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Brittonic Place-names

Pictish was the first form of Brittonic to go its own way

The following list shows a selection of place-names listed under 70 headings, all of which are modern Welsh words, (although Cornish or Breton would have served equally well in most cases).

A note on the Pictish Language

The list includes a relatively small number of words from Pictish, in accordance with the view expressed in, Forsyth, K. 1997, Language in Pictland: the case against non-Indo-European Pictish, (Utrecht, Nodus Publishing), that Pictish was simply the most northern branch of Brittonic. Of the seven main Pictish place-name elements, every one of them has a cognate in modern Welsh:

Pictish/Welsh cognates:

Pictish:
Aber Caer Carden Lanerc Perth Pett Pren
Welsh:
Aber Caer Cardden Llanerch Perth Peth Pren

This is not to suggest that Pictish was not a distinct language in its own right, it most certainly was, just as Welsh, Cornish and Breton came to be. Rather it implies that Pictish was simply the first form of Brittonic to go its own way.

The Roman occupation of Britain would have given plenty of time for a Brittonic language based to the north of the Romans’ furthest point of influence on the Forth/Clyde isthmus to diverge from the Brittonic language to the south of it.

Place-names in Britain outside of Wales and Cornwall with Brittonic elements:

Many place-names contain elements from more than one language which have mixed over the centuries, so a particular place-name may be part Brittonic and part English, or part Brittonic and part Gaelic and so on. The Brittonic element in each example is highlighted in bold:

