The Scandinavian settlement of certain districts of England affected the place-nomenclature as deeply as the earlier English settlements, but its intensity varied a good deal from area to area and as the speech of the Vikings was closely allied it is not always easy to differentiate native and Scandinavian names. Changes were brought about in various ways. The commonest was en tirely to re-name the place, as when O.E. Nor-worig became Derby. There was also a good deal of Scandinavianizing of names, as when O.E. Eofor-wic became Jor-vik (and so Y orick and York) or places which had once ended in -bury were given the Scandinavian suffix -by, so that in the middle of the loth cen tury Badby (Northants.) is called indifferently Baddanby and Baddanburh. How deep the influence of Scandinavian speech went is shown by more than one place-name which retains Scandi navian inflexional forms (e.g., Beckermet, "meeting of the stream," which contains the gen. sing. bekkjar of O.Norse bekkr, and still more by a name like Osmotherley in which the English personal name Osmund was given a Scandinavian gen. sing. in ar even before an English second element). In some counties, where raids were extensive but where there was no organized dividing up of the land among the new settlers (e.g., Northumberland and a good part of Durham), the number of Scandinavian names is small but in others (e.g., the North and East Ridings of Yorkshire and in Lindsey), where the land was parcelled out among the Dan ish, we have a dominantly Scandinavian nomenclature. Danes for the most part settled in eastern England, Norsemen in north western England. That there were some colonies of Norsemen amid a prevailing Danish population is shown by the Normanbys and Normantons in the east and the Midlands, all settlements of Norsemen and not of Normans. In the North Riding there were enough Norsemen for certain villages to have to be distinguished as Danby, "villages of the Danes." Where the English were al most entirely ousted we have a few Inglebys, isolated villages of the English surviving, while the Denbys and Denaby of Derby shire and the West Riding suggest Danish settlements amid a prevalent English population. Those Vikings, chiefly Norsemen, who had previously been raiding in Ireland were commonly known as the "Irishmen" and gave their name to certain Irbys, Irebys and Iretons. When they had been to Wales they were nicknamed Brettar and so we get Bretby and two or three Birkbys, which were earlier Brettaby. The commonest suffixes denoting various kinds of settlement are as follows : by, denoting variously farm, hamlet and village, thorpe, "a village," especially an "offshoot from a larger one" (carefully to be distinguished from the native thorp, throp, often found in the South Midlands, as in Eythrope, Thrupp, Sedrup, Colstrope), thwaite, "clearing," "paddock," toft, "piece of ground," "messuage," "homestead." To the Vikings also we owe the ridings of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, from O.Norse thrithungr, "third part" and the wapentakes of Scandinavian Eng land generally, from 0. Norse vapna-tak, "taking of weapons." They had their own topographical terms, some of the commonest being found in the suffixes scoe, skew "wood," with, "wood," force, "waterfall," fell, "mountain," Norse breck and Danish brink "slope," wath, "ford," Norse slack, "shallow valley." Per sonal names are very common as first elements in their place names while in a few we have post-position of the personal name (e.g., Aspatria, lit. ash-Patrick), showing that the Norsemen when in Ireland must have learned the old Gaelic method of putting the personal name after the significant element. This name and others, such as Commondale, earlier Colmandale, containing the O.Ir. name Colman show how common Gaelic names were among these Vikings who had intermarried with the Celts. In gauging Scandinavian influence on the basis of place-names it should be borne in mind that many Scandinavian words (e.g., biggin, fell)
soon became part of the English speech and that certain Scandi navian names such as Harold soon came to be borne by persons of English descent, so that the presence of such elements in place names is no certain proof of their Scandinavian origin.
The main sphere of Norman-French influence on place-names has already been indicated, viz., its importance in changing the spelling and pronunciation of many of the older names. Such influence was specially common in the neighbourhood of the great castles and monasteries. They themselves often bore French, or Rievaulx, Jervaulx. The traditional pronunciations of these names are Anglo-French in character and thus it is that we have Bewley for Beaulieu, Beaver for Belvoir, Rivers for Rievaulx, and Beau mont commonly pronounced as Bearnont or Bewmont. Knowl edge of modern French is gradually ousting these in favour of pseudo-educated ones. Norman-French feudalism led to the dis tinguishing of one manor from another by the suffixing (or occa sional prefixing) of the name of its feudal holder, whence such names as Stanstead Mountfitchet, Buckland Sororum (i.e., of the nuns), Bishop's Tawton.
The more one studies the history of place-names the more one finds what a large proportion of them are really early in their origin. There are however two types which are definitely late. The type whereby a place came to be called Poynatts, Chequers, and the like, from the family names, Poynatt, Chequer, dates from the 14th century onwards. Place-names formed from phrases, often of a humorous character, such as Glororum (glower o'er 'em), Make 'em Rich, Bo-peep come even later, belonging as a rule to the 17th century or later.
France: Longnon, Les noms de lieu de la France (192o-23), incom plete.
Germany: Forstemann-Jellinghaus, Altdeutsches Namenbuch, Orts namen (1913-16), including many Teutonic place-names from other Continental countries.
Norway: Norske Gaardnavne (1897-1919), Norske Elvenavne (1904), Indledning (1898) by Rygh, Olsen and others. Sweden: Sverges Ortnamn (1909. In progress), Ortnamen i Goteborgs och Bohus Lan (1923. In progress), Lindroth, Vara ortnamen (1923). Denmark: Danmarks Stednavne (1922. In progress), Steenstrup, Indledende Studier (1909), De Danske Stednavne (1919).
Holland: Nomina Geographica Neerlandica (1892-1901). Flanders: Woordenboek der Toponymie (1914. In progress), Mansion, Oud Gentsche Naamkunde (1924).
The periodicals Namn och Bygd (1913) and Zeitschrift f iir Orts namenforschung (1926) cover the chief European countries.
(A. M.)