Vocabulary Acquisition—English Place-Names

論

文

Vocabulary Acquisition—English Place-Names:
London (1)TAMOTO Kenichi

要旨ロンドン，ニューヨーク，パリのような観光並びにビジネスにおいて国際的に有名な大都市でさえ，それらについての知識は共時的であって当然と普通見做されていて，世界地図やそれらの都市の地図の現代版には最新の情報以外何も見つからない。しかしながら，二次元的な地図の下には見
えないけれども，多大な三次元的な興味深い情報があるということは明白なことである。それらの都市の共時的知識の背後にある情報は，学生ない
しは生徒がそれらの都市名をより深く理解するのに役立つ重要な役割を果たすものと思われる。
本論では，“London” を語彙習得の観点から地名研究の対象とする。
Tamoto (2017) 及び Tamoto (2018) において既に例証したように，London の語源学的分析が地名研究方法論の第一段階となる。そして，地名 London
に関する教授についての考察と，教材としての地名 London の提案を試みる。橋（特に London Bridge）や通りの名称は補助的ではあるが London のイメージに資するのに必要な要素でありうる。教材として提案されるもの
は，リーディング用のサンプル・テクストであり，本論の最後に点線の枠で囲んで提示する。
紙面の都合上，本稿ではアングロ・サクソン時代のロンドンまでを論
じ，第１部とする。

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キーワード：vocabulary acquisition (語彙習得), methodology of place-namestudy ( 地名研究方法論 ), methodology of teaching place-name(地 名 教 授法), suggestion of materials in teaching place-name(地 名 教 材案), London (ロ ン ドン), city names (都 市名), theThames (テムズ川), the Celts (ケルト人), the Romans (ローマ人), the Anglo-Saxons (アングロ・サクソン人)

Introduction: Methodologies employed for the present research
It was almost several years ago that I was stunned by an enigmatic utterance of a shop
assistant. I was talking about electronic dictionaries with a young shop assistant overa showcase at an electronic appliance shop. He was very competent in the field ofelectronic appliances, and he fluently explained to me about electronic dictionaries.
While we were talking about English dictionaries, I said that I needed a pocket electronic
dictionary to be carried to England. Then the shop assistant said to me, ‘What languageis spoken in England?’ As this instance aptly shows, what everybody would think as amatter of course could be beyond knowledge of some people. I wish this unfamiliarity
with information supplementary to one of the most famous country names were a veryrare case.
Usually, synchronic knowledge is regarded as a matter of course concerning eveninternationally famous big cities for sightseeing and business, such as London, Paris, New
York, and there could be found nothing other than the latest information on the modern
edition of world atlas or maps of those cities. However, it is indisputable that there is agood deal of three-dimensional interesting information behind a two-dimensional atlasor map. It appears that the information hidden beneath the synchronic knowledge of thosecities or place-names plays an important role to help students or pupils acquire deeper
understanding of those place-names.
In this article ‘London’ is the place-name researched from the viewpoint of vocabularyacquisition, and, as practiced in Tamoto (2017) and Tamoto (2018), etymological analyses
of London will be the first step of the methodology of the place-name study, which will
be followed by consideration of teaching of the place-name and suggestion of materials inteaching the place-name, London. Incidentally, it seems that names of bridges and streets
may be supplemental but necessary elements to project an image of London. They are2

Vocabulary Acquisition—English Place-Names

worthwhile to discuss on this occasion. A passage suggested as the teaching material for
reading will be illustrated within a frame of dotted line at the end of this article.
This is the first part of the study of London, dealing with London of Celtic, Roman
and Anglo-Saxon periods.

1. Etymology of ‘London’, the Celts and the Romans (600 B.C.–A.D.
410)
1.1. Etymological explanations of ‘London’
Etymological theories of ‘London’, the earliest recorded form of which is the Latin
Londinium, are classified as follows.
1) The bold one’s town. Ekwall (1st ed. 1936, 4th ed. 1960, 303) comments that
‘Londinium is no doubt a derivative of a stem *londo- “wild, bold”, found in OIr lond“wild”’, and that “the immediate base may be a pers. n. Londinos or a tribal name formed
from the adjective”. He further shows the following forms which occur in Latin, Greek,
OE and ME texts: Londinium 115–17 Tacitus, 4 IA, Londinion c 150 Ptolemy, Lundin(i)um
Ammianus Marcellinus, Lundonia c 730 Bede, Lundenburg 457 ff. ASC, (in) Lundenne,
Lundenceaster c 890 OEBede, Lundres 12 Fantosme,1 Lundin 1205 Lay.2 Partridge (1958,
363) follows Ekwall, suggesting that OE Lundenne or Lundenburg developed from Latin
Londinium, which probably originates from Celtic Londinos, a personal name, meaning‘the bold one’, deriving from *Londos wild, bold (Cf OIr. londos). The theory of Cameron(1961, 35) is classified into this category: he states that ‘names wholly Celtic in origin
include London, Londinium, “Londinos’s town”’.
2) The place of a river which requires a boat to cross it. Richard Coates introduced
an etymological theory in 1998 in his article entitled ‘A New Explanation of the Nameof London’. The starting point of Coates’ theory is OEur *plowonidā, meaning ‘riverwhich requires a boat, as opposed to fording, to cross it, at least at the point where thename applies’, or ‘river which requires swimming, as opposed to fording, to cross it,
at least at the point where the name applies’, the river being ‘the Thames at London in
pre- and early Roman or even pre-Celtic times’.3 Coates (1998, 218) further states that‘the lowest fording point ever claimed for the Thames is at Westminster, nearly two
miles further upstream than London Bridge, the place at which the name Londinium
originally applied’. Coates (1998, 221, 222) illustrates Celtic *lowonid-on-jon as yielded

