DICTIONARY OF PLACE-NAMES
GEOGRAPHICAL ETYMOLOGY
GIVING THEIR DERIVATIONS
By C. BLACKIE
WITH AN INTRODUCTION
By JOHN STUART BLACKIE
PROFESSOR OF GREEK IN THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH
THIRD EDITION, REVISED
LONDON
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET
1887
[v]
The Introduction, by which the present work is ushered into publicnotice, renders any lengthened Preface on my part quite unnecessary.Yet I wish to say a few words with regard to the design and plan ofthis little volume.
The subject, though no doubt possessing a peculiar interest to thegeneral reader, and especially to tourists in these travellingdays, falls naturally under the head of historical and geographicalinstruction in schools; and for such use the book is, in the firstplace, specially intended.
When I was myself one of a class in this city where Geography andHistory were taught, no information connected with etymology wasimparted to us. We learned, with more or less trouble and edification,the names of countries, towns, etc., by rote; but our teacher did notask us who gave the names to these places, nor were we expected toinquire or to know if there was any connection between their namesand their[vi] histories. Things are changed now; and I believe the firststimulus to an awakening interest in Geographical Etymology was givenby the publication of the Rev. Isaac Taylor’s popular work, Wordsand Places. About ten years ago, I found that the best teachers inthe English schools of Edinburgh did ask questions on this subject,and I discovered, at the same time, that a book specially bearingupon it was a desideratum in school literature. As no one betterqualified came forward, I was induced to make the attempt; and I hopethe following pages, the result of much research and in the face of nosmall discouragement, may prove useful to teachers, as well as to theirpupils.
The Index at the end of the volume, although it contains many namesnot included in the body of the work, does by no means include allthat I have given there. This did not seem necessary, because, theroot words being alphabetically arranged, an intelligent teacher orpupil will easily find the key to the explanation of any special nameby referring to the head under which it is naturally classed. I must,however, premise that, with regard to names derived from the Celticlanguages, the root word is generally placed at the beginning of thename—that is, if it contain more than one syllable. This is the casewith such vocables as pen, ben, dun, lis,rath, strath, etc.; e.g. Lismore, Benmore,Dungarvan, Strath-Allan. On the other hand,[vii] in names derived fromthe Teutonic or Scandinavian languages, the root word comes last, aswill be found with regard to ton, dale, burg,berg, stadt, dorf, ford, etc.
The index, therefore, may be expected to include principally such namesas, either through corruption or abbreviation, have materially changedtheir form, such as are formed from the simple root, like Fürth, Ennis,Delft, or such as contain more than one, as