Vocabulary Acquisition (1)論文

Vocabulary Acquisition—English Place-Names:
Britain, England and UK (1)TAMOTO Kenichi

要旨

各品詞に関する語彙研究（語彙変遷史を含む）は，かなりの高レベルで，且つかなりの速さでこれまで進められてきた。それに付随して，英語教育
上，語彙習得のための学習方法や，その教材も開発されてきた。語彙研究，
語彙習得の両面で，名詞に関してこれまで置き去りにされてきたのがPlace-Names（地名）である。これは，McKnight（1923）が指摘するところでもある。教える側の地名に関する情報不足（つまり研究不足）が原因なのかもしれないし，それ故に地名に関する教材があまり存在しないということになっているのかもしれない。しかし，近年本格的な地名研究が長きに亘ってなされ，その成果が次々と出版されている。その任に当たってきたのは English Place-Name Society であり，1923 年に第１巻を出版して以来，私が知るところでは最新の第 90 巻は2014 年に出版されている。今ではこの成果に基づいて地名研究が盛んになっている。本論考では，そのような深淵で，最新の成果を紹介しつつ，英国の国名，都市名などについて歴
史的・社会的背景と関連付けて物語風に描くことによって，地名研究の醍醐味と地名教授法，教材の一例を提案するものである。本論は国名 Britain,
England 及び UK について考究するものであるが，紙面の都合上，二分割
して Britain と England について先ず論ずる。本稿の結論と教材の見本は，「言語と文化」第38号に投稿予定の，“The United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Northern Ireland” に関する論考の終わりの部分で合わせて記述する。

21

愛知大学

言語と文化

No. 37, methodology of place-name study
Keywords: vocabulary acquisition（語彙習得）, methodology of teaching place-names（地名教授法）,（地名研究方法論）
suggestion of materials in teaching place-names（地名教材案）, English, country names（国名）, Britain（ブリテン）,
place-names（英国の地名）
England（イングランド）

Introduction: A Brief Survey of Researches into Place-Names
As early as 1768 the first edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica was published and
it includes accounts on countries, cities, and towns, but they are far from the results ofdetailed and meticulous researches into place-names. William Dwight Whitney compiled
and published the Century Dictionary (1889), and its Volume 9 is entitled “Proper
Names”. It is highly probable that this is the first big dictionary that is concerned withproper names (personal names and place-names), and it must be stated that each accountis encyclopedic as its subtitle, “an Encyclopedic Lexicon of the English Language”,
shows. However, this dictionary may be regarded as epoch-making, because, in mostEnglish dictionaries, as in the Oxford English Dictionary (1st ed. 1928), a place-name was
not a matter of compilers’ concern. A Topographical Dictionary of England, comprising
five volumes, had been published by Samuel Lewis in 1881, and it includes descriptionsof origin, etymology and historical summary as well as topographical matters of cities,
boroughs, corporate towns and market towns.
Even after the establishment of the English Place-Names Society (EPNS hereafter)in 1923 and the publication of its first fruit as the county survey of Buckinghamshirein 1925, the study of place-names was considered to be behind those of other kindsof nouns and parts of speech. This can be illustrated by McKnight’s statement that“the study of English place-names has lagged far behind that of other elements in the
English vocabulary”, which, in the chapter entitled “Place-Names”, is followed by acomment that “indeed, the scientific study in this direction may be said to have begun
only about twenty years ago”.1) On the other hand, the EPNS has made steady efforts,
and its publication reached Volume 90 (Leicestershire Part VI) in 2014, its research still
being on the way. It is stated in Mawer, et al. (1993, p. ii) that “the English Place-Name
Society was founded in 1923 to carry out the survey of English place-names and to issue
annual volumes to members who subscribe to the work of the Society”. It is particularly

22Vocabulary Acquisition (1)noticeable that Watson published the Celtic Place-Names of Scotland in 1926, and it was
reprinted in 2011. Masta’s Abenaki Indian Legends, Grammar and Place Names (firstpublished in 1932, reprinted in 2008) is also noteworthy as a research in place-names
apart from those of England. Accelerated by such a current trend in the study of placenames as the EPNS represents, Eilert Ekwall compiled and published Street-Names of
the City of London (1954), and the Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-Names,
4th edition (1960), which was followed by the publication of Kenneth Cameron, English
Place-Names (1961).
In the twenty-first century, the place-name study has gained momentum, which has
resulted in further publications on English place-names, such as Mills’ Dictionary of
London Place-Names (2004), Johnston’s The Place-Names of England and Wales (2011),
Taggart’s The Book of London Place Names (2012), and Howorth’s A-Z of Lancaster:Places-People-History (2017). Lee’s The Place Names of Cumbria (1998) can be counted
among the works exemplified above.
As works on Irish place-name studies, which will not be discussed in this article,
may be introduced the following publications; Flanagan’s Irish Place Names (2002),
Toner’s Place-Names of Northern Ireland: Volume One, County Down I (1992), and Mac
Gabhan’s Place-Names of Northern Ireland: Volume 7, County Antrim II: Ballycastle andNorth-East Antrim (1997).
Although Hawaiian place-names and those originating from American Indian
languages are of very absorbing and academic interest, I would like to express myapologies for the omission of those place-names from the present discussion. In the near
future I would like to treat them. A simplified list of illustration of those works is asfollows; Pukui’s Place Names of Hawaii (1874), Fitzpatrick’s Nebraska Place-Names(1960), Harder’s Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names (1985), Romig’s Michigan Place
Names: The History of the Founding and the Naming of More Than Five Thousand Past
and Present Michigan Communities, Great Lakes Books Series (1986), Foscue’s Place
Names in Alabama (1988), Stewart’s Names on the Land: A Historical Account of PlaceNaming in the United States, New York Review Books Classics (2008), Ireland’s Place
Names of the Jersey Shore: Why Did They Name It That? (2010), Hayes’ Historical Atlas
of Washington and Oregon (2011), Callary’s Place Names of Wisconsin (2016).
The aims of this research is firstly to introduce the works on English place-names atacademically high level and carry out various procedures adopted in those works in order

