Young, Iberian Addenda to Fleuriot's Toponymes.pdf

By July 2023, I have interpreted 1,397 place names across continental Europe using Old English. Such a quantity itself surprises me to no small extent, but no one else has shown the same surprise yet. Obviously, no one believes in such a possibility, believing that my etymologies are chosen to prove my fiction about the Anglo-Saxon migrations throughout Europe. If someone thinks so, then he overestimates my imagination too much, but I would put it to better use. In principle, I understand that all sorts of unusual ideas are first of all objectionable, but it is surprising that no one has tried to independently decipher toponyms that are well known to him and do not have convincing etymologies. But the accumulation of Old English toponyms in one place could encourage others to search in the nearest area. For example, I gave my interpretations of two place names in Portugal but did not give an explanation for the name of Lisbon for several years. During this time, anyone could try to do this by looking in the dictionary of the Old English language to see how beautiful the name of this city is, but no one came up with such an idea, not even the one who deals with this issue. All this makes one think about how imperfect human is.

e-keltoi, Vol. 6, 2006

The existence in Hispania of a very large number of place-names with the -briga ending has been used for several decades in reconstructing the languages spoken in pre-Roman times in the Iberian Peninsula. The phonetics of -briga strongly suggest that this place-name element was created by Celtic speakers. I offer a theoretical classification of these place-names considering at least four different types according to their internal structure. Several examples from Hispania are presented and classified in one of the four categories, followed by general comments on the implications of the distribution of the -briga place-names.

1980

Se proponen etimologías célticas para explicar los antiguos topónimos Attacum, Bravum, Centobriga, Ocelodurum y Sentica.

Namn och Bygd, 2018

The place-name element bec is one of the most prolific components of Scandinavian toponyms in Normandy and England. Bec comes from ON bekkr, meaning ‘small stream’ or ‘rivulet’, and the element appears in compounds or as simplicia with suffixes and/or articles. Place-names with the element bec can also be found in Galicia, a region that experienced significant Scandinavian presence throughout the Viking Age. This paper evaluates whether the geographical distribution and etymology of the Galician place-names reflect the characteristics of bec toponyms in Normandy and England, or whether bec is a native place-name element from a pre-Roman root meaning ‘peak’.

Conflict and Collaboration in Medieval Iberia, 2020

In the Danelaw hybrid place-names combining an Old Norse personal name and an Old English habitative element, generically referred to as Grimston hybrids, have traditionally been regarded as indicators of in-comers taking over (and renaming) existing settlements, plausibly within a context of Viking conquest in the ninth century. In this paper, I will explore whether equivalent Islamo-Romance hybrids in Castile might similarly be a direct legacy of the Islamic conquest and partition of the region in the early eighth-century. Certain characteristics of the Castilian hybrids, such as their apparent antiquity and concentration in prime sites, seem to support the hypothesis, however this should only be regarded as a first tentative approach to the subject. What is clear is that the tradition and quality of place-name analysis in Britain are clearly superior to the Spanish situation where such methodology has been largely ignored in recent years, and I suggest that much can be learnt by studying the British bibliography on toponymy and settlement.

Looking at evidence for language change and dialects in Cumbric place-names in England and in Scotland.

Confusion and bewilderment have bedevilled the names Britain, Albion, Alba and Lloegr-whence they are often classified as "obscure" and some seekers perform extreme linguistic gymnastics in search of meaning and etymology. Bizarrely almost all the correct answers have been referred to before, but too many of these explanations have been passed over unrecognised because of the unacknowledged assumptions clouding the minds of those who had so eruditely-if unwittingly-located the answers!

Book of Abstracts, p. 542.