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by loss of the bilabial plosive consonant /p/ and suffixation of *-on-jon, which occurs
in Celtic place-names with Celtic river-names, *lowonid-on-jon thus denoting ‘place at*plowonidon-, which develops into Late British *Lōndonjon’. Concerning occurrence ofLondinium, Coates (1998, 225) mentions as follows:
RB Londinium is aberrant on any account because of its –in-, which the evidenceof the other languages involved in its history does not corroborate; we now seethat its –nd- cluster may also be aberrant, at least at the date when it is firstrecorded; it arises through syncope by Latin-speakers, not British-speakers.

3) A hill with defensive palisades. Mount (2015, 12) does not make mention of
the origin of the former element, Celt lon, whereas he directs our attention to the latterelement, Celt don, which he considers as ‘a defensive constructon, usually consisting of
circular earthworks with palisades, as Hillingdon, Croydon, etc’. Hillingdon and Croydon
are London boroughs; Hillingdon is located in the west of London, its original meaning
being ‘Hilda’s or Hilla’s hill’, and Croydon is to the south of London, originally meaning‘dean, or hill, of saffron’. Mount (2015, 12) further states that ‘Cornhill or Ludgate Hill
would have provided a ready-made foundation with handy water supply of the Walbrookrunning between’. Cornhill is the highest hill in the City of London. Ekwall (1954,
193–94) comments that Walbrook means ‘the stream of the Britons’, the first element
originating from OE Wealas, ‘the Welsh’. Ekwall (1954, 194, footnote 1) adds that ‘thisis the only London name that points to a British element in the early London population’.
These statements lead to the proposal of Mount (2015, 12) that ‘perhaps it was the Celts,
living in this dun (probably the Catuvellauni tribe), who faced the first Roman Legion’.
The Catuvellauni were a Celtic tribe, who inhabited southeastern Britain, and, according
to Cassius Dio (Greek: Δίων Κάσσιος; c. 155–c. 235), they resisted against the Roman
conquest in A.D. 43.
4) Origin uncertain. The Century Dictionary, Vol. IX (1894) records the Latin form
Londinium, stating only ‘origin uncertain’, and compares the Latin form uselessly with
F. Londres, It. Londra, Sp. Lóndres. The Encyclopedia Americana (1998, first publishedin 1829, s.v. ‘London’) contains a short comment about Londinium, mentioning that the
Roman name is ‘an adaptation of a Celtic word, but there is no agreeing about its meaning’.
The 15th edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica (1989; hereafter the Britannica 15th)
has a thirty-seven line column under the title ‘Foundation and early settlement’, which

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begins with the sentence, ‘the history of London begins with the Roman period’, and theaccount following it mentions the situation of London under the Roman control, with one
exceptional description of the revolt of the Icenian tribesmen under Queen Boudicca.
However, when we go back to the ninth edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica (1875–
1889), we find the account on Londinium entitled ‘British and Roman (To 449 A.D.)’,
comprising two and a half pages, or five columns. Although the ninth edition of theEncyclopaedia Britannica also does not give any etymological explanation, it affirms
a Celtic origin of the name of London and the British dwellings in the place at the timeof the reconnaissance of Julius Caesar. The account about the British and the Romans isdeleted a great deal in the Britannica 15th.

1.2. The Celts and the Romans
As mentioned in the above section, the etymological explanation of Londinium in theCentury Dictionary, Vol. IX (1894), is simply that the origin is uncertain, but it statesthat ‘London was probably an ancient British town’. It, however, tends to be partial
to the Romans, proposing Roman resettlement in Londinium about 43 A.D., the yearof the Conquest by Claudius. It also adds that ‘Londinium (called also Augusta) was
the capital of Britannia in the last part of the Roman period’. With regard to the name
Augusta, Weinreb and Hibbert (1983, 466) mentions that the title ‘Augusta’ was granted
to Londinium in the 4th century.
The ninth edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica (1875–1889; the Britannica 9thed.), as mentioned above, contains much detailed information under the sub-title ‘British
and Roman (To 449 A.D.)’. The account begins with the description of London cited from
Stillingfleet (1685, 43), who mostly depends upon Roman sources such as Cæsar, Tacitus,
Dio, and states that ‘upon the best enquiry I can make, I very much incline to believe itof a Roman Foundation, and no elder than the time of Claudius’.4 Stillingfleet, following
Tacitus, also relates that ‘in the time of Suetonius Paulinus5 it was inhabited by Romans
and Britains together (which)6, is evident from Tacitus’. The account of Stillingfleet(1685, 43) further mentions Boudica’s revolt7 against the Romans led by Suetonius. It
reads as follows.
When Suetonius Paulinus drew out the Inhabitants, the City not being thendefensible against the Britains, who in that Revolt destroyed LXX thousand

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Romans and their Allies, saith Tacitus; But Dio8 saith, two Cities (London andVerulam; for Camalodunum was destroyed before) and Eighty thousand Men.

