One of the most noticeable differences between The Danelaw and the rest of England is that it contains many hundreds of place-names which are Scandinavian in origin.
Place-name elements
Most English place-names are made up of two elements (though some are three or more). In a two-element name, we call the first part the 'prefix' and the second part the 'suffix'. In The Danelaw, the prefix is often the name of the person who held that settlement. Experts in the history of names can tell us which were Viking names, so when we come across one, we can be sure that this was a settlement which came into Scandinavian possession.
Prefix and suffix
The suffix is usually a sort of description of the place - whether it was a village, a new 'daughter' settlement hacked out of the woodland, a solitary farm and so on. We know that certain suffixes are Scandinavian in origin. Though the spelling may vary from country to country, these suffixes and their same meanings are found all over the Viking world.
Hybrids
There are in The Danelaw many place-names which are combinations of a Scandinavian element and an English element. These are called 'hybrid' names. The English contribution to the hybrid name is frequently one of the suffixes -ham, -ton or -ley.
GRIMSTON is one of these hybrids, the first part being the same Viking personal name found in the wholly Scandinavian place-name GRIMSBY.
Scandinavian suffixes
-BY The commonest Scandinavian suffix found in The Danelaw is -by. Many -by names are to be found in Yorkshire (especially in the east), around the Mersey and the Lancashire coast, and in the central Midlands. But perhaps the greatest concentration of -by names is in Lincolnshire. One of the best known must be the already mentioned GRIMSBY, but there are many hundreds more. The -by suffix originally meant a farmstead, but many of these grew into villages, towns or even cities, taking the -by suffix with them in their names.
-THORPE Another common Scandinavian suffix in The Danelaw is -thorpe. This can appear in various form, such as -thorp, -throp or -trop. This originally meant a secondary settlement, that is, an additional small hamlet and land established as a sort of 'overflow' from a village as it became overpopulated. It is interesting to note that most Danelaw -thorpes are still tiny settlements.
-TOFT The Scandinavian -toft or -tofts is found in several places in The Danelaw. Originally it probably meant a single small farmstead and, though at least one (Lowestoft) has grown to town size, it is a place-name element more usually associated with settlements which are still minor.
-HOLME In Scandinavia, the place-name element -holm is usually associated with an island. Not very far from this in meaning is the -holm or -holme found in The Danelaw, where we consider the name to indicate farmland reclaimed from marshy waste. The meanings remain quite close, for such a reclaimed area would, of course, be an 'island' in an otherwise wet area.
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-KIRK, KIRK- and KIR- The English 'church' became Scandinavian 'kirk' in The Danelaw and is found both as a prefix and a suffix in place-names. In some instances, the second 'k' has been lost from the spelling over the years.
-THWAITE The place-name element -thwait or -thwaite is found mainly in those areas of The Danelaw which were, supposedly, more heavily colonised by 'Norwegian' Vikings than by 'Danish'. It originally indicated a small, secondary farmstead on land allotted from the main farm.
-WICK The place-name element -wick or -wich is found in many English place-names. We have to be careful how we interpret this. Some -wicks no doubt have the Scandinavian -vik (creek or bay) as their root, especially if they are found on the coast of The Danelaw. Others, though, have their origin in the Anglo-Saxon word for a port, or any other place with a specific trading or manufacturing purpose.
-BOROUGH When England was partitioned following the Treaty of Wedmore, King Alfred the Great of Wessex fortified certain towns to be defence centres should the Vikings make further attacks on Wessex. These often carried the place-name element -borough, -burgh, -brough or -bury, meaning 'a fortified place'. In their turn, the Scandinavians also fortified some towns, some of which also acquired one of these elements as part of their name. Again, though, we have to be careful as the Anglo-Saxons had already made wide use of this element in relation to existing Iron Age and Roman forts they found when first colonising Britain. As might be expected by their purpose, many such places grew into towns and cities of some importance.