23

愛知大学

言語と文化

No. 37

to bring out etymological truth and semasiological development influenced by socio/
historical background. Secondly the fruit of the research is also aimed to contribute toteaching English place-names—each place-name within a given context will be shownas an example of teaching material of the place-name. A passage with teaching materials
will be illustrated within a frame of dotted lines as a sample text for reading.

1.

Britain, England, and UK

The Japanese learners of English often fail to make a clear distinction among those
three terms, “Britain”, “England” and “UK”. It is necessary for the learners to attainappropriate knowledge of those terms since misunderstanding in their employment
may cause communications gap. This is the former part of an article treating “Britain”,“England” and “UK”. A conclusive remark and an example of teaching material of thisaccount will be given at the end of the latter part, which will be contributed to Language
and Culture, No. 38.

1.1.

The Definition and Etymology of ‘Britain’‘Britain’ is “the proper name of the whole island containing England, Wales, andScotland, with their dependencies; more fully called Great Britain”.2) A story centeringon the name is interesting from the semasiological point of view; the OED includes thefollowing statement:3)
After the OE. period, Britain was used only as a historical term, until about thetime of Henry VIII and Edward VI, when it came again into practical politics inconnexion with the efforts made to unite England and Scotland; in 1604 James I
was proclaimed ‘King of Great Britain’; and this name was adopted for the United
Kingdom, at the Union in 1707. After that event, South Britain and North Britain
are frequent in Acts of Parl. for England and Scotland respectively: the latter is stillin occasional (chiefly postal) use. (So West Britain, humorously or polemically for‘Ireland’.) Greater Britain is a modern rhetorical phrase for ‘Great Britain and thecolonies’, ‘the British Empire’, brought into vogue in 1868.
The origin of this term is traced back to the Romans. The Romans called the24Vocabulary Acquisition (1)inhabitants of Britain ‘Britto’ (a native of Britain, Briton), and the land they inhabited
was called ‘Brit(t)annia’. The Britons were the Celtic people who moved from theContinent to the island from 600 B.C. through 100 B.C. by three stages. It is proposed thatthose early Britons “undoubtedly mixed with aborigines who spoke non-Indo-European
language”.4) The majority of the Britons were probably Cymric, or Welsh, Celts, andthe basic significance of the name ‘Britto’, as its Welsh variant ‘Brython’ apparently
suggests, is “the tumultuous, hence warriors”.5) Britannia is also the name of a female
figure symbolic of Britain used emblematically on coins and book covers, etc., usuallyshown sitting down wearing a helmet and holding a Shield and a trident, which is a long
weapon with three points.

1.1.1.

Instances of the Latin Word ‘Britannia’

As is always the procedure of academic arguments, illustrations should be quoted toprove the occurrence of the terms. The following passage is cited from Gallic War (58–50
B.C.) written by Julius Caesar (100–44 B.C.)—boldfaces are mine hereafter:6)
Exigua parte aestatis reliqua Caesar, etsi in his locis, quod omnis Gallia ad
septentriones vergit, maturae sunt hiemes, tamen in Britanniam proficisci
contendit, quod omnibus fere Gallicis bellis hostibus nostris inde sumministrata
auxilia intellegebat …
[Only a small part of the summer was left, and in these regions, as all Gaul has
a northerly aspect, the winters are early; but for all this Caesar was intent upon
starting for Britain. He understood that in almost all the Gallic campaigns succours
had been furnished for our enemy from that quarter …](Book IV, Section 20)

In the above passage, the term “Britannia” occurs as ‘Britanniam’, the accusative singularform. Gildas (c. 516–570) was a British monk, historian and Saint, whose work entitled
De Excidio Britonum (a. 547) is the oldest British history, which dealt with events that
occurred from the invasion of the Romans until his own age. A passage quoted from thework reads as follows:7)
Brittannia insula in extremo ferme orbis limite circium occidentemque … quae
arcuatis oceani sinibus ambiuntur, tenens, cuius diffusiore et, ut ita dicam,
intransmeabili undique circulo absque meridianae freto plagae, quo ad Galliam

