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I wondered about some place’s names in Britain and what they mean. For example, is Richmond a zone that rich people live in?
Shirley Lee, China

Vikings from Scandinavia gave Britain many place names
What do place names like Nottingham, Manchester and London mean?

While it is easy to figure out the meaning of many Chinese place names like Shanghai, Nanjing and Shandong, British place names can be difficult to know the meaning of.

This is because place names in Britain contain influences from many languages including French, Anglo-Saxon, Latin, Celtic and Norse.

To help us understand the subject, Finn interviewed Dr Paul Cavill from the University of Nottingham, who is an expert on place names and their meanings.

We also take a trip back in history to discover the succession of different peoples who invaded and settled in the British Isles, and how the languages they brought with them influenced the place names of Britain.

For example, listen to the programme to find out what all place names ending in 'chester' and 'caster' mean.

After you have listened to the programme try the questions below.
Feifei: 大家好，欢迎收听《英国问答》我是冯菲菲。
Finn: And I’m Finn. Feifei, did you hear the story about the Ugley man who
married the Nasty woman?
Feifei: The what, the ugly man 丑男人and the nasty woman 令人讨厌的女人?
Sorry Finn, don’t know that story.
Finn: Don’t know it? Actually, there’s no story. Both Ugley and Nasty are
names of places in England.
Feifei: 原来这Ugley 和 Nasty 都是伦敦北部两个小镇的地名place names.
Finn: And in fact, Britain is full of interesting, weird and wonderful place
names. Which leads us to today’s question from Shirley Lee.
Feifei: Shirley 想了解更多关于英国地名的故事，尤其是叫做 Richmond 的地方，她问
Richmond 是不是就是富人rich people 所居住的地方呢？
Finn: Well, I think it’s a great question and a good guess Shirley. The name
originally comes from French and means splendid hill.
Feifei: Splendid hill 肥沃的小山。 那这么一个离伦敦不远的地方有一个法国名儿又是为什
么呢？
Finn: Aha, another good question and do you know what? I think it’s time for
a history lesson.
Feifei: 英国在战争年代受到了众多民族一波又一波的侵略 invasion, 连年战争后不同国籍
的人在英国安家 settlement, 也就带来的自己的语言和文化。
Finn: In order to help us understand the history, I interviewed Dr Paul Cavill
from the University of Nottingham, who’s an expert of the subject.
Feifei: 请听下面这段录音，Paul Cavill 博士给我们讲述了从公元年间 Common Era 开
始，移民来到不列颠的多个民族和其使用的语言。
Insert
Well the earliest recorded names are Celtic, and the Celtic dialects were spoken all
over Western Europe around the beginning of the Common Era. That was modified
slightly by the Romans in the first five centuries of the Common Era. Then
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everything changed with the invasions of the Anglo-Saxons in the fifth century, and
they introduced all sorts of names. And then the Vikings, a Scandinavian people
speaking a different dialect of Germanic, came and added a whole new layer of
names. And then, after that the French came along and introduced a whole new
layer of naming; not as many because many settlements had already been given
names by 1066, the Norman Conquest. So we’ve got layer after layer of different
languages, many of which make different names difficult to interpret.
Feifei: 你听清楚了都有哪些民族吗？
Finn: The earliest recorded names are Celtic. The Celts spoke a variety of
Celtic dialects.
Feifei: 凯尔特人Celts, 他们讲的凯尔特语有很多方言，他们也是最早，在公元伊始年间很
多地名使用的语言。
Finn: The we had the Romans.
Feifei: 古罗马人 Romans 讲的是拉丁语。拉丁语也对早期凯尔特语的名字有很大影响。
Finn: Then a big change happened with the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons.
Feifei: 盎格鲁-撒克逊人Anglo-Saxons 讲的语言是日耳曼语系的一种语言。
Finn: Then the Scandinavians added a new layer of place names to Britain.
Feifei: 斯堪的纳维亚人讲的也是日耳曼语系的一种语言，他们也再次改变了英国的很多地
名。
Finn: And finally the French arrived in 1066.
Feifei: 最后1066 年法国人来到英国。So, a lot of changes in 1,000 years! Do we
have some examples of how these different languages have affected
place names?
Finn: Well, let’s look at one example here. I’m sure everybody has heard of
the place Manchester. Well, the ‘chester’ part of the name actually
comes from the Romans.
Feifei: 那当我们看到像chester, caster or cester 这样的地名，它们原来其实都是古罗马
的堡垒 Roman fort.
Insert
One of the oldest ones is Chester, which comes in Chester the name itself;
Lancaster, Gloucester, Worcester, Leicester. And that is a word which is borrowed
from Latin and it means a Roman fort.
Finn: So, even long after the Romans left about 1,500 years ago, their
influence is still felt in the place names. One other group of people who
had a big influence were the Anglo-Saxons.
Feifei: Finn最后请Cavill 博士给我们大家解释他任教授的诺丁汉大学所在城市
Nottingham的意思。
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Insert
The great cities of Birmingham and Nottingham are named after individual Anglo-
Saxon chieftans; one called Beorma and the other called Snot. And the ‘-ingham’
means settlement of the people of; the tribal followers of these two chieftans. So
all those ‘-ingham’ names are of this type, they’re tribal settlements.
Feifei: 原来Nottingham 和 Birmingham 这两个城市的名字来源于盎格鲁-撒克逊人的两
个首领的名字。这两个城市名字的前半部分是那两个首领的名字 Beorma and
Snot, 后半部分 ingham 的意思是有一个民族的定居、存在的地方。
Finn: So originally the town would have been known as Snottingham – the
settlement of the people of Snot. Now Snot was the chieftan 首领。So
perhaps it’s not a bad thing that place names change over time!
Feifei: Finn说 snot 这个词在现代英语里的意思是鼻涕，如果拿它当地名好像有点儿不
妥。Not ideal Finn.
Finn: Not very nice is it? Almost as bad as Nasty or Ugley!
Feifei: Oh yes. I think I’m quite glad I come from Xi’an; the meaning of that
place is quite clear!
Finn: It is isn’t it, quite a nice meaning I think.
Feifei: Oh, thank you.
Finn: Ok, I hope we have answered Shirley’s question about the place names
in Britain. It’s a fascinating area to study even more about. So how
about a question for our listeners: do you know what the place you live
in means?
Feifei: 如果你知道的话，请发邮件到chinaelt@bbc.co.uk.
Finn: And you can always visit our website: www.bbcukchina.com and then
click on 英语教学for more Ask About Britain programmes.
Feifei: 下次节目再会。
Finn: Goodbye.
Glossary
侵略 invasion 凯尔特人Celts
元年间 common era 开始 日耳曼语系 Germanic languages
堡垒 Roman fort Anglo-Saxons 盎格鲁-撒克逊人
首领 chieftan 安家 settlement