Aber (river mouth/confluence)
Aberdeen (Aberdeen, Scotland), Aberdour (Fife, Scotland), Aberfeldy (Perth, Scotland), Aberfoyle (Stirling, Scotland), Aberlour (Moray, Scotland), Abernethy (Perth, Scotland), Applecross (Highland, Scotland), Arbroath (Angus, Scotland), Lochaber (Highland, Scotland)
Applecross has nothing to do with apples, being first recorded ar Aporcrosan (i.e. Abercrosan), similarly Arbroath was originally recorded as Aberbrothok. The Abers of Scotland, being Pictish, are testimony to the similarities between that language and other Brittonic languages such as Welsh and Breton, both of which have an abundance of Aber place-names themselves. The equivalent word in Gaelic is Inver, as in Inverness, Inveraray and so on.
Afon (river)
Avening (Gloucestershire, England), Aveton (Devon, England), nine rivers Avon (six in England in Bristol, Wiltshire, Hampshire, Devon, Gloucestershire and Warwickshire, and three in Scotland at Falkirk, Strathspey and Avon Water, a tributary of the Clyde), Netheravon (Wiltshire, England) Strathaven (South Lanarkshire, Scotland), Upavon (Wiltshire, England), and even that most English of places, Stratford-upon-Avon (Warwickshire, England).
Allt (slope/hill)
Oldham (Oldham, England).
Ard (high)
Tollard (Wiltshire, England).
Both elements in this place name are Brittonic, the other element, ‘Toll’, being the same as the Welsh ‘Twll’ (hollow/hole)- see below.
Argoed (place at the wood) – itself a combination of ‘ar’ + ‘coed’
Orchard (Dorset, England).
Not an orchard, then, but a fine example of how speakers of a language will turn alien words into words familiar to them.
Blaen (head/upland)
Blencarn (Cumbria, England), Blencogo (Cumbria, England), Blencow (Cumbria, England) Blennerhasset (Cumbria, England), Blindcrake (Cumbria, England).
Interestingly, all of these examples come from Cumbria. Blencarn, Blencog and Blindcrake have a Brittonic second element as well, which can be seen below under Carn, Cog and Craig respectively.
Bryn (hill)
Bryn (Shropshire, England) Malvern (Worcestershire, England).
Bryn is identical to the modern Welsh word, whereas the Vern in Malvern is an example of the sound change known as ‘mutation’. Both elements of Malvern are Brittonic, the first element can be seen under Moel below. In modern Welsh, Malvern would be ‘Moelfryn’ i.e. ‘Bare hill’
Cadair (chair)
Catterlen (Cumbria, England), Catterton (North Yorkshire, England).
Caer (fort/fortified town)
Cardurnock (Cumbria, England), Carlisle (Cumbria, England) Carluke (South Lanarkshire, Scotland) Kirkcaldy (Fife, Scotland) Kirkintilloch (East Dunbarton, Scotland)
This element will be largely Roman or post-Roman in origin, as they were responsible for a lot of forts. Surprisingly, the ‘Kirk’ place names do not refer to churches.
A common element in modern Welsh place-names like Caernarfon and Caerleon, as well as in Anglicised forms like Cardiff and Carmarthen, the English equivalent is cester or chester as in Chester, Leicester, Manchester, Worcester and so on.
Caled (hard)
Calder Water (South Lanarkshire, Scotland) Callander (Stirling, Scotland) Callater Burn (Aberdeen, Scotland) Callender (Highland, Scotland) Cawdor (Highland, Scotland) Kirkcaldy (Fife, Scotland)
Calder, Callander, Callater, Callender and Cawdor all have the meaning ‘Hard Water’ and would be represented in modern Welsh by the words Caled Dŵr, although the reverse word order, Dŵr Caled, would be the norm today.
Cam (crooked)
Cam (Gloucestershire, England) Cambois (Northumberland, England) Cambridge (Gloucestershire, England) Camerton (Somerset, England)
The Cam nearly always refers to a winding river. It should be noted that Cambridge in Gloucestershire does not have the same original meaning as Cambridge in Cambridgeshire.
Cardden (thicket)
Cardenden (Fife, Scotland) Kincardine (Fife, Scotland)
Carn (rock/cairn)
Blencarn (Cumbria, England) Charnwood (Leicestershire, England)
Carreg (rock/stone)
Cargo (Cumbria, England) Cark (Cumbria, England)
Cau (hollow)
Glasgow (Glasgow,Scotland) Linlithgow (West Lothian, Scotland)
Both these names have other Brittonic elements as well, see Glas for Glasgow and Llyn and Llaith for Linlithgow.
Clog (stone)
Clackmannan (Clackmannan, Scotland)
Coed (wood/trees)
Chatham (Kent and Essex, England) Cheadle (Staffordshire, England) Cheetham (Manchester, England) Cheetwood (Salford, England) Chetwode (Buckinghamshire, England) Chideock (Dorset, England) Chittoe (Wiltshire, England) Culchet (Warrington, England) Culgaith (Cumbria, England) Dalkeith (Midlothian, Scotland) Datchet (Windsor, England) Inchkeith (Fife, Scotland) Keith (Moray, Scotland) Lytchett (Dorset, England) Morchard (Devon, England) Orchard (Dorset, England) Pencoyd (Herefordshire, England) Penge (London, England) Penketh (Warrington, England)
This is a very common element, no doubt due to the preponderance of woods. There is an obvious split between the softer CH sounds in the south and the harder K/G in the north. The exception is Pencoyd, which can be explained by its proximity to the Welsh border.