25

愛知大学

言語と文化

No. 37

Belgicam navigatur, vallata, duorum ostiis nobilium fluminum Tamesis ac Sabrinae
veluti brachiis, per quae eidem olim transmarinae deliciae ratibus vehebantur,
aliorumque minorum meliorata, bis denis bisque quaternis civitatibus ac nonnullis
castellis, murorum turrium serratarum portarum domorum, quarum culmina
minaci proceritate porrecta in edito forti compage pangebantur, munitionibus non
improbabiliter instructis decorata …
[The island of Britain lies virtually at the end of the world, towards the west andnorth-west…. It is fortified on all sides by a vast and more or less uncrossable ringof sea, apart from the straits on the south where one can cross to Belgic Gaul; but it
has the benefit of the estuaries of a number of streams, and especially two splendid
rivers, the Thames and the Severn, arms of the sea along which luxuries fromoverseas used to be brought by ship. It is ornamented with twenty eight cities and anumber of castles, and well equipped with fortifications—walls, castellated towers,
gates and houses, whose sturdily built roofs reared menacingly skyward….](Chapter 2)
Here the term occurs in the nominative form, ‘Brittannia’, and ‘insula’ (island) is employedappositionally with ‘Brittannia’. Gildas provides a vivid topographical description of
Britain. The paragraph is followed by an expression of the island of Britain compared to“a chosen bride arrayed in a variety of jewellery”,8) which indicates wide plains decorated
with flowers of different hues and “agreeably set hills, excellent for vigorous agriculture,and mountains especially suited to varying the pasture for animals”.9) Another quotationfrom Latin authors will suffice to illustrate ‘Brittannia’, the Latin form of Britain. The
Venerable Bede (672 or 673–735), the father of English history, must be referred to. He
was an Anglo-Saxon monk, historian, and theologian. He is famous for his Historia
Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum (The Ecclesiastical History of the English People, dat.
731), one paragraph of which is as follows:10)
Haec in praesenti iuxta numerum Librorum quibus lex diuina scripta est, quinquegentium linguis … Anglorum uidelicet Brettonum Scottorum Pictorum etLatinorum, quae meditatione scripturarum ceteris omnibus est facta communis.
In primis autem insula Brettones solum, a quibus nomen accepit, incolas habuit;qui de tractu Armoricano, ut fertur, Brittaniam aduecti australes sibi partes illius

26

Vocabulary Acquisition (1)uindicarunt.
[At the present time, there are five languages in Britain, just as the divine law is
written in five books, … These are the English, British, Irish, Pictish, as well as theLatin languages; through the study of the scriptures, Latin is in general use among
them all. To begin with, the inhabitants of the island were all Britons, from whom it
receives its name; they sailed to Britain, so it is said, from the land of Armorica, andappropriated to themselves the southern part of it.](Book I, Chapter 1)

Here occur two forms or words in relation to Britain. One is ‘Brettonum’ and ‘Brettones’,
the genitive plural masculine form and the nominative plural masculine form of ‘Bretto’,
respectively, meaning “a native of Britain”, but in those days its signification was
limited to “a native of Wales”. The other is ‘Brittaniam’, the accusative singular formof a feminine noun ‘Brittania’, which refers to “Britain” in a wider sense. Bede offers
an etymological explanation that “Brittania”, the name of the island, originated from‘Brettones’, the (Welsh) natives of Britain. It should be noted that there is a differencein the stem vowel of these words, ‘i’ in ‘Brittania’, the name of the country, and ‘e’ in‘Bretto’, the name of the natives of the country. Bede further remarks that the (Welsh)
Britons sailed from Armorica, “a district lying along the north-west coast of Gaul fromthe Seine to the Loire”, maybe a narrower corner of the country, modern Brittany.11)
According to the above passage, those Britons were the first to inhabit Britain, moreaccurately the southern part of the country. Hibernia or Scottia, meaning Ireland, wasalready inhabited by ‘Scotti’, the Irish people. The Britons were followed by ‘Picti’, thePicts, who occupied the northern part of Britain, and then by ‘Scotti’, the Irish, who won
lands among the Picts, and their settlement was called the kingdom of ‘Dalriada’.

1.1.2.

Instances of the OE Words ‘Britten’, ‘Brittisc’, ‘Brytt’, ‘weal(h)’,and ‘Wilsc’

The MSS D, E, F, and C of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle include an abridged Anglo-Saxon
version of the first chapter of Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People, which
begins with the following sentences:12)
Brittene igland is ehta hund mila lang. 7 twa hund brad. 7 her sind on þis iglande fif
ge þeode. Englisc. 7 Brittisc. 7 Wilsc.13) 7 Scyttisc. 7 Pyhtisc. 7 Boc Leden.14) Erest
weron bugend þises landes Brittes. þa coman of Armenia. 7 ge sætan suðewearde

27

愛知大学

言語と文化

No. 37

Bryttene ærost.
[The island of Britain is eight hundred miles long and two hundred miles broad: andhere in this island are five tongues; English, British, Scottish, Pictish, and Latin.
The first inhabitants of this land were Britons; they came from Armenia, and firstsettled in the south of Britain.](MS E, Preface)Three kinds of words related to Britain are employed in the above sentences: they are‘Brittene’ or ‘Bryttene’, genitive singular of a feminine noun ‘Britten’, meaning “Britain”,‘Brittisc(-wilsc)’, a noun meaning “British”, that is to say, “Welsh”, and ‘Brittes’, a variantof ‘Bryttas’, nominative plural of a masculine noun ‘Brytt’, meaning “a Briton”. The noun
‘Brytt’ is usually used in plural. For Britons and British other expressions also occur:15)
Her sendon Brytwalas ofer sæ to Rome. 7 heom fultumes bædon wið Peohtas. ac hi
þær nefdon nænne. forþan ðe hi feordodan wið Ætlan Huna cininge. 7 þa sendon hi
to Anglum. 7 Angel cynnes æðelingas þes ilcan bædon.
[This year the Britons sent over sea to Rome, and begged for help against the Picts;
but they had none, because they were themselves warring against Attila, king of the
Huns. And then they sent to the Angles, and entreated the like of the ethelings of theAngles.](MS E, 443)

