Re: Roots of English (Was: Intro and other)

>>> Frisian didn't come to England. . . .
Anton:
>> Except perhaps at Freston and Friston (Sf), Frieston and
>> Friesthorpe (Li), Frisby (Le), Frismarsh (YE), Frizington (Cu).
Michael Poxon wrote:
> Oooh! I'd feel dubious about many, if not all, of those. They're all
> in the Danelaw, or areas otherwise heavily influenced by Scandinavians.
> Without the earliest-recorded forms of those placenames he'd be a brave
> soul who ventured a definitive origin from a Fries- root (Hence your
> cautious "perhaps"), and since Fr- would have been a common initial
> consonant cluster in all Scandinavian languages (personal names, for
> example, based on Frodi-, Frig-, etc) I'd plump for them all being
> probable Scandinavian placenames.
Yes, well, I got these from Ekwall (who does give early forms);
if I were speculating, I'd also have mentioned these:

Friston (Sx): "This may be OE <Fri:ges tu:n> or the like.
But perhaps rather OE <fyrs-du:n> `furze-covered hill'."

Frizinghall (YW): "Perhaps `furze-covered haugh'."

Fryston (YW): "`Frithe's tu:n'.  <Frithe> may be ODan <Frithi>."

--
Anton Sherwood  --  http://www.ogre.nu/