Stillingfleet’s account on ancient London continues further on, but the above comment
would suffice to prove his attitude toward Roman London.
The next source in the Britannica 9th ed. is cited from Geoffrey of Monmouth’s
Historia Regum Britanniae.9 In this work Geoffrey of Monmouth tells how a great British
city of Troynovant, an old name of London, meaning ‘New Troy’, was founded by Brut,10
a descendant of Æneas11 and the legendary progenitor of the Britons. The writer of theaccount in the Britannica 9th ed. comments that although Troynovant founded by Brut is
a vision of Geoffrey of Monmouth, and it should be ‘relegated to the limbo of myths’, ‘weneed not necessarily dispute the existence of a British London’. He states that there may
be a little doubt about the Celtic origin of the name of London, and that there is probably‘a grain of truth’ in Geoffrey’s description of Troynovant. He refers furthermore to
Geoffrey’s Historia on foundation of a quay and a gate by Belinus the Great, a legendary
king of the Britons. Geoffrey’s Historia contains the following passage.
In the city of Trinovantum made he a gate of marvelous workmanship upon thebanks of Thames, the which the citizens (the Anglo-Saxons) do still in thesedays call Bellingsgate (Belinesgade) after his name. He builded, moreover, atower of wondrous bigness, with a quay at the foot whereunto ships could comealongside.12(Evans (1904), 44)

Even though Geoffrey’s work may be full of fanciful references, it seems that at least thisgives a vivid description of Troynovant, which commands the banks of the River. Later
the Trinobantes came to be placed under protection of Caesar.
Further description of a British town (especially that of Cassivelanus) is provided
by the writer of the account of London’s history in the Britannica 9th ed., who consults
Caesar’s De Bello Gallico, v, 21 (Hender & Edwards, 1917, 260–61). Caesar learns about
the town from deputations from the troops of the Cenigami, the Segontiaci, the Ancalites,
the Bibroci, who were tribes of Iron Age Britain in the first century B.C. and surrendered
to Caesar.
Ab his13 cognoscit14 non longe ex eo loco15 oppidum Cassivellauni16 abesse

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silvis paludibusque munitum, quo satis magnus hominum pecorisque numerus
convenerit. Oppidum autem Britanni vocant, cum silvas impeditas vallo atquefossa munierunt, quo incursionis hostium vitandae causa convenire consuerunt.
(From them he learnt that the stronghold of Cassivellaunus was not far fromthence, fenced by woods and marshes; and that he had assembled there a
considerable quantity of men and cattle. Now the Britons call it a stronghold
when they have fortified a thick-set woodland with rampart and trench, andthither it is their custom to collect, to avoid a hostile inroad.)This description of a British town (the strong hold of Cassivellanus) in Caesar’s De
Bello Gallico makes the writer of the account of London’s history in the Britannica 9th
ed. imagine the existence of ‘a clearing out of the great forest of Middlesex, extending
probably from the site of St Paul’s Cathedral to that of the Bank of England, with thedwellings of the Britons spread about the higher ground looking down upon the Thames’.
Concerning Cassivellaunus, the Britannica 9th ed. also refers to an article written by
Lewin (1866, 59–70), according to which London was, ab origine, a British city,17 it wasprobably the capital of Cassivellaunus,18 and London, the British town, was seated on thehill situated between the river Fleet on the west and the Wallbrook on the east, the namesof Ludgate, its western gate, and Dowgate, the eastern, being of British origin.19 Ekwall(1954, 91 and 191), however, regards the names of these two gates as of Old English
origin, ludgeat ‘a back door’ or lutgeat ‘gate where one has to bow one’s head in order toenter’, and dounegeat ‘dove gate’, respectively. The writer of the account of the London’shistory in the Britannica 9th ed. further describes progress of British London before theRoman occupation as follows:
London could scarcely have come to be the important commercial centre
described by Tacitus if it had only been founded a few years previously, andafter the conquest of Claudius. Now there can be no doubt that the Britons madeconsiderable progress during the period between Julius and Claudius, and it
seems upon the whole highly probable that London as a British settlement may
have come into existence then.

The Britannica 9th ed., however, acknowledges that the origin of London is always
disputable because of want of decisive facts, and that ‘a negative fact is that few if any
remains of an earlier date than the Roman occupation have been discovered’. This remark

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may remind us of the above-mentioned Stillingfleet’s inclination to belief that London
was founded by the Romans, and its foundation is ‘no elder than the time of Claudius’.
It seems that those views negative about the British origin of the foundation of London
may have emerged as theories of modern scholarly approach, such as Weinreb andHibbert (1983, 466–67) and the Britannica 15th ed. (1989); the comment of the latter was
discussed previously, in section 1.1.4). Weinreb and Hibbert (1983, 466) take a skepticalview of the British foundation of Londinium, stating that ‘there is no strong evidence of
any occupation on the site before the conquest in AD 43’. Describing the circumstances of
London in those days, Weinreb and Hibbert (1983, 466) quote from Tacitus (The Annals,
Book XIV, Cap. xxxiii), which reads, London ‘did not rank as a Roman settlement, but
was an important centre for business-men and merchandise’.20 From excavated materials
such as potteries and coins Weinreb and Hibbert (1983, 466) make an assumption that apossible foundation date of Londinium is ‘late in the reign of Claudius (41–54) or earlyin the reign of Nero (54–68)’. After further description of archaeological findings from
Londinium Weinreb and Hibbert (1983, 466–67) give an account of the city’s importanceas a commercial center.
The archaeological evidence of recent years shows that there was a basic planfrom the beginning for the growth of Londinium, ultimately to extend overthe 330 acres it was to occupy when walled in the late 2nd century. Fine wares,
glass, jewellery and other objects from the Mediterranean testify to the city’s
importance as a commercial entrepôt. In the rebuilding after the disaster21
priority seems to have been given to business premises, . . .