Her Hengest 7 Æsc ge fuhton wið Walas neh Wippedes fleote. 7 ðær of slogon. xii.
Wilsce ealdor men. 7 heora an þegn wearð þær of slegen. þam wæs nama Wipped.
[This year Hengist and Æsc fought against the Welsh near Wippidsfleet, [Ebbsfleet?]and there slew twelve Welsh ealdormen, and one of their own thanes was slain there,
whose name was Wipped.](MS E, 465)

‘Brytwalas’ is a compound made of ‘Bryt-’, meaning “British”, or “Welsh”, and ‘walas’,nominative plural of ‘wal’ or ‘weal(h)’, meaning “Briton”, “Welshman”, “foreigner” andeven “slave”. ‘Walas’ in MS E, 465, is the latter element of ‘Brytwala’, which has justbeen explained. ‘Wilsce’ is the nominative plural masculine form of the adjective ‘Wilsc’,
meaning ‘Welsh’. Its variants are ‘Wielisc’, ‘Wælisc’, ‘Wealisc’, and as the stem vowel ‘ea’of the last variant form shows, this is a cognate with the noun ‘Weal(h)’ or ‘Wal’, which
has been discussed above.

28

Vocabulary Acquisition (1)1.1.3. Instances of Middle English ‘Breteyne’ or ‘Bretayne’
As quoted above from the OED, “Britain” was used in the ME period only as a historicalterm. Whereas the OE form ‘Brit(t)en’, with its variants ‘Breoton’, ‘Breoten’, ‘Breten’,points back to a West Germanic ‘*Brituna’, the ME forms ‘Bretayne’, ‘Breteyn(e)’,‘Brutaune’, ‘Bretainge’, and ‘Brytayne’ were reintroduced from Old French ‘Bretaigne’,
which developed from Latin ‘Brittannia’ or ‘Brittānia’.16) The earliest instance of thisword in the ME text is quoted in the OED from Robert of Gloucester’s Chronicle, whichis dated 1297:17)
And aftur Brut ys owne nome he clepede hit Breteyne.
[And after Brut, his name, he called it Britain](Robert of Gloucester’s Chronicle, p. 22)
Constance was ys name, he conquerede of Spayne
þe truage, and of Fraunce, & seþþe here of Bretayne.
[Constance was his name; he acquired tributes from Spain, and from France, andthen from Britain.](Robert of Gloucester’s Chronicle, p. 82)‘Breteyne’ and ‘Bretayne’ in the above quotations are the representative forms of thisword in the ME period. It is interesting that the author of the chronicle states that ‘Britain’,the name of the country, originates from ‘Brut’, the name of a legendary ancestor of the
Britons.

1.1.4. Early Modern English Variants of ‘Britain’, and the Earliest Instance of
the Form ‘Britain’ (1547)
In the early Modern English period (the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries) the forms‘Britan’, ‘Brytayn’, ‘Britayn(e)’, ‘Briteigne’, ‘Brittaine’, ‘Britaine’, and ‘Britain’ occurred,
but all the forms except ‘Britain’, a Modern English form, did not survive beyond theseventeenth century. The earliest instance of the form ‘Britain’ in the OED is quoted from
Harryson’s An Exhortacion to the Scottes, dated 1547:18)
Ye names of both subiectes & realmes ceassing, & to be changed into ye name of
Britain & Britons, as it was at first, & yet stil ought to be.
[The names of both subjects and kingdoms should cease, and should be changed to

29

愛知大学

言語と文化

No. 37the name of Britain and Britons, as it was at first so, and yet still ought to be so.]
What is referred to in the above sentence is the effort made to unite England and Scotland
under the name of Britain. The instance of ‘Britain’ in the OED is followed by those ofaccounts that mention the Metropolis of Great London (dated 1667), union of Englandand Scotland (dated 1707), North-Britain and South-Britain (dated 1718), Great Britain,that part of the United Kingdom called Great Britain and that part of the United Kingdom
called Ireland (dated 1832), and Greater Britain (dated 1868).

1.2.

Movement of the Germanic Tribes, Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy, England

In the year 410, the whole Roman troops that had stationed in Britannia since A.D. 79,
obeying the order from the Roman Empire, made a precipitate retreat from Britannia.
They were recalled home from all over Europe, because Rome, the eternal city, was now
in danger of a fierce attack of the Germanic tribes.

1.2.1.

