The Penguin Dictionary of British Place Names
The Penguin Dictionary of British Place Names

Author: Adrian Room

Publisher:

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 594

ISBN-13:

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A comprehensive A-Z guide to the meaning and history of 6000 place name from England, Scotland and Wales. Unlocking the meaning of a place namecan provide fasinating insights into the history and development of a community. A place name can tell us when a town was founded, who founded it what the surrounding countryside was like and even which animals lived there. This dictionary provides the key. Covering names of countries, regions, cities, towns, suburbs, villages and rivers. In each case it explains precisely the place names means, what language it is derived from (for example, Anglo-Saxon, Celtic) and when it was first recorded and provides a host of background details. The dictionary also explains the meaning and significance of comman elements in place names (for example, ham) and includes a number of maps.

The Concise Dictionary of World Place-Names
The Concise Dictionary of World Place-Names

Author: John Everett-Heath

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2018-09-13

Total Pages: 1597

ISBN-13: 0192562436

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There is no populated place without a name, and every name is chosen for a reason. This fascinating dictionary unveils the etymological roots and history of thousands of locations and landmarks from around the world. It contains over 11,000 entries, and covers an enormous range of country, region, island, city, town, mountain and river names from across the world, as well as the name in the local language. Place names are continually changing, and new names are adopted for many different reasons such as invasion, revolution, and decolonization. The Concise Dictionary of World Place-Names includes selected former names, and, where appropriate, some historical detail to explain the transition. The names of places often offer a real insight into the places themselves, revealing religious and cultural traditions, the migration of peoples, the ebb and flow of armies, the presence of explorers, local languages, industrial developments and topography. Superstition and legend can also play a part. This new edition has been updated to include over 750 new names, including Azincourt, Kropyvnyts'kyy , and Tlaxcala. It has also been edited to reflect socio-political and geographical shifts, notably the reorganisation of the French regions, and their consequent name alterations, as well as the decommunization of Ukrainian place-names. In addition to the entries themselves, the dictionary includes two appendices: a glossary of foreign word elements which appear in place-names and their meanings, and a list of personalities and leaders from all over the world who have influenced the naming of places.

A History of English Place Names and Where They Came From
A History of English Place Names and Where They Came From

Author: John Moss

Publisher: Pen and Sword History

Published: 2020-05-30

Total Pages: 457

ISBN-13: 1526722852

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An enlightening journey into the languages, meanings, and history behind the names on England’s map. The origins of the names of many English towns, hamlets, and villages date as far back as Saxon times, when kings like Alfred the Great established fortified borough towns to defend against the Danes. A number of settlements were established and named by French Normans following the Conquest. Many are even older and are derived from Roman place names. Some hark back to the Vikings who invaded and established settlements in the eighth and ninth centuries. Most began as simple descriptions of the location; some identified its founder, marked territorial limits, or gave tribal people a sense of their place in the grand scheme of things. Whatever their derivation, place names are inextricably bound up in history—and these are the stories behind them.

A Dictionary of British Place-Names
A Dictionary of British Place-Names

Author: David Mills

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2011-10-20

Total Pages: 574

ISBN-13: 019960908X

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From Abbas Combe to Zennor, this dictionary gives the meaning and origin of place names in the British Isles, tracing their development from earliest times to the present day.

The Oxford History of English Lexicography
The Oxford History of English Lexicography

Author: A. P. Cowie

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 2008-12-04

Total Pages: 1017

ISBN-13: 0191558079

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These substantial volumes present the fullest account yet published of the lexicography of English from its origins in medieval glosses, through its rapid development in the eighteenth century, to a fully-established high-tech industry that is as reliant as ever on learning and scholarship. The history covers dictionaries of English and its national varieties, including American English, with numerous references to developments in Europe and elsewhere which have influenced the course of English lexicography. Part one of Volume I explores the early development of glosses and bilingual and multilingual dictionaries and examines their influence on lexicographical methods and ideas. Part two presents a systematic history of monolingual dictionaries of English and includes extensive chapters on Johnson, Webster and his successors in the USA, and the OED. It also contains descriptions of the development of dictionaries of national and regional varieties, and of Old and Middle English, and concludes with an account of the computerization of the OED. The specialized dictionaries described in Volume II include dictionaries of science, dialects, synonyms, etymology, pronunciation, slang and cant, quotations, phraseology, and personal and place names. This volume also includes an account of the inception and development of dictionaries developed for particular users, especially foreign learners of English. The Oxford History of English Lexicography unites scholarship with readability. It provides a unique and accessible reference for scholars and professional lexicographers and offers a series of fascinating encounters with the men and women involved over the centuries in the making of works of profound national and linguistic importance.