Names completely made up of Brittonic elements include Chittoe (Thick wood = Coed + Tew in modern Welsh), Culchet and Culgaith, both of which mean ‘narrow wood’ (Cul + coed) and Pencoyd, Penge and Penketh, all of which mean ‘End of the wood’ and are identical in construction and meaning to Pencoed near Bridgend, Wales.
Lytchett means ‘grey wood’ and is identical to Llwydcoed near Aberdare, Wales.
Cog (cuckoo)
Blencogo (Cumbria, England) Penicuik (Midlothian, Scotland)
All elements in both these place names are Brittonic, being equivalent to Blaen y Gog and Pen y Gog in modern Welsh.
Craig (rocky hill)
Blindcrake (Cumbria, England), Crayke (North Yorkshire, England), Creake (Norfolk, England) Crick (Northamptonshire, England) Greysouthen (Cumbria, England) Pencraig (Herefordshire, England)
Crug (mound/hill)
Creech (Dorset and Somerset, England) Crich (Derbyshire, England) Cricket (Somerset, England) Crigglestone (Wakefield, England) Evercreech (Somerset, England) Gilcrux (Cumbria, England) Penkridge (Staffordshire, England)
Cul (narrow)
Culchet (Warrington, England) Culgaith (Cumbria, England)
Both elements in these place-names are Brittonic and both mean ‘narrow wood’(cul + coed)
Cwm (valley)
Cumrew (Cumbria, England) Cumwhitton (Cumbria, England) Cumwhinton (Cumbria, England)
Both elements in Cumrew are Brittonic. In modern Welsh these would be Cwm + rhiw ‘valley by the hill’. In addition to the names given here, it is worth mentioning the many English place-names containing ‘combe’. Although often regarded as an Old English element ‘cumb’, its concentration in Western areas of England where Brittonic lasted longest, the form of the word, and its meaning ‘valley’, must make it a rare candidate for a Brittonic word absorbed into English.
Cymry (Britons/Welsh)
Cumbrae (Ayrshire, Scotland) Cumbria (Cumbria, England) Cummersdale (Cumbria, England)
‘Island of the Britons’, ‘Land of the Britons’ and ‘Valley of the Britons’ respectively. The Britons called themselves ‘Brythoniaid’ for centuries, but started to refer to themselves as Cymry, especially after the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons. The Anglo-Saxons, on the other hand, referred to them as ‘Welsh’. Interestingly ‘Cymry’ and ‘Welsh’ mean exactly the opposite, ‘Cymry’ means ‘Fellow Countrymen’ while ‘Welsh’ means ‘Foreigners’. In modern Welsh, Cymru is the word for Wales and Cymry is the word for the Welsh people. Apart from names in Brittonic, the word ‘Britons’ or variations of it was also used by the English and the Scots. The name Birkby, for instance, is a much disguised form of a name first recorded as Bretebi in 1086, meaning settlement of the Britons. This place name exists in North Yorkshire, West Yorkshire and Cumbria. In Scotland, Dumbarton is a variation of Dun Breatann, which is Gaelic for ‘fortress of the Britons’, and the location of the capital of the Britons’ kingdom of Strathclyde.
Dâr (oak)
Darenth (Kent, England) Dartford (Kent, England) Darwen (Blackburn, England) and the rivers Derwent (Cumbria, Derbyshire, Durham and Yorkshire all in England).
Dartford was previously Darwentford. All the above mean ‘Oak Tree River’.
Din (fort)
Kirkcaldy (Fife, Scotland)
Kirkcaldy is made up of three Brittonic elements which in modern Welsh would be Caer + Caled + Din
Dol (water meadow)
Dalkeith (Midlothian, Scotland) Dallas (Moray, Scotland) Megdale (Cumbria, England) Meigle (Perth, Scotland)
The second elements in Dalkeith and Dallas names are Brittonic also, and correspond to ‘Coed’ and ‘Ffos’ in modern Welsh.
Dulais (dark stream) – itself a combination of ‘du’ + ‘glais’
Dawlish (Devon, England) Dewlish (Dorset, England) Dowlish (Somerset, England)
All three of these are found in neighbouring counties in South West England
Dŵr / Dwfr (water)
Andover (Hampshire, England) Calder Water (South Lanarkshire, Scotland) Callander (Stirling, Scotland) Callater Burn (Aberdeen, Scotland) Callender (Highland, Scotland) Cawdor (Highland, Scotland) Dover (Kent, England) Dovercourt (Essex, England) Doverdale (Worcestershire, England) Wendover (Buckinghamshire, England)
The place names above from Scotland form a sub-group, all of which mean ‘Hard Water’ (see Caled above). Of the rest, Dover’s location on the water now makes a lot more sense, doesn’t it? Wendover is also a fully Brittonic name meaning ‘White Waters’.
Eglwys (church)
Eaglesfield (Cumbria, England) Ecclefechan (Dumfries, Scotland) Eccles (Salford, England) Ecclesfield (Sheffield, England) Eccleshall (Staffordshire, England) Eccleston (Cheshire and Lancashire, England)
These names are all obviously post-Roman. Although ‘eglwys’ is a Welsh word, it has its origins in the Latin ‘ecclesia’.
Ffos (ditch)
Dallas (Moray, Scotland)
This place name is a combination of ‘dol’ (see above) and ‘ffos’.
Ffrwd (stream)
Renfrew (Renfrew, Scotland) Winford (North Somerset, England) Wynford (Dorset, England)
All the elements in the above words are Brittonic. Renfrew meaning ‘point of the stream’ and correspoding to modern Welsh ‘rhyn’ (see below) and ‘ffrwd’ while Winford and Wynford both mean ‘white stream’- modern Welsh ‘wyn’ and ‘ffrwd’.
Garth (headland)
Pennard (Somerset, England)
Both elements in this place name are Brittonic, meaning ‘top of the headland’. It is identical in structure and meaning to Penarth in Wales.