Vortigern, King of the Britons, Inviting Hengist and Horsa, Chieftainsof the Jutes

In the year 443, the Britons, who were troubled by frequent storms of the other tribes,
especially the Picts, sent over sea to Rome, begging for help against the Picts, but they
could not have any help from the Romans. Vortigern, the king of the Britons, summoned
the British chieftains and discussed how to settle the problem with the Picts. Their final
decision was to beg the Jutes, one of the Germanic tribes, to help them. In the year 449,
Hengist and Horsa, the brotherly chieftains of the Jutes, was invited by Vortigern andlanded in Britain. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle includes the following passage concerning
this event:19)
Her Mauricius 7 Ualentines onfengon rice. 7 ricsodon ・vii・winter. 7 on hiera
dagum Hengest 7 Horsa from Wyrt georne geleaþade Bretta kyninge gesohton
Bretene on þam staþe þe is genemned Ypwines fleot. ærest Brettum to fultume, achie eft on hie fuhton: Se cing het hi feohtan agien Pihtas. 7 hi swa dydon, 7 sigehæfdon swa hwar swa hi comon. Hi ða sende to Angle 7 heton heom sendan marefultum. 7 heom seggan Brytwalana nahtnesse. 7 ðæs landes cysta. Hy þa sendan
heom mare fultum. Đa comon þa men of þrim mægðum Germanie. Of Eald
Seaxum. of Anglum. of Iotum.

30

Vocabulary Acquisition (1)[This year Martianus and Valentinus succeeded to the empire, and reigned sevenyears. And in their days Hengist and Horsa, invited by Vortigern king of the
Britons, landed in Britain on the shore which is called Wippidsfleet; at first in aidof the Britons, but afterwards they fought against them. King Vortigern gave themland in the south-east of this country, on condition that they should fight against
the Picts. Then they fought against the Picts, and had the victory wheresoever theycame. They then sent to the Angles; desired a larger force to be sent, and caused
them to be told the worthlessness of the Britons, and the excellencies of the land.
Then they soon sent thither a larger force in aid of the others. At that time there camemen from three tribes in Germany; from the Old-Saxons, from the Angles, fromthe Jutes.](MS Ā, 449)

‘Ypwines fleot’, or ‘Heopwines fleot’ in MS E,20) at which Hengist and Horsa landed, isEbbsfleet in Thanet, Kent.21) At first Hengist and Horsa kept their promise with Vortigern,and they fought against the Picts, gaining battles. Vortigern gave them the land in thesouth-east of Britain, probably in Kent. Six years later, however, in the year 455 they
were to fight against Vortigern. At the battle of that year Horsa was slain, and after that
Hengist and Æsc obtained the kingdom of Kent.22) According to Bede’s Ecclesiastical
History (pp. 48–51) and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (A. 449), a report of the slackness of
the Britons and the fertility of their land reached the Germanic tribes in the Continent,
which caused coming of large fleets of bands of warriors from three powerful Germanic
tribes, the Saxons (Seaxe), the Angles (Angle), and the Jutes (Iotas).

1.2.2.

Establishment of Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy and ‘Æþelstan’, the First Kingof England (927–939)

In the 5th and 6th centuries, those tribes settled themselves in Britain and establishedAnglo-Saxon kingdoms. There were seven main kingdoms, frequently referred to as
Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy; the Saxons established kingdoms of Essex, Sussex, and Wessex,
the Angles established Northumbria, Mercia, and East Anglia, and the Jutes establishedKent. However, even after establishment of those kingdoms they repeated conflicts ofarms until at last they were brought under one ruler in the first half of the tenth century.
An account of the year 924 in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reads as follows:23)
Her Eadweard cyning gefor on Myrcum æt Farn dune. 7 Ælfweard his sunu swyþe

31

愛知大学

言語と文化

No. 37

hraðe þæs gefor ymbe. xvi. dagas æt Oxan forda. 7 hyra lic lið æt Wintan ceastre. 7Æþelstan wæs gecoren to cynge of Myrcum. 7 æt Cynges tune gehalgod. 7 he geaf
his sweostor Ofsǽ Eald Seaxna cynges suna.
[This year king Edward died among the Mercians at Farndon; and very shortly,
about sixteen days after this, Elward his son died at Oxford; and their bodies lie at
Winchester. And Athelstan was chosen king by the Mercians, and consecrated at
Kingston. And he gave his sister to Ofsæ [Otho], son of the king of the Old-Saxons.](MS D, 924)Æthelstan is the grandson of Alfred, the king of Wessex, and the above passage tells us
about his being chosen as the king of Mercia, one of the Anglian kingdoms, and about
his sister given to Ofsæ, son of the Saxon king. Æthelstan now ruled the kingdoms of
the Saxons and a part of the land of the Angles as King of the Anglo-Saxons (94–9927).
Three years later, that is to say, in the year 927, Æthelstan obtained the rest of the landof the Angles, which is called Northumbria, as stated in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle:24)
926. Her oð eowdon fyrena leoman on norð dæle þære lyfte. 7 Sihtric acwæl. 7
Æþelstan cyning feng to Norð hymbra rice. 7 ealle þa cyngas þe on þyssum
iglande wæron he ge wylde. ærest Huwal West Wala cyning. 7 Cosstantin Scotta
cyning. 7 Uwen Wenta cyning. 7 Ealdred Ealdulfing from Bebban byrig. 7 mid
wedde 7 mid aþum fryþ gefæstnodon, on þære stowe þe genemned is æt Ea motum.
on. iiii. idus Iulii. 7 ælc deofol geld to cwædon. 7 syþþam mid sibbe to cyrdon.
927. Her Æþelstan cyning fordraf Guðfrið cyng. 7 her Wulfelm ar᷃ cƀ for to Rom.
[A. 926. This year fiery lights appeared in the north part of the heavens. And Sihtric
perished: and king Athelstan obtained the kingdom of the North-humbrians.
And he ruled all the kings who were in this island: first, Howel king of the WestWelsh; and Constantine king of the Scots; and Owen king of the Monmouth people;
and Aldred, son of Ealdulf, of Bambrough: and they confirmed the peace by pledge,
and by oaths, at the place which is called Eamot, on the 4th before the Ides of July;and they renounced all idolatry, and after that submitted to him in peace.
A. 927. This year king Athelstan expelled king Guthfrith. And this year Archbishop
Wulfhelm went to Rome.](MS D, 926, and MS E, 927)

