On 30/10/2010 14:44, Anthony Appleyard wrote:
>
> There was an important RAF airfield at Tangmere near Chichester.
>
> Once someone ran a humorous skit article about a fictional RAF base called Prangmere :: "prang" = "airplane crash".
>
> And quickly in my brain an etymology surfaced: "Prae_ninga mere". It was likely by analogy of the real Princethorpe (in Warwickshire) (a place that I well knew in childhood) from "Prae_nes thorp".
That's all very well, but we don't have much idea of the origin of
Tangmere itelf. 'tong(s)' (cf Tong) seems a bit feeble - especially as
we don't really know why tongs are called tongs... ("That which bites")
John Briggs
|