Briegstow. 



Another highly significant suffix is burgh, 

 borough, or bury, which comes from the old verb 



^ beorgati (to shelter or cover). The last is the dis- 

 tinctively Saxon form ; the two first are Anglican 

 or Norse. But, indeed, the root has spread itself 

 over many countries ; and we find it in Spain in 

 the form of Burgos ; in France, as Caesar's burg, 

 or Cherbom-g ; in Asia Minor, in the shape of 

 Pergamos. We have it also in Germany in Augs- 

 burg (that is, the city of Augustus), in Hapsburg 

 or Habichtsburg (the stronghold of the Austrian 

 hawk), in Edinburgh and in Musselburgh. The 

 forms Shrewsbury, Shedbury, Glastonbury, and 

 other such names, are, as I said, found mostly in 

 the northern parts of Britain. One of the oldest 

 and strongest forms of the root exists in the word 

 Burgundians, who were among the first dwellers 

 in burgs, burghs, or fortified towns. 



While it is interesting to trace the existence of 

 Anglo-Saxon names in Germany and other parts 

 of the continent, it is curious to find them in con- 

 siderable numbers in the north-west of France. 

 Mr. Isaac Taylor points out that "in the old 

 French provinces of Picardy and Artois there is a 

 small, well-defined district, about the size of Mid- 

 dlesex, lying between Calais, Boulogne, and St. 

 Omer, and fronting the English coast, in which 

 the name of every vifiage and hamlet is of the 

 pure Anglo-Saxon type." The French people, we 

 know, have a marvellous knack of contorting 

 English words; and we have seen in their lan- 

 guages such forms — which cannot be called parce 



detorta — as redingote, doggart, and boule-dogue. 

 In the same way, in this north-western French 

 district, we find the English names Holbeach, 

 Warwick, Applegarth, Sandgate, and Windmill, 

 appearing as Hollebecque, Werwich, Appegarles, 

 Sangatte, and Wimille. 



Passing from names of towns to names of coun- 

 ties and kingdoms, it gives some indication of the 

 past history of the island to find that Cumberland 

 is the land of the Cymry ; that Sussex, Essex, 

 Wessex, and Middlesex were the kingdoms of the 

 south, east, west, and central Saxons ; that Surrey 

 was the Sodereye, or south realm ; and that Corn- 

 wall or Cornwales was the kingdom of the Welsh 

 or strangers, who dwelt on the horn or peninsula. 



The word Welsh, which appears as a word, as a 

 prefix, and as a suffix, is one of considerable im- 

 portance in the history and the geography of 

 Europe. All Teutonic peoples call other nations 

 by the general name of foreigners, wealhas, 

 Wdlsch, or Welshmen. In this sense England 

 has its Wales, and, indeed, two of them ; France 

 has its Wales ; Germany has its Wales ; and so 

 has Scotland and even Ireland. The word appears 

 in many forms. In German and in English it is 

 found as wal in wallen (to wander) and Waller (a 

 pilgrim) ; in walk, in ivalnut, and other names. 

 A German calls French beans Welsh beans, and 

 speaks of going into France or Italy as going into 

 Welshland. The Bernese Oberlander calls the 

 French-speaking canton that lies to the south of 

 him Wallis ; and the Celts of Flanders are called 

 Walloons by their Teutonic neighbors. Walloons 

 probably means ' very great strangers indeed ; ' 

 just as balloon is a big ball, while ballot is a little 

 ball. In Old English, Cornwall was called Corn- 

 wales, the country inhabited by the Welsh of the 

 Horn. 



The fourth deposit of local names was made by 

 the next horde of incursionists who made their 

 way to these shores from the continent. The 

 Northmen, Norsemen, or Normans have left their 

 mark on many parts of Scotland, England, and 

 Ireland. 



One of the most striking tokens of their visit is 

 contained in the fact that we call the north-east 

 corner of this island by the name of Sutherland. 

 Such a name must evidently have been given by 

 a people ■«- a conquering people — who lived to 

 the north of Great Britain. And this was so. 

 Sutherland was the mainland to the south of the 

 great jarldom of Orkney. Here, accordingly, we 

 find the Norse names for island, town, valley, and 

 farm, — oe in Thurso, Wick, dale in Helmsdale, 

 and saetir or stir. In the Shetlands every local 

 name, without one exception, is Norwegian. We 

 have Sanda (the sand island), Stronsa (the island 