32

Vocabulary Acquisition (1)The account for the year 926 is preserved in the MS D only, and that of the year 927
occurs in MSS E and F. These two accounts convey that Athelstan expelled Guthfrith,
king of Northumbria, and subjugated all the other kings in Britain, ruling as the firstking of the English (927–939). However, the Picts and most of Welsh kingdoms kept
independence. Athelstan’s kingdom of England was almost all the realms of the AngloSaxon Heptarchy put together, that is to say, present-day England, a part of Great Britain
except for Scotland and Wales.,

1.2.3. Etymological, Semasiological, and Phonological Discussion on ‘England’and ‘English’
The etymological, semasiological, and phonological explanations of the terms ‘England’and ‘English’ are necessary for further understanding of these place-names. The earliest
instance of the word ‘England’ in the OED is quoted from Miller’s The Old English
Version of Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People, dated c. 890. The article
for the years 684 and 685 describes how Ecgfrith, king of Northumbria organized
expeditions against the Scots and the Picts, how he was revenged and slain by the Scots,and how “the prospects and the power of the English realm began to ebb and fail”.25)
Those events lead to the following account:26)
Þær betweoh monige Ongelþeode, þa ðe oðþe mid sweorde ofslægene wæron oððeþeodome betæhte, oðþe of Peohta londe onweg flugon, ond eac swylce se arwyrða
Godes mon Trumwine, se ðe heora biscop wæs, gewat mid his geferum, þa ðewæron in þæm mynstre Æbbercurni, þæt is geseted in Engla londe ac hwæðre neahþæm sǽ, þe Engla lond 7 Peohta tosceadaþ.
[Then among many of the English, who were either slain with the sword, or brought
into slavery, or fled away from the land of the Picts, also the venerable servant of theLord, Trumwine, who was their bishop, departed with his clergy, who were in themonastery of Abercorn, which lies in English territory, but is however near the sea,
which separates the territory of the English and the Picts.](OE Version of Bede’s Ecclesiastical History, Book IV, Chapter 26)‘Ongelþeode’ in the above passage is the OE compound for “the English people”. Thisis the form of this word in MS T, and the form in MS B is ‘angelþeode’, the first element
being ‘angel-’. ‘Engla’, the first element of the compound ‘Engla lond’, meaning “the land

33

愛知大学

言語と文化

No. 37of the English” or “England”, is a genitive plural form of ‘Engle’ or ‘Angle’, the English
or the Angles. The second element ‘lond’ is a variant of ‘land’, which occurs in MSS B,
O, and Ca. The equivalent phrases in the original Latin version of Bede’s Ecclesiastical
History are ‘plurimos gentis Anglorum’ (many of the English), ‘in regione Anglorum’(in English territory), and ‘Anglorum terras’ (the lands of the English). What can beconcluded from those examples is that the OE ‘Engla’, ‘Ongel-’ or ‘Angel-’ are cognatewith the Latin ‘Anglus’ (pl. ‘Angli’), and that those words originate from ‘Angul’, a
district in Schleswig, from which the Angles came.27) ‘Angul’ is cognate with OE ‘angel’,
meaning “angle”, “hook”, or “fish-hook”. The place was called so from its shape, ‘angle’.
From the OE form ‘Engla land’ were developed the forms ‘Engle land’ in the twelfth
century, ‘Englene lond’ and ‘Engle lond’ in the thirteenth century, ‘Englelond(e)’ in thethirteenth and fourteenth centuries, ‘Enkelonde’ in the thirteenth century, ‘Engeland’,‘Ingland’, and ‘Yng(e)lond’ in the fourteenth century, ‘Englonde’ and ‘Inglonde’ in thefifteenth century, and finally ‘England’ from the fourteenth century on.28) The earliest
example of the form ‘England’ is quoted from Cursor Mundi (ante 1300), an anonymous
ME historical and religious poem originally written in northern England. The OED cites
two other forms of this word from the same source—they are ‘Ingland’ and ‘Ingelonde’.
It may be conjectured from those instances that a vowel change from [e] to [i] occurredin the first syllable in the Northern dialect at the period of the author of Cursor Mundi orlater scribes of the MSS, and the phonetic change exerted its influence on the spelling,
thus bringing about the first syllable ‘Ingl-’. On the other hand it seems that the form
‘England’, representing the traditional spelling, is used to reflect the variant form as
it was used in those days. It is not certain which sound it represented, [e] or [i]; maybe[e]. Concerning the discrepancy between the spelling and the pronunciation, the OEDcomments as follows:29)
This word and its cognates, English, etc. are the only instances in which in mod.
Standard English the letter e stands in an accented syllable for (ı). The change ofan earlier (ɛŋ) into (ıŋ) is strictly normal, and in all other examples the spelling has
followed the pronunciation. Cf. wing, ME. wenge; string, OE stręnge; link, OE.
hlęnce.
Incidentally, Bede records a very famous pun on the name Angles. His Ecclesiastical