After 367 years since the Conquest by Claudius in A.D. 43, the Roman army had
to withdraw from Britain. The Roman army left in A.D. 410, but retired veterans stayedbehind in Britain, which was now their home. Mount (2015, 16) states that ‘Londinium
was as much a city of ethnic diversity then as it is today’.

1.3. ‘Londinium’ referred to in documents
The place-name London occurs in the extant documents of this period in the Latin
form Londinium (or its oblique forms) and the Greek form Λονδίνίον (or its obliqueforms). Examples are quoted from Tacitus (55?–120?), The Annals, Claudius Ptolemaeusor Κλαύδιος Πτολεμαῖος, (c. 83–c. 168), Geographia or Γεωγραφία, and Ammianus

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Marcellinus (c. 330–c. 391–400), Res Gestae. An example of Augusta, the title granted to
Londinium, is also illustrated.
1) Tacitus (55?–120?), The Annals, Book XIV, xxxiii, reads as follows (boldface by
the present writer):
At Suetonius mira constantia medios inter hostis Londinium perrexit,
cognomento quidem coloniae non insigne, sed copia negotiatorum etcommeatuum maxime celebre.
(Suetonius, on the other hand, with remarkable firmness, marched straight
through the midst of enemy upon London; which, though not distinguished by
the title of colony, was none the less a busy centre, chiefly through its crowd ofmerchants and stores.)

The hostis here is the British force. London occurs in the form Londinium, a typical Latin
form of this period.
2) Κλαύδιος Πτολεμαῖος or Claudius Ptolemaeus (c. 83–c. 168) is an Alexandrian
geographer, mathematician and astronomer, and is famous for his Γεωγραφία or
Geographia. The book contains the following passage (Lib I, Cap.15, Sect. 6: boldface by
the present writer):Kαì Λουνδινίου τῆς Βρετανίας Νοιόμαγον εἰπὼν νοτιωτέραν μιλίοις νֿ θ,βορειοτέραν αὐτὴν διὰ τῶν κλιμάτων ἀποφαίνει.
(And while Noiomagos is said to be located 59 miles south of London in Britain,
it is shown a little northward when explained in klimata (the possible duration
sunshine).)

The nominative form of this word in Greek is Λονδίνίον. The word occurs here with agenitive ending, Λουνδινίου. Furthermore, our attention should be paid to the stem vowel–ου- [-u:-], which occurs instead of a simpler –o-.
3) Ammianus Marcellinus (c. 330–c. 391–400) was a last major Roman historianand served as a soldier in the army of Constantius II in Gaul. He was born of a noble
Greek family and his mother tongue was Greek. Latin was his second language. His
Res Gestae covers the years 353 to 378. Three instances of Londinium are found in thiswork; Vol. II, XX, 1, 3; Vol. III, XXVII, 8, 7; Vol. III, XXVIII, 3, 1. Res Gestae, Vol. III,XXVII, 8, 7 (A.D. 368) begins with the following line (boldface by the present writer):

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Unde cum consecuti Batavi venissent et Heruli, Ioviique et Victores, fidentes
viribus numeri, egressus tendensque ad Lundinium, vetus oppidum quod
Augustam posteritas appellavit, . . .
(When the Batavi, Heruli, Jovii, and Victores, who followed him, had arrived,
troops confident in their strength, he began his march and came to the old townof Lundinium, which later times called Augusta.)

Here ‘Augustam’, occurring in the accusative singular form, is mentioned as the title
granted to Lundinium. Our attention should be payed to the date of this account, A.D.
368. As mentioned in the previous section, Weinreb and Hibbert (1983, 466) mention
that the title ‘Augusta’ was granted to Londinium in the 4th century. Although John C.
Rolfe, the translator of this work, states in the footnote that ‘probably in honour of someemperor, but the date is uncertain’, it seems that the ground for dating the title ‘Augusta’by Weinreb and Hibbert (1983, 466) can be found in the above account by Ammianus.
This conjecture may be confirmed by another example of ‘Augusta’ in Ammianus’ Res
Gestae, which occurs in Vol. III, XXVIII, 3, 1 (A.D. 369) (boldface by the present writer).
Theodosius vero dux nominis incluti, animi vigore collecto, ab Augusta
profectus, quam veteres appellavere Lundinium, cum milite industria
comparato sollerti, versis turbatisque Britannorum fortunis opem maximam
tulit, . . .
(But Theodosius, that leader of celebrated name, filled with courageous vigour
sallied forth from Augusta, which was earlier called Lundinium, with a force
which he had mustered with energy and skill, and rendered the greatest aid to
the troubled and confused fortunes of the Britons.)

