chronology for the Scandinavian settlement names (Brink 1983 , 1984 ; Strid 1999 :
43 ff.). One important terminus is the transfer of place names, words and elements
from Scandinavia to the British Isles, and there especially to the Danelaw. From this
evidence we can see that in early Viking Age Denmark the usage of the element -by
must have been widespread, since so many English place names ending in -by of Danish
origin are to be found in England, and in the same way elements such as -þveit and
- bólstaðr must have been in use in Norway, since they so often occur in northern
England, Scotland and the Isles. On the other hand, ancient Scandinavian elements such
as -vin, -heimr, -lösa and -lev/-löv are never found in the British Isles, which must indicate
that these place-name elements had ceased to be productive in the Viking Age, and
hence must be older. (For the Scandinavian place names in Britain, see Fellows-Jensen,
ch. 28 , below.)
The oldest place names we know of in Scandinavia are from the early Iron Age,
perhaps some also from the Bronze Age, mainly denoting large features in the landscape,
such as lakes: Vättern (OSw Vætur), Vänern (OSw Vænir < Va ̄niar), Siljan (OSw
Sylghir), Mjösa (ON Mjo ̨rs < Merso ̄), islands: Ven (< Hwaðn?), Tjörn (ON Þjórn),
Rådmansö (< Ruðma), bays: Bleking (< Blekungr), Fold, Sogn, and large rivers: Ljusnan
(< Lu ̆sn), Nidelva (< Nið), Jostra (< *Jóstra or Jastra), Viskan (OSw Visk). From this
period some classical authors (e.g. Tacitus, Jordanes) also mention several ‘people’ in
Scandinavia: for example theustes ‘the people living in Tjust, Småland’, hallin ‘the people
living in Halland’ (originally obviously the southern part of the later province of
Halland), ranii ‘the people living in Ranríki’ (northern Bohuslän), grannii ‘the people
living in Grenland, Norway’ and raumariciae ‘the people living in Romerike, Norway’
(Brink forthcoming). The oldest settlement names we today fairly securely date to the
Roman period (c. 0 – 400 ), such as names in -hem/-heim (cf. Germ. -haim and Eng. -ham), - inge, -lev/-löv, -lösa, -vin (cf. Goth. winja ‘meadow’).
SETTLEMENT NAMESThe bulk of settlement names for the central areas in Sweden and Norway emanates
from the early Middle Ages (corresponding to the late Iron Age in Scandinavia, c. ad
500 – 1100 ), where very often the parish names (also in Denmark) are from the early Iron
Age. The major place-name elements from this period are -stad (< OScand. staðir), -by/
- bø, -land and -säter/-set. The last two most certainly originally denoted some kind of
arable land or meadow, whereas the first two probably denoted the actual farm. The -stad
names normally have a personal name as the qualifier, as in Gistad (Gislastadum 1375 ;
< OSw Gisle) in Östergötland and Hagnesta (Haghnastom 1384 ; < OSw Haghne) in
Helgona, Södermanland, but not always. It is not uncommon with a place name
or a topographical word as the first element, for example Sörviksta in Hälsingland
(< Viklingsstaðir where Viklingr is a lake name). The Scandinavian -by names from this
period never contain a personal name. Instead many -by names have a first element
relating to landscape features, for example Ekeby (< Ekiby ‘the farm by the oak grove’),
Myrby (< *Myriby ‘the farm by the bog’), Säby ‘the farm by the lake or sea’, which is also
the case for the -land and the -säter names. This trait makes them different from the -by
names of Scandinavian origin in England, where we often find a personal name as the
qualifier. There are great regional differences regarding the distribution of these place
names in Scandinavia: -stad names and -by names are very common in Sweden, -set names
–– Stefan Brink––