Garw (rough)
Yarrow (Selkirk, Scotland)
Glas (green)
Glaisdale (North yorkshire, England) Glasgow (Glasgow, Scotland) Glazebrook (Warrington, England)
Hawdd (pleasant/easy)
Hodder (River in Lancashire and Yorkshire, England) Hodnet (Shropshire, England)
Both elements in both place names are Brittonic, Hodder being ‘pleasant water’ – ‘hawdd’ + ‘dŵr’ while Hodnet means ‘pleasant brook’ – ‘hawdd’ + ‘nant’.
Hir (long)
Tretire (Herefordshire, England)
Llaith (damp)
Linlithgow (West Lothian, Scotland)
Llanerch (glade)
Lanark (Lanarkshire, Scotland) Lanercost (Cumbria, England)
Llwyd (grey)
Leatherhead (Surrey, England) Lichfield (Staffordshire, England) Lytchett (Dorset, England)
Leatherhead is a superb example of words being familiarised by speakers of another language, having nothing to do with leather and nothing to do with heads. The original meaning was ‘grey ford’ which in modern Welsh would be ‘llwyd’ + ‘rhyd’.
Llyn (pool/lake)
Linlithgow (West Lothian, Scotland) King’s Lynn (Norfolk, England)
Llys (court)
Leece (Cumbria, England) Liss (Hampshire, England) Treales (Lancashire, England)
Maen (stone)
Broadmayne (Dorset, England) Methven (Perth, Scotland)
Maes (field)
Menstrie (Clackmannan, Scotland)
Both elements of this place-name are Brittonic, the second being ‘tre(f)’(see below). In modern Welsh, this place-name would be something like ‘Maes-y-dre’.
Mawr (great/big)
Morchard (Devon, England)
Both elements in the above place name are Brittonic, it means ‘great wood’ and would be ‘mawr’ + ‘coed’ in modern Welsh.
Medd (middle)
Methven (Perth, Scotland)
Moch (pigs)
Moccas (Herefordshire, England)
Both elements are Brittonic. The name means ‘pigs’ moor’ – modern Welsh ‘moch’ + ‘rhos’.
Moel (bare)
Malvern (Worcestershire, England) Melrose (Scottish Borders, Scotland)
All of the above are Brittonic meaning ‘bare hill’ and ‘bare moor’ respectively. The modern Welsh words would be ‘moel’ + ‘bryn’ and ‘moel’ + ‘rhos’.
Môr (sea)
Moray (Moray, Scotland)
‘Settlement on the sea’ – both elements are Brittonic and in modern Welsh would be ‘Môr’ + ‘Tre(f)’.
Mynydd (mountain)
Mindrum (Northumberland, England) Minto (Scottish Borders, Scotland) Minton (Shropshire, England)
Nant (stream/brook)
Hodnet (Shropshire, England) Nenthead (Cumbria, England)
Pant (valley/hollow)
Panfield (Essex, England)
Pebyll (tents)
Peebles (Scottish Borders, Scotland)
Pen (end/head)
Pencoyd (Herefordshire, England) Pencraig (Herefordshire, England) Pendlebury (Salford, England) Pendleton (Lancashire, England) Pendock (Worcestershire, England) Penge (London, England) Penicuik (Midlothian, Scotland) Penketh (Warrington, England) Penkridge (Staffordshire, England) Penn (Buckinghamshire, England) Pennard (Somerset, England) Penrith (Cumbria, England) Pensax (Worcestershire, England) Pensby (Wirral, England) Penselwood (Somerset, England) Pentrich (Derbyshire, England) Pentridge (Dorset, England) Penwortham (Lancashire, England) Torpenhow (Cumbria, England)
Another common element with examples all over the island. The ‘Pencoed’ examples have already been mentioned under ‘Coed’ above. Other notable examples include ‘Pentrich’ and ‘Pentridge’ which mean ‘boar’s hill’ and are identical in construction and meaning to Pentyrch just outside Cardiff, Wales. Penrith is also fully Brittonic, meaning ‘end of the ford’ and corresponding to modern Welsh ‘pen’ and ‘rhyd’.
Perth (thicket)
Larbert (Falkirk, Scotland) Perth (Perth, Scotland)
Pridd (earth)
Priddy (Somerset, England)
Meaning ‘Earth house’, both are Brittonic elements, ‘pridd’ + ‘tŷ’ in modern Welsh, and can be seen in the place-name ‘Pontypridd’
Prys (bush/thicket)
Prees (Shropshire, England) Preesall (Lancashire, England) Priston (North East Somerset, England)
Rhos (moor)
Roos (Yorkshire, England) Roose (Cumbria, England) Ross (Northumberland and Herefordshire, England) Rossington (Doncaster, England)
Rhyd (ford)
Penrith (Cumbria, England) Tretire (Herefordshire, England)
Both elements in both place names are Brittonic. Penrith meaning ‘end of the ford’ (‘pen’ and ‘rhyd’) and Tretire meaning ‘long ford’ (‘rhyd’ + ‘hir’)
Rhyn (point)
Renfrew (Renfrew, Scotland)
Sarn (causeway)
Sarnesfield (Herefordshire, England)
Talcen (forehead)
Talke (Staffordshire, England)
Tân (fire/sparkle)
Taunton (Somerset, England)
Tre(f) (settlement)
Menstrie (Clackmannan, Scotland) Moray (Moray, Scotland) Ochiltree (Dumfries, Scotland) Tranent (East Lothian, Scotland) Treales (Lancashire, England)
All elements in all of the above are Brittonic. In modern Welsh they would correspond to maes + tre, môr+ tre, uchel+ tre, tre+ nant, tre + llys, respectively.
Trwyn (nose/point)
Troon (Ayr, Scotland)
Twll (hole/hollow)
Tollard (Wiltshire, England)
Twrch (boar)
Pentrich (Derbyshire, England) Pentridge (Dorset, England)
Tŷ (house)
Priddy (Somerset, England)
Uchel (high)
Ochil Hills (Perth, Scotland) Ochiltree (Dumfries, Scotland) River Oykel (Highland, Scotland)
Wen / Wyn (white)
Wendover (Buckinghamshire, England) Winford (North Somerset, England) Wynford (Dorset, England)
Ynys (island)
Ince (Cheshire and Wigan, England)

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