-NESS As skilled seafarers, it is little wonder that the Vikings paid attention to coastal features, especially promontories and headlands which would be important navigation markers or sometimes hazards. Where settlements grew up at such places in The Danelaw, we often find the Scandinavian place-name element -ness.
People or language?
School history books sometimes give the impression that all the places in The Danelaw with Scandinavian names were populated by Viking settlers. The Old Norse naming customs were, we now believe, quickly adopted by everyone, so a village with a Viking lord but a mainly English population might soon find itself with Scandinavian or hybrid re-naming. This re-naming would sometimes be done by people who were resident outside that particular settlement, as a way of identifying it. So, we cannot be sure that the people giving the name were always Scandinavian. All we can be certain of is that they were users of Scandinavian words in their speech. We also know that the influence of Old Norse on naming practices was felt for a long time. Many -by, -thorpe and other names were created decades (or even centuries) after the Scandinavians became 'invisible' in the general population.
Abbreviation the process and the result of forming a word out of the initial elements (letters, morphemes) of a word combination.
Allolex a word as a member of speech, i. e. a variant of a lexeme in a given speech-event.
Antonyms a) words which have in their meaning a qualitative feature and can therefore be regarded as semantically opposite; b) words contrasted as correlated pairs.
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Antonymy semantic opposition, contrast.
Back-formation (regression), forming the allegedly original stem from a supposed derivative o the analogy of the existing pairs, i.e. the singling-out of a stem from a word which is wrongly regarded as a derivative.
Blending combining parts of two words to form one word. Blend (blended, or portamanteau, word), the result of blending.
Borrowing resorting to the word-stock of other languages for words to express new concepts, to further differentiate the existing concepts and to name new objects, phenomena, etc.
Cliche a stereotyped expression mechanically reproduced in speech.
Clipping the process and the result of curtailing (the cutting off of a part) off a word to one or two, usually initial, syllables.
Colligation morphosyntactically conditioned combinability of words as means of realizing their polysemy.
Collocation such a combination of words which conditions the realization of a certain meaning.
Combinability (occurrence-range) the ability of linguistic elements to combine in speech.
Composition such word-formation where the target word is formed by combining two or more stems.
Compound derivative (derivational compound) the result of parasynthetic word-formation, i.e. a word which is formed by a simultaneous process of derivation and composition.
Concept a generalized reveberation in the human consciousness of the properties of the objective reality learned in the process of the latters cognition. Concepts are formed linguistically, each having a name (a word) attached to it.
Connotation supplementary meaning or complementary semantic and/or stylistic shade which is added to the words main meaning and which serves to express all sorts of emotional, expressive, evaluative overtones.
Consubstantionalism the phenomenon of a word of the general language and a term having the same material form.
Context a) the linguistic environment of a unit of language which reveals the conditions and the characteristic features of its usage in speech; b) the semantically complete passage of written speech sufficient to establish the meaning of a given word (phrase).
Conversion (internal derivation, derivation without affixation), a special type of derivation where the word forming means is the paradigm of the word itself, i.e. derivation which is achieved by bringing a stem into a different formal paradigm.
Deformation of idiom the violation of semantic integrity of a phraseological unit or idiom proper by actualizing the potential meanings of its elements.
Denotation the expression of the main meaning, meaning proper of a linguistic unit in contrast to its connotation.
Derivation such word-formation where the target word is formed by combining a stem and affixes.
Derivational morpheme an affixal morpheme which, when added to the stem modifies the lexical meaning of the root and forms a new word.
Diachrony the historical development of the system of language as the object of linguistic investigation.
Etymological doublet one of a pair of (or several) words more or less similar in meaning and phonation, appearing in language as the result of borrowing from the same source at different times.
Grammatical meaning the meaning of the formal membership of a word expressed by the words form, i.e. the meaning of relationship manifested not in the word itself but in the dependent element which is supplementary to its material part.