As Rolfe (1952, 130) comments in the footnote, the above narrative is taken up fromXXVII, 8, which is cited above, and if we concentrate our attention to ‘Lundinium, vetus
oppidum quod Augustam posteritas appellavit’ in XXVII, 8, 7 (A.D. 368) and ‘Augusta
profectus, quam veteres appellavere Lundinium’ in XXVIII, 3, 1 (A.D. 369), we may be
seduced to guess that the title must have granted to Lundinium sometime between A.D.
368 and A.D. 369, because in the account of A.D. 368 Lundinium is described as latercalled Augusta, but in that of A.D. 369 Augusta is referred to as earlier called Lundinium.
The form of Lundinium deserves brief mention. One more instance of this placename occurs in Vol. II, XX, 1, 3, where its form is Lundinium also. To put it briefly, the10Vocabulary Acquisition—English Place-Names

stem vowel is ‘-u-’ in all the instances of this place-name in Res Gestae of Ammianus
Marcellinus.

1.4. Numismatic Evidence
Coins found at the sites of archaeological excavation are important historical relics, andthe study of coins and medals is called numismatics in technical nomenclature. It is anacademic field deeply connected with archaeology, history, and epigraphy. It was by wayof the Romans that the art of coining passed to Britain. Concerning the earliest mint in
Britain, Weinreb (1983, 727) states that ‘native coins inscribed as in the Roman fashion
have been identified bearing names of ancient British chiefs, but their use died out as they
were superseded by Roman coinage’. The Romans left a number of medals and coins.
One gold medallion and one bronze coin are discussed in this section.
Barber (2012, 4) contains, the following picture, which is the reverse of a gold
medallion produced in A.D. 297. As its mark PTR at the bottom shows, it was struck,in Trier, a city on the River Mosel in Rhineland-Palatinate. Its diameter is 4 cm. It was
excavated in Arras hoard in 1922, and is preserved in Musée des Beaux Arts, Arras. The
letters struck from the left side to the top read REDDITOR LUCIS AETERNAE, meaning‘restorer of eternal light’, which indicates Constantius I Chrolus (c. 250–306). On the
medallion Constantius is depicted as the Roman Emperor on horseback with spear in
one hand and scepter in the other. A galley is on the Thames. Before Constantius kneels
down the personification of London with the city wall in the Roman way, under which the(Gold medallion of A.D. 297)

(Bronze coin of c. 310)

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letters LON, the first element of London, are struck. This signifies Constantius’ saving of
London from being sacked. Barber (2012, 4) states that ‘this medal contains the earliest
known representation of London’, and that ‘it commemorates London’s surrender toConstantius I Chlorus, whose forces had just defeated the usurper Allectus in 296’.
Constantine I (274–337) is portrayed on the above bronze coin, called ‘follis’, andwas struck in London, as the letters PLN at the bottom shows, in c. 310.22 Its diameter is
2.5 cm.
Concerning the mint in London, Barber (2012, 5) comments as follows:
London was important enough to merit the establishment of an imperial mintin 285 but physical decay and a loss of the technological skills necessary tomaintain the all-important port facilities followed the withdrawal of Roman
forces from Britain in 407.

2. The Anglo-Saxons (449–1066)
Shortly before the withdrawal of the Roman army from Britain, Stilicho (365–408),
the great general under the emperor Honorius (395–423), ordered in 396 to restore theLondon wall. Stilicho successfully held the Visigoths at bay in Italy, but he was executed
as a result of conspiracy in 408, which left Honorius helpless at Ravenna. Thus the
Visigoths sacked Rome in 410, and Honorius had to recall the Roman army from Britain.
According to Weinreb (1983, 467), even half a century later the walls of London were stillhigh and strong enough to protect against the Anglo-Saxons. The Anglo-Saxons did not
like walled towns, calling the Roman buildings ‘the work of giants’,23 and they destroyed
the walled towns that they conquered. However, in the Britannica 9th ed. the writer of therelevant account states that the demolition ‘was not done in London, and it is just possiblethat the Britons may have been able to purchase their freedom from destruction’, addingthat there is ‘little or no data upon which we can form an opinion’. On the other hand heintroduces a view held by Guest (1862, 193–218) in his article entitled ‘On the English
Conquest of the Severn Valley’, Guest (1862, 217) includes the following paragraph:
Of the circumstances under which the British towns came into possessionof our ancestors we know but little. That little, however, directly contradicts
Mr. Wright’s statements. We know that they wasted many of these towns—

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Pevensey, Silchester, Verulam, Cambridge, Chester, &c.—and good reasons
may be given for the belief that even London itself for awhile lay desolate anduninhabited.