34

Vocabulary Acquisition (1)History (Book II, Chapter 1) includes an account about some English boys who wereamong merchants in the market place of Rome. Pope Gregory, interested in theirhandsome faces and lovely hair, asked for the name of the race of the boys. The Pope wastold that those children were called Angli, and then “‘Good’, he said, ‘they have the faceof angels, and such men should be fellow-heirs of the angels in heaven’”.30)[To be concluded]
Notes1) McKnight (1923), pp. 358–59.
2) OED, s.v. ‘Britain’.
3) Ibid.
4) The Encyclopædia Britannica, Vol. 2, p. 533.
5) Partridge (1966), p. 60.
6) Page (1952), pp. 204–5.
7) Winterbottom (1978); Latin text, p. 89; trans. p. 16.
8) Ibid., pp. 16 and 17.
9) Ibid., p. 17.
10) Colgrave (1969), pp. 16 and 17.
11) Ibid., p. 16, note 2.
12) Earle and Plummer (1892), p. 3. Giles (1914), p. 1.
13) This is the reading in MS E; MS D reads ‘Bryt-wylsc’.
14) ‘Boc Leden’ means ‘book (learned) Latin (language)’, i.e. ‘Latin’.
15) Earle and Plummer (1892), pp. 13 and 15. Giles (1914), pp. 6 and 7.
16) OED, s.v. ‘Britain’. Partridge (1966), p. 59.
17) Hearne (1724), pp. 22 and 82.
18) Harryson (1547), h vi (p. 234); OED, s.v. ‘Britain’.
19) Earle and Plummer (1892), p. 13. Giles (1914), p. 7.
20) Ekwall (1936, p. 121) states that the meaning of OE Heopwines fleot is ‘stream on whose banks
hips or wild rosebushes grew’.
21) Earle and Plummer (1899), p. 10, note for ‘Ypwines fleot’.
22) Ibid. pp. 12 and 13.
23) Ibid. p. 105. Giles (1914), p. 72.
24) Ibid. p. 107. Giles (1914), p. 73.
25) Miller (1891), p. 359.
26) Ibid. pp. 358 and 359.
27) Hall (1960), s.v. ‘Angel’.

35

愛知大学

言語と文化

No. 3728) OED, s.v. ‘England’.
29) Ibid. s.v. ‘England’.
30) Colgrave (1969), pp. 133–35. ‘Bene’ inquit; ‘nam et angelicam habent faciem, et tales angelorum
in caelis decet esse coheredes’.

Bibliography
Barber, Peter, London: A History in Maps (London: The London Topographical Society in association
with The British Library, 2012)
Bosworth, Joseph, and T. Northcote Toller (1882–98), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1st ed. 1898, repr. 1973); Supplement by T. N. Toller (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1921, repr. 1973), with Enlarged Addenda and Corrigenda by Alistair Campbell (Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1972, repr. 1973)
Browning, Andrew, English Historical Documents, Vol. VI (London: Routledge, 1996)
Callary, Edward, Place Names of Wisconsin (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2016)
Cameron, Kenneth, English Place-Names (London: B. T. Batsford Ltd., 1961)
Colgrave, Bertram, and R. A. B. Mynors (eds.), Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969, repr. 1992)
Davies, Andrew, The Map of London: from 1746 to the Present Day (London: B. T. Batsford Ltd.,
1987)
Earle, John, and Charles Plummer, Two of the Saxon Chronicles (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1892)
Ekwall, Eilert, Studies on English Place-Names (Stockholm : Wahlström and Widstrand, 1936)
Ekwall, Eilert, Street-Names of the City of London (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1954)
Ekwall, Eilert, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-Names, 4th ed. (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1960)
The Encyclopedia Americana, international edition (Danbury: Grolier incorporate, 1998)
Fitzpatrick, Lilian L. (Author), and G. Thomas Faircloth (Editor, Introduction), Nebraska PlaceNames (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1960)
Flanagan, Laurence, and Deirdre Flanagan, Irish Place Names (Dublin: Gill and MacMillan, Limited,
2002)
Foscue, Virginia O., Place Names in Alabama (Tuscaloosa: The University of Alabama Press, 1988)
Giles, J. A., The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (London: G. Bell and Sons, LTD., 1914)
Hall, John Richard Clark, A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed. (Toronto: University of Toronto
Press, 1960, originally published 1894)
Harder, Kelsie B., Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names (New York: Facts On File Inc., 1985)
Harryson, James, An Exhortacion to the Scottes to conforme themselfes to the honorable, Expedient,and godly Union betweene the two Realmes of Englande and Scotland (London: Richard
Grafton, 1547), included as Appendix II in The Complaynt of Scotlande, A.D. 1549, with
Introduction and Glossary by James A. H. Murray, Part II (London: N. Trübner and Co., 1873;
E. E. T. S. Extra Series, 18)36