Homographs different words coinciding in their orthographic expression.
Homonyms two (or more) different linguistic units within one sound-and orthographic complex, i.e. displaying diversity on the content plane and identity on the expression plane.
Homonymy the coincidence in the same sound form (phonetic coincidence) and orthographic complex of two (or more) different linguistic units.
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Homophones words with different morphological structure which coincide in their sound expression.
Hybrid a word different elements of which are of etymologically different origin.
Ideographic synonyms such synonyms which differ in shades of meaning, i.e. between which a semantic difference is statable.
Idiomatic having the qualities of a phraseological unit, i. e. when the meaning of the whole is not deducible from the sum of the meanings of the parts.
Idiom proper a phraseological unit with pronounced stylistic characteristics owing to which an element of play is introduced into speech.
Language a semiological system serving as the main and basic means of human communication.
Level a stage in scientific investigation of language which is determined by the properties of the units singled out in consistent segmentation of the flow of speech (from the lowest, to the highest).
Lexeme a word in all its meanings and forms, i.e. a word as a structural element of language (invariant).
Lexical meaning the material meaning of a word, i.e. the meaning of the main material part of the word (as distinct from its formal, or grammatical, part), which reflects the concept the given word expresses and the basic properties of the thing (phenomenon, quality, state, etc.) the word denotes.
Lexical morpheme generalized term for root and derivational morphemes, as expressing lexical meanings in contrast to flexional (morphemes) that express grammatical meanings.
Lexical set a group of words more or less corresponding in their main semantic component, i.e. belonging to the same generic meaning.
Loan translations (calques) borrowing by means of literally translation words (usually one part after another) or word combinations, by modelling words after foreign patterns.
Main meaning of a word meaning which to the greatest degree is dependent upon or conditioned by its paradigmatic links, while such meanings as display a greater degree of syntagmatic ties are secondary.
Main nominative meaning the main, direct meaning of a word, immediately referring to objects, phenomena, actions and qualities in extralinguistic reality (referent) and reflecting their general understanding by the speaker.
Meaning the reverberation in the human conscious of an object of extralinguistic reality (a phenomenon, a relationship, a quality, a process) which becomes a fact of language because of its constant indissoluble association with a definite lunguistic expression.
Metalanguage a language of the second order, a specific semiological system which is used to speak about language, i.e. Language the subject of which is the content and the expression of a human language.
Metalinguistic pertaining to metalanguage.
Monosemy the existence within one word of only one meaning
Morpheme the smallest (ultimate) recurrent unit of the system of expression directly related to a corresponding unit of the system of content.
Morphological segmentation (morphologic divisibility) the ability of a word to be divided into such elements as root, stem and affix (of affixes).
Narrowing of meaning the restriction of the semantic capacity of a word in the course of its historical development.
Neologism a word or a word combination that appears or is specially coined to name a new object or express a new concept.
Nominative-derivative meanings other meanings in a polysemantic word which are characterized by free combinability and are connected with the main nominative meaning.
Occasional word a word which cannot be considered a permanent member of the word-stock: although it is, as a rule, formed after existing patterns, it is not characterized by general currency but is an individual innovation introduced for a special occasion. Cf. nonce-word, ephemeral word.
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Onomatopoeia formation of words from sounds that resemble those associated with the object or action to be named, or that seem suggestive of its qualities.
Opposition a difference between two (or more) homogeneous units which is capable of fulfilling a semiological function, i.e. a semiologically relevant difference.
Paradigm the system of the grammatical forms of a word.
Paradigmatics 1) associative (non-simultaneous) relationship of words in language as distinct from linear (simultaneous) relationship of words in speech (syntagmatics); 2) an approach to language when the elements of its system are regarded as associated nits joined by oppositional relationship.