The first mention of London in the Ango-Saxon Chronicle is found in a passage of theyear 457, which describes how Hengist, one of the two Jutish leaders who had been
invited by Vortigern, the leader of chieftains of the British tribes, to stop the incursionsof the other aggressive British tribes like the Picts and the Scots.
457. Her Hengest 7 Æsc fuhton wiþ Brettas in þære stowe þe is gecueden
Crecganford, 7 þær ofslogon ・IIII・wera, 7 þa Brettas þa forleton Centlond, 7
mid micle ege flugon to Lunden byrg. [A text]24(A. 457. This year Hengist and Æsc his son fought against the Britons at theplace which is called Crecganford, [Crayford,] and there slew four thousand
men; and the Britons then forsook Kent, and in great terror fled to London.)As mentioned above, the writer of the relevant account of the Britannica 9th ed. is inclined
to favour the view that London was not demolished, adding that ‘the vanquished fled
to London in great terror, and apparently found a shelter there’. In the above sentence,
Brettas is used for ‘the Britons’. In the following account of the year 465, Walas (n.) andWilisce (adj.) are used for ‘the Welsh’ and ‘Welsh’.
465. Her Hengest 7 Æsc gefuhton uuiþ Walas neah Wippedes fleote, 7 þær・xii・Wilisce aldormen ofslogon, 7 hiera þegn an þær wearþ ofslægen, þamwæs noma Wipped.
(A. 465. 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.)Thus the Britons, wherever they lived, came to be called Wælisc, meaning Welsh, or‘foreigners’. Thereafter the Anglo-Saxons, who were the newcomers, referred to theindigenous British peoples as being ‘the foreigners’. However, Mount’s reference to recent
research by DNA profiling seems to be noteworthy: he states that more recent research‘suggests the native Welsh and the incomes probably lived in parallel until intermarriage
combined the separate peoples’.25 They lived in relative harmony with each other.
The following passage is included in Pope Gregory’s letter to Augustine in Bede’s

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No. 41

Ecclesiastical History of the English People (Colgrave 1969, 104–5; boldface mine).26
the bishop of London shall however, for the future, always be consecrated by his
own synod and receive the honour of the pallium from that holy and apostolic
see which, by the guidance of God, I serve. We wish to send as bishop to thecity of York one whom you yourself shall decide to consecrate; yet, always
provided that if this city together with the neighbouring localities should receive
the Word of the Lord, he is also to consecrate twelve bishops and enjoy thehonourable rank of a metropolitan: for it is our intention, God willing, if we live,
to give him the pallium too; nevertheless, brother, we wish him to be subject toyour authority: but, after your death, he should preside over the bishops he has
consecrated, being in no way subject to the authority of the bishop of London.

The Latin forms equivalent to London in the above account are Lundoniensis ciuitatis andLundoniensis, respectively. Colgrave (1969, 104–5, footnote 3) comments in considerationof the above account that clearly ‘Gregory expected Augustine to make his seat at London
rather than Canterbury’, and that Gregory might have seen ‘documents which recorded
the presence of British bishops in London and York at councils of the church and so
considered these two cities the important centres of ecclesiastical life’.
London’s importance began to increase again with the arrival of Saint Augustine’s
papal mission at the end of the 6th century, and the city and its port slowly revived. As will
be discussed in Section 2.2., the Anglo-Saxons called their new village Lundenwic, whichis combination of Lunden, originating from the old Celtic name of their neighbours, andAnglo-Saxon –wic, meaning ‘dwelling place, or village’; the latter element ‘indicateda market town, according to one source, or a trading port, according to another’.27 The
description of Lundenwic two centuries later in Mount (2015, 21) is as follows:
By the eighth century, now under Mercian rule, the population of Lundenwic
was small, probably around 8,000 people compared to 60,000 in second-century
Roman Londinium, yet it is now that we get our first glimpse of living, breathing
Anglo-Saxon Londoners.

2.1. OE Lundenceaster and Lundenwic for Latin Lundonia ciuitas in documents
The historian Bede (673?–735) writes in the account for the year 604 of his Historia
Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum (731), II, ii, 3, that in those days London was a trading

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centre for many nations coming by land and sea (Colgrave, 1969, 142–43):
Anno dominicae incarnationis DCIIII Augustinus Brittaniarum archi- episcopus
ordinauit duos episcopos, Mellitum uidelicet et Iustum: Mellitum quidem ad
praedicandum prouinciae Orientalium Saxonum qui Tamense fluuio dirimuntur
a Cantia, et ipsi orientali mari contigui, quorum metropolis Lundonia ciuitas
est, super ripam praefati fluminis posita et ipsa multorum emporium populorum
terra marique uenientium;(In the year of our Lord 604 Augustine, archbishop of Britain, consecrated two
bishops, namely Mellitus and Justus. He consecrated Mellitus to preach in theprovince of the East Saxons, which is divided from Kent by the river Thames
and borders on the sea to the east. Its chief city is London, which is on the banksof that river and is an emporium for many nations who come to it by land andsea)

Lundonia ciuitas, ‘the city of London’, in the above Latin version is rendered as
Lundenceaster, ‘Lunden + ceastrer (fort or town)’ in its Old English version, II, ii, 3(Miller, 1978, 104–5), and it occurs as Lundenwic, ‘Lunden + wic (dwelling-place ortown) in the equivalent account of the year 604 of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (Earl 1892,
21, 23). The other forms occurring in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle are Lundone (656 E),
Lundenne (839 A), Lundene (839 E), Lunden (992 E), Lundenes (1052 C), Lundonie (App.
B, p. 289), Lundoniensi (App. B, p. 290), Lundoniæ (App. B, p. 290); Lundenbyrg (457 A),
Lundenburg (851 A), Lundenburh (886 E; Lundenburg in 886 A).
Bibliograghy
Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard university Press; London:
William Heinemann Ltd, 1952)
Barber, Peter, London; A History in Maps (London: The London Topographical Society in association
with The British Library, 2012)
Bartlett, Robert, Gerald of Wales 1143–1223 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1982)
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)
Cameron, Kenneth, English Place-Names (London: B. T. Batsford Ltd., 1961)

