contain the same type of common nouns as those occurring in the names ending in -bý,
for example brunnr ‘spring’ in Bonthorpe and bogi ‘bow, bend’ in Bowthorpe, birki ‘birch
copse’ in Birthorpe and lundr ‘grove’ in Londonthorpe, gríss ‘young pig’ in Gristhorpe and
lamb ‘lamb’ in Langthorpe.
A third group of characteristic Danish names, although containing the common
English element tu ̄n meaning ‘settlement’, is those which are preceded by a Scandina-
vian personal name. These names would seem to represent pre-existing English place
names that were taken over by Scandinavians with Scandinavian personal names, for
example Flík in Flixton, Friði in Fryton, Náttfari in Nafferton, Gunnulfr in Gonalston,
Þorketill in Thurcaston and Þorgeirr in Thurgarton. Some of these names date from the
tenth century, while others may be over a century younger.
There are also various purely Scandinavian habitative names such as Airy Holme
(Ergum) ‘at the sheilings’, Thrintoft (Tirnetoste) ‘the toft with a thorn-tree’, Scraptoft
(Scraptofte) ‘at the toft with a thin covering of grass’, as well as even more frequently
occurring Scandinavian topographical names, most of which would already seem to have
come to denote settlement names in Domesday Book, such as Aiskew (Aikescogh) ‘oak
wood’, Askwith (Ascvid) ‘ash wood’, Ellerbeck (Elrebec) ‘alder stream’, Langwith (Languath)
‘long ford’, Micklethwaite (Muceltuoit) ‘great clearing’, Scargill (Scacreghil) ‘merganser
cleft’, Skirpenbeck (Scarpenbec) ‘dried-up stream’, Wath (Wa d) ‘ford’, Griff (Grif) ‘pit’,
Lound (lund) ‘grove’, Skegness (Sceggenesse) ‘projecting headland’, Deepdale (Dupedale) ‘deep
valley’, Thingoe (Thingehov) ‘assembly mound’, Thwaite (Thweit) ‘clearing’, Whinburgh
(Wineberga) ‘gorse hill’ (Figures 28. 3 and 28. 4 ).
The Scandinavian place names found in East Anglia, the East Midlands and Yorkshire
are mostly recorded in Domesday Book, which can be dated to approximately 1086.
Although comparatively few of the Scandinavian names in Cumberland survive in
Domesday Book, many of them may well be older than this. A name such as Carlatton,
for example, identical in origin with several Carletons (karlatu ̄n ‘home of the free
peasants’) but in which the name is stressed on the second syllable, shows that the
Strathclyde Britons had reoccupied northern Cumberland in the tenth century.
Figure 28. 3 Kettleshulme, Cheshire: Scandinavian personal name Ketil and Danish holm ‘land almost
surrounded by water’ with the form hulm reflecting a dialect development with its core area in south-east
Lancashire and north-east Cheshire.
–– chapter 28 : Scandinavian place names in the British Isles––