UnRoman Britain
UnRoman Britain

Author: Dr Miles Russell

Publisher: The History Press

Published: 2011-09-30

Total Pages: 313

ISBN-13: 0752469290

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Roman Britain is usually thought of as a land full of togas, towns and baths with Britons happily going about their Roman lives under the benign gaze of Rome. This is, to a great extent, a myth that developed after Roman control of Britain came to an end, in particular when the British Empire was at its height in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In fact, Britain was one of the least enthusiastic elements of the Roman Empire. The northern part of Britain was never conquered at all despite repeated attempts. Some Britons adopted Roman ways in order to advance themselves and become part of the new order, of just because they liked the new range of products available. However, many failed to acknowledge the Roman lifestyle at all, while many others were only outwardly Romanised, clinging to their own identities under the occupation. Britain never fully embraced the Empire and was itself never fully accepted by the rest of the Roman world. Even the Roman army in Britain became chronically rebellious and a source of instability that ultimately affected the whole Empire. As Roman power weakened, the Britons abandoned both Rome and almost all Roman culture, and the island became a land of warring kingdoms, as it had been before.

You Really Couldn't Make It Up: More Hilarious-But-True Stories From Around Britain
You Really Couldn't Make It Up: More Hilarious-But-True Stories From Around Britain

Author: Jack Crossley

Publisher: Kings Road Publishing

Published: 2014-10-31

Total Pages: 152

ISBN-13: 1782191496

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After the runaway success of You Couldn't Make It Up, Jack Crossley returns with his latest cornucopia of wonderful anecdotes and strange goings-on from around the British Isles. In his many years as a newspaper journalist, Jack Crossley has collected literally thousands of these strange but true newspaper items. They are stories that you wouldn't believe if they weren't written down in black and white. You Really Couldn't Make It Up is a wonderful collection of irresistible whimsy, a testament to Great Britain's lasting legacy of eccentricity, bizarre bureaucracy and confounding stubbornness!

Celtic Places & Placenames
Celtic Places & Placenames

Author: John Moss

Publisher: Pen and Sword History

Published: 2022-09-08

Total Pages: 306

ISBN-13: 1399087509

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‘Celtic Places’ are typified by some several hundred townships and villages whose names still bear the imprint of their earliest Celtic roots, but the scope of the book is not restricted to human settlements; it is also true of the many mountains and rivers that they named, and to several thousand sites of standing stone monuments, Celtic high crosses, henges, hill figures, funeral barrows and hillforts, which are all included in the book. What they all have in common is that they reflect the rich cultural heritage that was implicit in the names of places in the British Isles and Ireland as it existed before the Romans arrived.

Warlords
Warlords

Author: Stuart Laycock

Publisher: The History Press

Published: 2011-11-08

Total Pages: 258

ISBN-13: 0752475606

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The centuries after the end of Roman control of Britain in AD 410 are some of the most vital in Britain's history - yet some of the least understood. 'Warlords' brings to life a world of ambition, brutality and violence in a politically fragmented land, and provides a compelling new history of an age that would transform Britain. By comparing the archaeology against the available historical sources of the period, 'Warlords' presents a coherent picture of the political and military machinations of the fifth and sixth centuries that laid the foundations of English and Welsh history. Included are the warring personalities of the local leaders and a look at the enigma of King Arthur. Some warlords sought power within the old Roman framework; some used an alternative British approach; and, others exploited the emerging Anglo-Saxon system - but for all warlords, the struggle was for power.