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No. 41The Century Dictionary Cyclopedia and Atlas, Vol. IX Proper Names (London: The Times; New
York: The Century Co., 1894)
Clark, John. Saxon and Norman London (London: Dept. of Medieval Antiquities, The Museum ofLondon, 1989)
Claudius Ptolemaeus, Geographia (Leipzig: Carl Tauchnitz, 1843)
Coates, Richard, ‘A New Explanation of the Name of London’, Transactions of the PhilologicalSociety, Volume 96:2, 203–229 (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1988)
Colgrave, Bertram, and R. A. B. Mynors (eds.), Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969, reprinted 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 & 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 edition (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1960)
The Encyclopedia Americana, International Edition (Danbury: Grolier Incorporate, 1998)
The Encyclopaedia Britannica, ninth ed. (Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1875–1889)
The Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15th ed. (Chicago; Tokyo: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1989)
Evans, Sebastian (trans.), Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Histories of the Kings of Britain (London: J. M.
Dent and Co., 1904)
Giles, J. A., The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (London: G. Bell and Sons, LTD., 1914)
Guest, Edwin, ‘On the English Conquest of the Severn Valley’, The Archaeological Journal 19:1,
193–218 (London: Royal Archaeological Institute, c/o Society of Antiquaries of London, 1862)
Hall, John Richard Clark, A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed. (Toronto: University of Toronto
Press, 1960, originally published 1894)
Hammer, Jacob (ed.), Geoffrey of Monmouth: Historia Regum Britanniae, Medieval Academy Books,
No. 57 (Cambridge (Mass.): The Mediaeval Academy of America, 1951)
Harder, Kelsie B., Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names (New York: Facts on File Inc., 1985)
Haslam, Jeremy (ed.), Anglo-Saxon Towns in Southern England (Chichester: Philimore & Co. Ltd.,
1984)
Harrington, Edward, The Meaning of English Place Names (Belfast: The Blackstaff Press Limited,
1984)
Henderson, Jeffrey (ed.), H. J. Edwards (trans.), Caesar: The Gallic War, Loeb Classical Library 72(Cambridge (Mass.) and London: Harvard University Press, 1917)
Henderson, Jeffrey (ed.), and John Jackson (trans.), Tacitus: Annals, Books 13–16, Loeb ClassicalLibrary 322 (Cambridge (Mass.) and London: Harvard University Press, 1937)
Jackson, Lee, A Dictionary of Victorian London (London: Wimbledon Publishing Company, 2006)
Lewin, Thomas, ‘Sketch of British and Roman London’, Archaeologia, or, Miscellaneous Tracts
Relating to Antiquity, Volume 40, Issue 1, 59–70 (London: Society of Antiquities, 1866)

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Vocabulary Acquisition—English Place-Names
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)
Milne, G., The Port of Medieval London (Stroud, Gloss.: Tempus Publishing Ltd., 2003)
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 Edition (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989)
Page, T. E. (ed.), H. J. Edwards (trans.), Loeb Classical Library, Caesar, The Gallic War (Cambridge,
Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1952, first printed 1917)
Partridge, Eric, Origins: An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed. (London: Routledge,
1966, impression of 1990; first published 1958)
Reaney, P. H., The Origin of English Place-Names (London, Henley and Boston: Routledge andKegan Paul, 1960)
Stillingfleet, Edward, Origines Britannicae: Or, the Antiquities of the British Churches (London:Phænix, 1685)
Tacitus, The Histories and The Annals (London: William Heinemann Ltd; Cambridge, Massachusetts:
Harvard University Press, 1956)
Taggart, Caroline, The Book of London Place Names (London: Ebury Press, 2012)
Tamoto, Kenichi, ‘Vocabulary Acquisition—English Place-Names: Britain, England and UK (1)’,Language and Culture, Bulletin of Institute for Language Education, No. 37 (Nagoya: Institutefor Language Education, Aichi University 2017, 21–38)
Tamoto, Kenichi, ‘Vocabulary Acquisition—English Place-Names: Britain, England and UK (2)’,Language and Culture, Bulletin of Institute for Language Education, No. 39 (Nagoya: Institutefor Language Education, Aichi University 2018, 1–22)
Webster, Noah, Webster’s Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged(Springfield, Massachusetts; Merriam-Webster, Incorporated, 1961)
Weinreb, Ben, and Christopher Hibbert (eds.), The London Encyclopædia (London: Macmillan, 1983)
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)
Warmington, E. H. (ed.), John C. Rolfe (trans.), Ammianus Marcellinus: Res Gestae, Vols. I–III,
The Loeb Classical Library, (Cambridge (Mass.): Harvard University Press; London: William
Heinemann Ltd, revised and reprinted in 1952, first ed. 1939)

Notes
1
2

An Anglo-Norman historian, died c. 1185.
Layamon, an English poet fl. 1200.

