This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1893 Excerpt: ...the name had hardly become a proper name, being ETHNIC SHIRE-NAMES OF ENGLAND. 179 called The Devizes, in the same way that Bath was called The Bath in the time of Addison. The former state of our island, divided between hostile peoples--Saxon, Celt, and Dane--is indicated not only by such names as Mercia and March, ...
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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1893 Excerpt: ...the name had hardly become a proper name, being ETHNIC SHIRE-NAMES OF ENGLAND. 179 called The Devizes, in the same way that Bath was called The Bath in the time of Addison. The former state of our island, divided between hostile peoples--Saxon, Celt, and Dane--is indicated not only by such names as Mercia and March, but by those of several of our English counties. Cumberland is the land of the Cymry. Cornwall, or Corn-wales, is the kingdom of the Welsh of the Horn. Devon is the land of the Damnonii, a Celtic tribe; Kent that of the Cantii; Worcestershire that of the Huicii. Sussex, Essex, Wessex, and Middlesex were, as the names imply, the kingdoms of the southern, eastern, western, and central Saxons. In Robert of Gloucester, the name of Surrey appears in the form of Sothe-reye, or the south realm. Norfolk and Suffolk were the northern and southern divisions of the East-Anglian folk. The position on the map of what we call Northumberland--the land north of the Humber--proves that it was by aggression from the south that the Northumbrian kingdom, which once stretched northward from the Humber, was reduced to the restricted limits of the modern county. Everyone must have noticed that a certain number of shire-names are derived from the names of the county towns, as in the case of Oxfordshire or WarWickshire, while others are tribal or territorial, as Devon, Dorset, or Essex. This distinction is not arbitrary, but has a curious historical basis. With hardly an exception, names of the former class belong to the Mercian or Northumbrian kingdoms, which were conquests or annexations, posterior in date to the Saxon tribal immigration. Successive districts, as they were annexed, took their names from the town in which the earl held his court, and from which he gove...
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Add this copy of Words and Places: Or, Etymological Illustrations of to cart. $40.54, new condition, Sold by Booksplease rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Southport, MERSEYSIDE, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2018 by HardPress Ltd.
