inavian origin. The Roman and French elements in our
topographical names are scanty in number, though the former are of
frequent occurrence. The chief Latin contributions are -Chester,
-cester, -caster, Lat. castrum, a fort, or plural castra, a camp;
-street, Lat. via strata, a levelled way; -minster, Lat. monasterium;
and -church or -kirk, Greco-Lat. kuriakon, belonging to the Lord.
Eccles, Greco-Lat. ecclesia, probably goes back to Celtic
Christianity. Street was the high-road, hence Greenstreet. Minster
is curiously corrupted in Buckmaster for Buckminster and Kittermaster
for Kidderminster, while in its simple form it appears as Minister
(Chapter III).

We have a few French place-names, e.g. Beamish (Chapter XIV),
Beaumont, Richmond, Richemont, and Malpas (Cheshire), the evil pass,
with which we may compare Maltravers. We have the apparent opposite
in Bompas, Bumpus, Fr. bon pas, but this was a nickname. Of late
there has been a tendency to introduce the French ville, e.g.
Bournville, near Birmingham. That part of Margate which ought to be
called Northdown is known as Cliftonville, and the inhabitants of the
opposite end of the town, dissatisfied with such good names as
Westbrook and Rancorn, hanker after Westonville. But these
philological atrocities are fortunately too late to be perpetuated as
surnames.

I have divided the names in this chapter into those that are connected
with

(1) Settlements and Enclosures,

(2) Highways and Byways,

(3) Watercourses,

(4) Buildings,

(5) Shop Signs.

And here, as before, names which neither in their simple nor compound
form present any difficulty are omitted.

SETTLEMENTS AND ENCLOSURES

The words which occur most commonly in the names of the modern towns
which have sprung from early homesteads are borough or bury,
[Footnote: Originally the dative of borough.] by, ham, stoke, stow,
thorp, tun or ton, wick, and worth. These names are all of native
origin, except by, which indicates a Danish settlement, and wick,
which is supposed to be a very early loan from Lat. vicus, cognate
with Greek oikos, house. Nearly all of them are common, in their
simple form, both as specific place-names and as surnames. Borough,
cognate with Ger. Burg, castle, and related to Barrow (Chapter XII),
has many variants, Bury, Brough, Borrow, Berry, whence Berryman, and
Burgh, the last of which has become Burke in Ireland.

In Atterbury the preposition and article h