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3
4
5
6
7

8

9

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Coates (1998), p. 218.
Claudius (10 B.C.–A.D. 54); Roman Emperor (41–51); invaded Britain in 43 A.D.
Gaius Suetonius Paulinus (fl. 1st century): a Roman general who defeated the rebellion of
Boudica.
Parenthesised insertion mine.
Boudica (died c. 60 or 61 A.D.): a queen of the British Celtic Iceni tribe, who revolted against
the Roman forces in 60 or 61, and died after its failure. Tacitus relates as follows (Annals, Lib.
XIV, cap. xxxi): Rex Icenorum Prasutagus, longa opulentia clarus, Caesarem heredem duasquefilias scripserat, tali obsequio ratus regnumque et domum suam procul iniuria fore. Quod contra
vertit, adeo ut regnum per centuriones, domus per servos velut capta vastarentur. Iam primum
uxor eius Boudicca verberibus adfecta et filiae stupro violatae sunt: praecipui quique Icenorum,
avitis bonis exuuntur, et propinqui regis inter mancipia habebantur. Qua contumelia et metu
graviorum, quando in formam provinciae cesserant, rapiunt arma, commotis ad rebellationem
Trinobantibus et qui alli nondum servitio fracti resumere libertatem occultis coniurationibus
pepigerant, acerrimo in veteranos odio. (The Icenian king Prasutagus, celebrated for his longprosperity, had named the emperor his heir, together with his two daughters; an act of deference
which he thought would place his kingdom and household beyond the risk of injury. The result
was contrary—so much so that his kingdom was pillaged by centurions, his household by slaves;as though they had been prizes of war. As a beginning, his wife Boudicca was subjected to thelash and his daughters violated: all the chief men of the Icenians were stripped of their family
estates, and the relatives of the king were treated as slaves. Impelled by this outrage and the dreadof worse to come—for they had now been reduced to the status of a province—they flew to arms,
and incited to rebellion the Trinobantes and others, who, not yet broken by servitude, had enteredinto a secret and treasonable compact to resume their independence. The bitterest animosity was
felt against the veterans.) Quoted from Henderson and Jackson (1937, 156–57).
Cassius Dio, or Δίων Κάσσιος (c. 155–c.235); ‘Ῥωμαϊκὴ Ὶστορία, Historia Romana’; Xiliphilinus
p. 168: in this and Tacitus (Annals) are written Roman sources which record the revolt of the
British led by Boudica in 60–61 A.D.’.
Geoffrey of Monmouth (c. 1100–c. 1155); a Welshman, born somewhere in the region of
Monmouth, located in eastern Wales. The Latin version used in this article is Hammer’s editionof 1951, and modern English version is Evans’ translation of 1904.
Hammer (1951, 40–41) contains the following passage: Potitus tandem regno Brutus || affectavit
civitatem aedificare. Ad quam aedificandam congruum quaerens locum, pervenit ad Tamensem
fluvium locumque nactus est proposito suo perspicuum. Condidit itaque ibidem civitatem
eamque Novam Troiam vocavit, quae postmodum per corruptionem vocabuli Trinovantum dicta
est.
Translation by Evans (1904, 20: with my adjustments) reads as follows: After that he had seen his
kingdom, Brute was minded to build him a chief city, and following out his intention, he went
round the whole circuit of the land in search of a fitting site. When he came to the river Thames,
he walked along the banks till he found the very spot best suited to his purpose. He therefore

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11
12

13
14
15
16

17
18

19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26

27

founded his city there and called it New Troy, and thereafter, at last, by corruption of the word, itcame to be called Trinovantum.
Æneas is a Trojan warrior, son of Anchises and Aphrodite; the hero of Aeneid.
Hammer (1951, Lib iii, Cap 9; 61): Fecit etiam in urbe Trinovantum portam mirae fabricae, superripam Thamensis fluvii, quam postea Saxones Angli Belinesgade || appellaverunt. Desuper vero
portam turrim aedi || ficavit mirae magnitudinis, portumque subtus ad pedem applicantibus
navibus idoneum.
deputations from the troops of the Cemigami, the Segontiaci, the Ancalites, the Bibroci.
‘he (= Caesar) learnt’.
‘from the place along the Thames where Caesar was’.
Cassivellaunus, also spelled Cassivelaunus, (flourished 1st century BC), was a powerful British
chieftain, who was defeated by Julius Caesar during his second expedition into Britain (54 BC).
Cassivellaunus led his tribe, the Catuvellauni, a Belgic people who lived in modern Hertfordshire.
Lewin (1866, 59).
Lewin (1866, 64): ‘I venture here to propound a theory which may be fairly open to question, but
has much argument in its favour, viz., the British London was the very capital of Cassivellaunus,
taken and sacked by Caesar’.
Lewin (1866, 63).
‘coloniae non insigne, sed copia negotiatorum et commeatuum maxime celebre’.
The British revolt against Suetonius.
Barber (2012, 5).
Weinreb (1983, 467).
The bold face is mine. The account is dated 456 in the E text.
Mount (2015, 18).
quatinus Lundoniensis ciuitatis episcopus semper in posterum a synodo propria debeat
consecrari, atque honoris pallium ab hac sancta et apostolica, cui Deo auctore deseruio, sedepercipiat. Ad Eburacam uero ciuitatem te uolumus episcopum mittere, quem ipse iudicaueris
ordinare, ita dumtaxat ut, si eadem ciuitas cum finitimis locis uerbum Dei receperit, ispse
quoque XII episcopos ordinet, et metropolitani honore perfruatur; quia ei quoque, si uita
comes fuerit, pallium tribuere Domino fauente disponimus. Quem tamen tuae fraternitatis
uolumus dispositioni subiacere: post obitum uero tuum ita episcopis quos ordinauerit praesit, ut
Lundoniensis episcopi nullo modo dicioni subiaceat.
Mount (2015, 19). The etymological explanations of –wic is cited from Milne (2003), p. 31, andClark (1989), p. 13.

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