Parts of speech classes into which words of a language are divided by virtue of their having a) a certain general (abstract, categorial) meaning underlying their concrete lexical meaning; b) a system of grammatical categories characteristic of this class; c) specific syntactic functions; d) special types of form-building and word formation.
Phraseological unit a word combination in which semantic unity (non-separability) prevails over structural separability, or in which global nomination is expressed in a combination of different units.
Polysemy diversity of meanings; the existence within one word of several connected meanings as the result of the development and changes of its original meaning.
Productive able to form new words which are understood by the speakers of a language.
Productivity the ability of being used to form (after specific patterns) new, occasional or potential words which are readily understood by the speakers of a language.
Potential word a derivative or a compound word which does not actually exist (i.e. has not appeared in any text), but which can be produced at any moment in accordance with the productive word-forming patterns of the language.
Referent the object of thought correlated with a certain linguistic expression. Also: the element of objective reality as reflected in our minds and viewed as the content regularly correlated with certain expression.
Reproducibility regular use in speech as the principal form of existence of a linguistic unit.
Root the semantic nucleus of a word with which no grammatical properties of the word are connected.
Semantic extension (widening of meaning) the extension of semantic capacity of a word, i.e. the expansion of polysemy, in the course of its historical development.
Semantic isolation the loss by a word, or word combination, of productivity and the acquisition of idiomatic qualities.
Semantic level of analysis that level of analysis on which linguistic units are studied bi-aspectually: both as units of expression and units of content, i.e. in lexicology the direct relationship of a word and its referent is investigated.
Semantics the meaning of words, expressions or grammatical forms.
Semantic field part (slice) of reality singled out in human experience and, theoretically, covered in language by a more or less autonomous lexical microsystem.
Semasiology the branch of linguistics which studies the semantics of linguistic units.
Sociolinguistics branch of linguistics studying causation between language and the life of the speaking community.
Speech the activity of man using language to communicate with other men, i.e. the use of different linguistic means to convey certain content.
Stylistic synonyms such synonyms which, without explicitly displaying semantic difference, are distinguished stylistically, i. e. in all kinds of emotional, expressive and evaluative overtones.
Stem that part of a word which remains unchanged throughout its paradigm and to which grammatical inflexions and affixes are added.
Synchronic, representing one conventional historical stage in the development of language.
Synchrony a conventional isolation of a certain stage in the development of language as the object of linguistic investigation.
Synonyms two or more words belonging to the same part of speech and possessing one or more identical or nearly identical denotational meanings, interchangeable in some contexts. These words are distinguished by different shades of meaning, connotations and stylistic features.
Synonymy the coincidence in the essential meanings of linguistic elements which (at the same time) usually preserve their differences in connotations and stylistic characteristics.
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Syntactic formula a non-idiomatic sequence of word which structurally resembles a set expression.
Syntagmatics linear (simultaneous) relationship of words in speech as distinct from associative (non-simultaneous) relationship of words in language (paradigmatics).
Term a word or a word combination of a special (scientific, technical, etc.) language; a word or a word combination which is created, borrowed, or adopted to exactly express the definite concepts specific for that science and name its special objects. A term is a definitional word, i.e. it is not only directly connected with a scientifie definition but displays a relationship of one-to-one correspondence with it.
Terminology the sum total of terms for a specific branch of science, technology, industry, etc., forming a special layer in the word-stock of a language which most readily yields to systematization, standardization, etc.
Terminological pertaining to terminology.
Terminologist a researcher in the field of terminology.
Text (corpus) an actually existing (in oral or written form) sentence, conglomeration of sentences, etc. (up to a complete work of literature, etc.).
Theory of isomorphism a theory which postulates the absence of qualitative difference-between different levels of language making it possible to analyse and describe them by means of the same methods and principles.
Vocabulary the totality of words in a language.
Word the basic unit of language. It directly corresponds to the object of thought (referent) which is a generalized reverberation of a certain slice, piece of objective reality and by immediately referring to it names the thing meant.
