Hi everyone,
I was going to get round to claiming Ankerdine Hill WOR as a pre-English name using Elephant Theory (the Teme makes a 90-degree turn round A. Hill, which is a most substantial one)
And I'm sure I can't be the 1st person to do this, as the name looks Celtic.
But maybe I am the first person to point out that there could very well be 2 pre-English names associated with
the landscape feature - I've just spotted this in PN WOR - & this of course strengthens the case.
Ankerdine is a minor name (tho' a major feature) & not mentioned in DEPN or VW or CVEP.
From PN WOR p.46
Ancredham c. 1200 (c. 1240)
Ancredeham, Aucredeham c. 1220 (c.1240)
Oncredham 1240
"Profs Ekwall and Zachrisson agree in suggesting that this is a triple compound from OE ancor "anchorite", hreod and
hamm, hence "reedy ham frequented by an anchorite"...... it s.b. noted that side by side with this place there was, close
at hand, a place called brocredeham, Broccerdham, Brochardham.... (maybe) another "reedy ham" haunted by the
brocc or badger."
I would call that re-interpretation by pop. etym. with OE anchorite & badger (underwhelming/off-the-wall in terms of topographic description .
X. Delamarre has an entry in his "Dict. Langue Gauloise" (Errance) for
ANCORAGO (attested as VL noun 6th cent)= ? un poisson
further instancing medieval Latin ANCORA: "Hakenlachs" ("hook lox") or Rhine Salmon
He discusses Celtic *anco "crochet, courbe, gekruemmt" (hook, bend, crooked) and cites Angedair (Austrian Tyrol) as a modern PN containing this element.
(I think VW is sceptical about the el. when discussing the R. Anker STF)
I would suggest this very confidently for the the 1st el. of Ankerdine.
2nd el. could be ritu "ford, watercourse" (or several other things of course).
For the 1st el. of Brocredeham, I'd suggest Celtic *broccos - or (less likely) the Latin adj. broccus (which may well be
borrowed from Celtic *broccos - and is in the same semantic area).
From Mr Delamarre's entry for *broccos (in his DLG)
"blaireau (badger) ...... il existe en France des lieux-dits (minor PNs) Broc, le Broc caracterises par une arete rocheuse (rocky spine)". (?Barnersbrook maybe?)
From J-P Savignac's remarks in his "Dict. Francais-Gaulois" (La Difference) s.v. broche
"(the Lat. adj.) broccus .... dont la bouche avance, en pointe, saillant (projecting)".
There are a lot of British names in S. Worcestershire, and I'll come back next week regarding them.
Ankerdine is on the NW. extremity of the zone of British (as opposed to Welsh) substratal names.
Why do we get lots of British names here and in Dorset (try looking at sheet 118 of the 1:25,000 OS maps)?
The obvious answer might be right - these were the last lowland areas to switch from British to VL & hence the
British names are better preserved.
Thanks as always for reading this post
keep warm everyone!
Nick
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