Vocabulary Acquisition (1)Haslam, Jeremy (ed.), Anglo-Saxon Towns in Southern England (Chichester: Philimore and Co. Ltd.,
1984)
Hayes, Derek, Historical Atlas of Washington and Oregon (Oakland: University of California Press,
2011)
Hearne, Thomas (transcription), Robert of Gloucester’s Chronicle (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1724)
Howorth, Billy, A-Z of Lancaster: Places-People-History (Stroud: Amberley Publishing, 2017)
Ireland, Lee, Place Names of the Jersey Shore: Why Did They Name It That? (Charleston, S.C.: Book
Surge Publishing, 2010)
Jackson, Lee, A Dictionary of Victorian London (London: Wimbledon Publishing Company, 2006)
Johnston, James Brown, The Place-Names of England and Wales (Toronto: University of Toronto
Libraries, 2011)
Kingsford, Charles Lethbridge (ed.), The Stonor Letters and Papers, 1290–1483, Vol. I., Camden
Third Series Vol. XXIX (London: Office of the Society, 1919)
Lee, Joan, and Susie Lee, The Place Names of Cumbria (Carlisle: Cumbria Heritage Services, 1998)
Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of England, Comprising the Several Counties, Cities,
Boroughs, Corporate and Market Towns, Parishes, Chapelries, and Townships, and Islands ofGuernsey, Jersey, and Man, with Historical and Statistical Descriptions (London: S. Lewis andCo., 1881)
Littelhales, Henry, The Medieval Records of a London City Church, St. Mary at Hill, 1420–1559(1905), Kessinger Legacy Reprints (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner and Co., Limited,
1905)
Mac Gabhan, Fiachra, Place-Names of Northern Ireland: Vol. 7, County Antrim II: Ballycastle andNorth-East Antrim (Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, Queen’s University Belfast, 1997)
Mackie, John Duncan, A History of Scotland, 2nd ed., revised and edited by Bruce Lenman andGeoffrey Parker (Hamonsworth: Penguin, 1978, originally published in 1964)
Masta, Henry Lorne, Abenaki Indian Legends, Grammar and Place Names (Toronto: Global Language
Press, 2008, first published in 1932)
Mawer, A, and F. M. Stenton, in collaboration with F. T. S. Houghton, The Place-Names ofWorcestershire, English Place-Name Society, Vol. IV (Nottingham; Nottingham University,
1993)
McKnight, George Harley, English Words and Their Background (New York: Gordian Press, 1923,
repr. 1969)
Miller, Thomas, The Old English Version of Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People, Early
English Text Society Original Series Nos. 95, 96, 110, 111 (London: Oxford University Press,
1890, 1891, 1898, 1898; reprinted in 1978, 1978, 1988, 1988 by Kraus Reprint, Millwood, N.Y.)
Mills, A. D., A Dictionary of London Place-Names (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004)
Mount, Toni, Everyday Life in Medieval London from the Anglo-Saxons to the Tudors (Stroud:
Amberley Publishing, 2014)
The New Encyclopædia Britannica, 15th ed. (Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. 1989)
The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989)

37

愛知大学

言語と文化

No. 37

Page, T. E. (ed.), H. J. Edwards (trans.), Loeb Classical Library, Caesar, The Gallic War (Cambridge,
Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1952, first printed in 1917)
Partridge, Eric, Origins: An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed. (London: Routledge,
1966, impression of 1990; first published in 1958)
Pukui, Mary Kawena, Place Names of Hawaii (Honolulu: University Press of Hawaii, 1874)
Riley, Henry Thomas, Memorials of London and London Life, in the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, andFifteenth Centuries, Kessinger Legacy Reprints (London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1868)
Romig, Walter, Michigan Place Names: The History of the Founding and the Naming of More Than
Five Thousand Past and Present Michigan Communities, Great Lakes Books Series (Detroit:
Wayne State University Press, 1986)
Rothwell, Harry, English Historical Documents, Vol. III (London: Routledge, 1996)
Stewart, George R., and Matt Weiland, Names on the Land: A Historical Account of Place-Namingin the United States, New York Review Books Classics (New York: New York Review Books
Classics, 2008)
Stow, John, A Survey of London, Vol. I, Elibron Classics (Adamant Media Corporation, 2005;
originally published from the Clarendon Press, Oxford, in 1908)
Stow, John, A Survey of London, Vol. II (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1927; first published in
1908)
Taggart, Caroline, The Book of London Place Names (London: Ebury Press, 2012)
Toner, Gregory, and Michael B. O’Mainnin, Place-Names of Northern Ireland: Vol. 1, County Down
I (Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, Queen’s Univrsity Belfast, 1992)
Whitfield, Peter, London: A Life in Maps (London: The British Library 2006)
Whitney, William Dwight, The Century Dictionary (London: The Times; New York: The Century
Co., 1889)
Winterbottom, Michael, Gildas: The Ruin of Britain and Other Works (Chichester: Phillimore and
Co. LTD., 1978)

38