Some "Querndowns" are quite questionable qua quarries for querns. It might be worth remembering that Quarrington Li looks as though it contains tu:n but has medieval spellings in <d>, and Quarrington Du conversely. Like the latter, Quarrendon looks like a du:n but has (late) spellings in <t>.
(The Lincs item reminds us of the vexatious fact that some Tunstalls appear as Dunstall in medieval sources.)
In some cases it may be possible that the original name was *Cweorn-tu:n but became irreversibly and irretrievably Cweorn-du:n in early times because this may have been perceived as a semantically natural compound, a change supported by the natural phonetic tendency to voice voiceless sounds between voiced ones. This could be subverted by the tendency to assimilate some instances of du:n to tu:n in certain areas simply because the latter is so frequent.
Just a thought in the ointment. And a question asked out of ignorance: do we find quernstones in Britain from this period that are not made of Niedermendig lava?
Richard
-----Original Message-----
From: The English Place-Name List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Keith Briggs
Sent: 09 December 2010 10:00
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [EPNL] Quarrendon
Jerermy Harte wrote:
> burna: cwyrnburna in Stratford-sub-Castle charter, 962 (Wilts: S 706).
I think the only cwyrnburna is actually in a Suffolk charter of King Edgar, S703 (Šis syndon ža land gemęro to ceorles wyrše . of caforda 7lang cwyrnburnan ...)
Keith
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