76 



The Nam,es of Places in Wiltshire. 



" wicodon" when they quit the camp it is cc of wicum" In 

 Wright's Vocabularies, Castellum is thus explained (p. 94) : 

 " wic vel lut el-port, 3 3 that is, it means " a wick or a little 

 town " (fortified) . Now the wic or lut el-port was a group of 

 houses fenced round with a ditch and mound stockaded a-top. 

 After the Conquest the military sense of wic was forgotten 

 and it retained only the sense of residence. In Layamon 

 (Anno 1200) we have wikien ( = to dwell) and wichinge or 

 wicheninge ( = a dwelling). Archseol. Journal, xvii., 103. 

 It is, as has been already mentioned (§ 2) the Greek cIkos, 

 the Latin vicus, the Celtic gwic, and the Anglo-Saxon wic, 

 and it is difficult to assign the priority to any of them. 1 



Buruh, Burh, Byrig. These words commonly appear as the 

 terminational form bury, as in West-bury, Jiams-btiry , &c. 

 The general sense of this word is what we now call a Town 

 or Borough. Kemble considers that its source is to be sought, 

 like that of the word that follows, in beorg-an (= to hide, 

 or shelter) . It would represent thus an inhabited place with 

 more substantial fortifications than simple hedges or ditches. 

 " I am inclined to believe/' says Kemble, " that the modern 

 sense of burg, viz., a fortress, was the original Saxon one 

 also ; it would appear so from the name of a man frequently 

 occurring in the composition : most probably the village 

 grew up around the castle. 33 Cod Dipl., III., xix. 



Beorh, Berg. These words also assume in composition the form 

 of bury, as in Hy-bury (originally Ruge-berg), and sometimes 

 of borough, as in Wood-borough (spelt in the charters Wodnes- 

 beorg, Cod. Dipl., 1035). The meaning of the word is a 

 Mil. It is connected certainly with the verb beorgan ( = to 

 hide or shelter) . The fundamental signification of berg was 

 ground that conceals, whether in respect of which may be 



*It may be observed that Wick in the Scandinavian languages means a 

 "bay or recess," and hence the old fierce Vikings had their name. Like the 

 Greek Pirates they issued from their winding bays to carry slaughter and 

 rapine wherever they could. Old Norse vik (== wik) " recessus, sinus brevior 

 et laxior." The word wick in the North of England means a corner, 

 bending, A Lancashire man will talk of " the wicks of his mouth." 



