71 



Cljc Jtames of places t» Miltsjtw. 



By the Rev. Prebendary W. H. Jones, F.S.A., 



Vicar of Bradford-on-Avon. 



(Continued.) 



II. — On the Teutonic Element in Wiltshire Local Names. 



36. In an essay published in the pages of this Magazine an 

 attempt has already been made to explain those Names of Places in 

 Wiltshire which are derived from a Celtic source, and so illustrate 

 the times when Britons occupied this country. We proceed now to 

 speak of those which belong to a later period, introduced at the first 

 by the Anglo-Saxon settlers, in which is contained what is usually- 

 termed the Teutonic element. From circumstances which are easily 

 understood, these are far more numerous than any others in our local 

 nomenclature. An occupancy of the country, by themselves and 

 their descendants, for more than fourteen centuries, has enabled them 

 literally to " call the land after their own names." Though both 

 in our ordinary speech, and, as we have shewn, in our River- Names, 

 there is a strong Celtic element, yet from the Anglo-Saxon is de- 

 rived the staple of our present language, and hence naturally enough, 

 comes also the principal portion of the Names of Places. 



In this part of our enquiry we tread on much firmer ground. The 

 valuable collection of Anglo-Saxon Charters still preserved to us, 

 some dating from as early a period as the seventh century, enables 

 us with far greater accuracy to come to a conclusion as to the 

 original forms, and consequently the meaning, of the names. Many 

 of the charters are no doubt but copies of the originals, made often 

 by scribes who were evidently ignorant of the language in which 

 the land-limits of estates are usually given ; still, with all these 

 drawbacks, no one can study these charters which relate to a county 

 with which he is himself familiar, without perceiving what a flood 

 of light is poured forth by them on the meaning of names, without 



