LL-L: "Place names" LOWLANDS-L, 01.FEB.2000 (01) [E]

Tue Feb 1 17:53:16 UTC 2000

 ========================================================================
 L O W L A N D S - L * 01.FEB.2000 (01) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
 Posting Address: <lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org>
 Web Site: <http://www.geocities.com/~sassisch/rhahn//lowlands/>
 User's Manual: <http://www.lsoft.com/manuals/1.8c/userindex.html>
 =========================================================================
 A=Afrikaans, Ap=Appalachean, D=Dutch, E=English, F=Frisian, L=Limburgish
 LS=Low Saxon (Low German), S=Scots, Sh=Shetlandic
 =========================================================================

From: Carl Johan Petersson [Carl_Johan.Petersson at Nordiska.uu.se]
Subject: LL-L: "Place names" LOWLANDS-L, 31.JAN.2000 (04) [E]

John Lindley wrote:

>I hope that someone may be able to offer enlightenment
>on a matter of place names, specifically the suffix "-ton"
>found in England and to a lesser extent in Scotland as
>"-ton" or "-toun".

>Apart from the rest of the
>English speaking world to which it has ben exported, there exist
>a few odd occurrences (assuming they have the same etymology):
>
>a. Snaptun on the east coast of Jutland, Denmark.
>b. A number of small settlements around Bergen in Norway
>    (Haavardstun, ytre Midtun, Nesttun,O"vsttun, Midttun, Apeltun,
>     Presttun and Litun)
>c. The Pas-de-Calais departement in N.France (Connincthun,
>    Offrethun, Landrethun-le-Nord, Frethun, Alincthun etc - it feels
>    almost as though the Jutes and Anglo-Saxons gave the corner
>    around Calais and Boulogne a 'dusting' as they headed for Kent).
>
>I would be grateful if colleagues could (i) let me know of any other
>occurrences in Niedersachsen/Schleswig-Holstein or neighbouring
>areas and (ii) advise me of any work done on the French and Scandinavian
>occurrences.

Hi John!

It seems you have missed one very important area with a large number of
names in
-tun:
Apart from in England, names in -tun (mostly in the old plural form: -tuna)
are very common in Scandinavia, in particular the central areas of Sweden,
around the lake Mälaren, West of Stockholm (Sigtuna, Sollentuna,
Eskilstuna, to name a few fairly large towns in this area whose names
contain the -tuna element).

_tun_ is a noun found in all Germanic languages. Even though the meaning
has evolved very differently in the various languages (cf. English _town_,
Dutch _tuin_ 'garden', High German _Zaun_ 'fence' etc.) the oldest meaning
seems to have been 'enclosure'. In Germanic place-names it occurs both in
the singular and in the plural.

Swedish names in -tuna generally denote very old settlements, dating back
to the Iron age or early viking age, and it seems that most of these places
have originally had some important social function, either judicially or in
the religious cult. A striking number of names in -tuna have names of Norse
gods as first element: Fröstuna, Frötuna, Närtuna, Torstuna.

Although the original meaning of the noun _tun_ seems to have been
'enclosure' or something similar, the place-name element _tuna_ in
Scandinavian must have had a more specialised meaning: clearly, it was not
used to denote just any enclosure. Among the meanings that have been
suggested are 'fortified settlement' or maybe 'centre of trade'.

There is a possibility that the use of _tun_ as a place-name element in
Germanic was in some way influenced by the Celtic _dun_, _dunum_ 'castle,
town' (which was dicussed on this list some weeks ago), but there is little
substantial evidence of this.

A decisive work on the Scandinavian names in -tuna is Karl Axel Holmbergs
dissertation "De svenska tuna-namnen", Uppsala 1969. I don't know of any
literature in English, but I suspect that e.g. Ekwall, The Concise Oxford
Dictionary of Place Names would contain a great deal of information.

According to Holmberg, the English place-names in -tun are generally a few
centuries younger than the Scandinavian names. The meaning of the English
place-name element seems to have been 'the enclosed land surrounding a
single dwelling', later 'farmstead', etc.

A number of them are based on personal names or names in -ing denoting
families or tribes, others are based on topographical nouns (cf. Seaton) or
some kind of qualifying adjective (Littleton, Upton) or noun denoting
something typical of the area (Thornton).

Names in _tun_ are very rare in West Germanic languages other than English.
According to Holmberg, there are a few occurences in Westphalia and
Schleswig, e.g. Westünen in the Emsland area.

regards

Carl Johan Petersson

----------

From: R. F. Hahn [sassisch at yahoo.com]
Subject: Place names

John Lindley wrote:

>I hope that someone may be able to offer enlightenment
>on a matter of place names, specifically the suffix "-ton"
>found in England and to a lesser extent in Scotland as
>"-ton" or "-toun".

John, this is one of the more frequently discussed topics, beginning in 1996.

I thing Carl Johan sums it all up pretty nicely above.  Here is just one
notable detail:

Carl Johan wrote:

> _tun_ is a noun found in all Germanic languages. Even though the meaning
> has evolved very differently in the various languages (cf. English _town_,
> Dutch _tuin_ 'garden', High German _Zaun_ 'fence' etc.) the oldest meaning
> seems to have been 'enclosure'. In Germanic place-names it occurs both in
> the singular and in the plural.

In Low Saxon dialects, _Tuun_ ~ _Tun_ ~ _toen_ ~ etc. [t(h)u:n] (pl. _Tüün_
[t(h)y:n] etc.) means both 'fence' and 'garden'.  However, any given dialect
has only one or the other meanings, not both.  Roughly speaking, it is
'garden' in Eastern Friesland and in parts of the Ollenborg/Oldenburg (and
Emsland?) region, thus close to the Netherlands border, and in these dialects
the word for 'fence' tends to be _Rick_ (pl. _Ricks_), _Richel_ (pl.
_Richels_) or _Riechel_ (pl. _Riechels_).   I understand that it is 'garden'
in all or most Low Saxon dialects of the Netherlands.  The meaning is 'fence'
anywhere else, and in these dialects 'garden' is _Gaarn_ ~ _Goorn_ (pl.
_Gaarns_ ~ _Goorns_).

> There is a possibility that the use of _tun_ as a place-name element in
> Germanic was in some way influenced by the Celtic _dun_, _dunum_ 'castle,
> town' (which was dicussed on this list some weeks ago), but there is little
> substantial evidence of this.

An interesting theory which may explain why names with _-tun_ are exceedingly
rare in the original Saxon-speaking areas of Continental Europe.  In these
areas, many place names implying 'settlement' have _-sted(t)_, _-dörp_ (<
_thorp(e)_ 'hamlet' 'village') and _-büttel_ instead.  Does anyone know the
etymology of _-büttel_?

Regards,

Reinhard/Ron

==================================END======================================
 You have received this because your account has been subscribed upon
 request. To unsubscribe, please send the command "signoff lowlands-l"
 as message text from the same account to
 <listserv at listserv.linguistlist.org> or sign off at
 <http://linguistlist.org/subscribing/sub-lowlands-l.html>.
 ========================================================================
 * Please submit contributions to <lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org>.
 * Contributions will be displayed unedited in digest form.
 * Please display only the relevant parts of quotes in your replies.
 * Commands for automated functions (including "signoff lowlands-l") are
   to be sent to <listserv at listserv.linguistlist.org> or at
   <http://linguistlist.org/subscribing/sub-lowlands-l.html>.
 * Please use only Plain Text format, not Rich Text (HTML) or any other
   type of format, in your submissions
 =========================================================================