Concluding Remarks . 



273 



Wore Marsh, n The first is by Wootton Bassett, the second by 

 Wier Gate. > Sharncote on the border of the county, the third 

 Whyr Farm. ) by Broad Hinton. We also have the name Wher 

 by Berwick Bassett, and a place called The Wire, by Broad 

 Hinton. I am inclined to think that, at all events, some of 

 them are but provincial pronunciations of Oare, already 

 explained, (§29) and denote the fact of the place so named 

 being on " a boundary/'' — it may be of a hundred, or of a 

 manor, or of the county itself. There is a Welsh word 

 gwyran which means " coarse rushy grass " which may per- 

 haps explain some of them. The remarks (in § 10) on the 

 name Were also deserve attention, especially in the case of 

 such of them as may be on, or near, a stream. 

 Yarnbury. A name given to some ancient earthworks on the 

 downs, a few miles to the west of Stonehenge. It is pro- 

 bably from the Welsh cam (=a heap of stones) the c or g 

 being often \ softened into y (compare the German gam, 

 English yam, &c). There is a Yarn-brook near Westbury, 

 and a Yarn-ton in Oxfordshire, which may be possibly derived 

 from the same source. [By the way, there was an old proper 

 name, in Friesic, Jaare, which if classed with nouns ending 

 in e would have its genitive case in an, e.g.Jaar an, that deserves 

 attention. Certainly some of the large artificial mounds 

 and barrows were called after the names of persons e.g., 

 Cwichelmes-hlaew (= Cuckhamsley) in Berks, &c] 



Concluding Remarks. 



35. Enough, it is hoped, has now been placed before our readers 

 to show the strong Celtic element 1 that pervades our Local Nomen- 



1 There are a few names of places which seem likely enough to be Celtic, hut 

 of which I have as yet seen no satisfactory account, neither am I able myself to 

 give one. In the hopes of eliciting enquiry, and reoeiving suggestions from 

 some who may have made the Celtic languages and dialects their study, 1 give 

 a list of them. The forms in italics represent their more ancient forms, where 

 I am able to give them. 



Cherhill, Chiriel, — Fjgheldean, Fisgtedene, Fyghrlden, — Oaksey, 

 Wochesie, Wokescy, — Pottern, Poterne, — Katfyn (near Bulford), Rothefen, 

 Rote/en, (in Domesday) JRotefelde, — Savernake, Sdferiwc, — Sterkley, 

 Sterchelie. 