Word combination a non-predicative unit (or elements) of speech which is, semantically, both global and articulated, of a combination of two or more notional words (with accompanying syncategorematic words or without them) serving to express one global concept.
Word-formation the process of forming words by combining root and affixal morphemes according to certain patterns specific for the language.
Word-forming pattern a structural and semantic formula, displaying a sequence of elements which is regularly reproduced in speech.
Bernard Bloch, B.A., M.A., Ph.D., (1907, New York City, NY 1965) was an American linguist. He is one of the Post-Bloomfield school linguists.
Leonard Bloomfield (April 1, 1887 April 18, 1949) was an American linguist, whose influence dominated the development of structural linguistics in America between the 1930s and the 1950s. He is especially known for his book Language (1933), describing the state of the art of linguistics at its time. Bloomfield was the main founder of the Linguistic Society of America.
Michel Jules Alfred Bréal (March 26, 1832 1915), French philologist, was born at Landau in Rhenish Bavaria, of French parents. He is often identified as a founder of modern semantics.
Charles Francis Hockett (January 17, 1916 November 3, 2000) was an important American linguistic theorist who developed many influential ideas of American structuralism, and a student of Leonard Bloomfield.
Famous quote 'Languages differ not so much as to what can be said in them, but rather as to what is relatively easy to say in them'
Friedrich Wilhelm Christian Karl Ferdinand Freiherr von Humboldt (June 22, 1767 April 8, 1835), government functionary, diplomat, philosopher, founder of Humboldt Universität in Berlin, friend of Goethe and especially of Schiller, is especially remembered as a German linguist who introduced a knowledge of the Basque language to European intellectuals.
Jens Otto Harry Jespersen or Otto Jespersen (July 16, 1860 April 30, 1943) was a Danish linguist who specialized in the grammar of the English language.
Samuel Johnson LL.D. (September 18 [O.S. September 7] 1709 December 13, 1784), often referred to simply as Dr Johnson, was one of England's greatest literary figures: a poet, essayist, biographer, lexicographer and often considered the finest critic of English literature.
Charles Kay Ogden (June 1, 1889 Fleetwood, Lancashire March 21, 1957 London) was an English linguist, philosopher, and writer. Ogden had a material impact on British academic philosophy. He helped translate Wittgenstein's Tractatus. His most durable work is his monograph (with I. A. Richards) titled The Meaning of Meaning (1923).
Eric Honeywood Partridge (February 6, 1894 June 1, 1979) was a noted New Zealand/British lexicographer of the English language, particularly of its slang.
Charles Randolph Quirk, Baron Quirk (born 1920) is a British linguist.
Ivor Armstrong Richards (26 February 1893 in Sandbach, Cheshire 7 September 1979 in Cambridge) was an influential English literary critic and rhetorician. His books, especially The Meaning of Meaning, Principles of Literary Criticism, Practical Criticism, and The Philosophy of Rhetoric, were among the founding documents of the New Criticism.
Edward Sapir (January 26, 1884 February 4, 1939) was an American anthropologist-linguist, a leader in American structural linguistics, and one of the creators of what is now called the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. He is arguably the most influential figure in American linguistics, influencing even Noam Chomsky.
Ferdinand de Saussure (November 26, 1857 February 22, 1913) was a Geneva-born Swiss linguist whose ideas laid the foundation for many of the significant developments in linguistics in the 20th century. He is widely considered the 'father' of 20th-century linguistics.
Henry Sweet (1845 1912) was a philologist, and is also considered to be an early linguist.
Stephen Ullmann (Ullmann István in Hungarian, 31 July 1914 10 January 1976) was a Hungarian linguist who spent most of his life in England and wrote about style and semantics in romance and common languages.
Ullmanns ideas on semantics is said to be backed up by a wealth of published materials from across Europe. In addition, his works were translated into a variety of languages, such as French and Japanese, and were said to be quite influential.
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