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English Place-names across Time & Space - LAN00072H

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  • Department: Language and Linguistic Science
  • Module co-ordinator: Dr. Ellie Rye
  • Credit value: 20 credits
  • Credit level: H
  • Academic year of delivery: 2024-25

Module summary

This module will introduce you to the study of place-names in England. You will initially learn about the languages used historically in place-name formation in England and about methods of place-name study. You will then explore the range of information—historical, archaeological and especially linguistic—that is preserved in place-names. You will have the opportunity to carry out a detailed analysis of place-names from an area of England in which you are particularly interested.

Module will run

Occurrence Teaching period
A Semester 1 2024-25

Module aims

This module will introduce students to the study of place-names in England. The module aims:

  • to provide students with an understanding of the historical and linguistic contexts of English place-name formation;

  • to provide students with an understanding of the methodologies of place-name study;

  • to develop students’ awareness of the different types of linguistic information that can be extracted from place-names.

  • To provide opportunities for investigating features of languages used in England in the past;

  • to develop students’ independent research skills.

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

  • explain the use of a range of languages in place-names in relation to historical cultural and linguistic diversity in England;

  • identify appropriate scholarly resources for investigating English place-names and locate and synthesise information from these resources accurately;

  • critically evaluate scholarly literature on place-names, interrogating the evidence, principles and intellectual foundations on which different viewpoints are based;

  • conduct a focused research project on place-names from England through careful time management and the application of appropriate principles and methodologies of place-name study;

  • analyse place-names as a source of linguistic evidence for historical language use in England, identifying and explaining patterns in the place-names and assessing the strengths and limitations of place-name material as a source of linguistic evidence;

  • communicate the findings of research into place-names clearly and effectively to both specialists and the general public.

Module content

The module will introduce students to the academic study of English place-names and the types of linguistic, historical and environmental information that is preserved in place-names. In the first part of the module, students will learn about methods and resources for place-name study, the languages used in place-naming in England and characteristics of names formed in different languages. In the second part of the module, students will explore what names reveal about landscapes, societies and especially languages in the past.

There will be a one-hour lecture and a one-hour seminar every week. There will also be a field-trip in week 6 and two-hour workshops in weeks one to five only. The first two workshops will introduce key linguistic concepts and will be optional for Linguistics students. The remaining workshops will include workshops on reading and producing maps and writing about place-names.

Assessment

Task Length % of module mark
Essay/coursework
English place-names project - 3000 words		 N/A 80
Essay/coursework
Street-name magazine article - 500 words		 N/A 20

Special assessment rules

None

Reassessment

Task Length % of module mark
Essay/coursework
English place-names project - 3000 words		 N/A 100

Module feedback

Students will receive written feedback on the formative assignment within 10 working days.

Students will receive written feedback on summative assignments within twenty-five working days.

Indicative reading

*Cameron, K. (1996). English place names (New ed.). Batsford.

Coates, R. (2016). Names and historical linguistics. In C. Hough (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Names and Naming (pp. 525–539). Oxford University Press.

Cullen, P. (2013). English place-names and landscape terminology. In J. Carroll & D. N. Parsons (Eds.), Perceptions of Place: Twenty-First Century Interpretations of English Place-Name Studies (pp. 161–179). English Place-Name Society.

Fellows-Jensen, G. (2004). The Anglo-Scandinavian street-names of York. In Aspects of Anglo-Scandinavian York (pp. 357–371). York: Council for British Archaeology.

*Gelling, M. (1997). Signposts to the past: place-names and the history of England (3rd ed.). Phillimore.

Hough, C. (2010). Toponymicon and lexicon in north-west Europe: "ever-changing connection". University of Cambridge.

Hough, C. (2018). Place-name evidence for Old English dialects. Onomastica Uralica, 11, 159–168.

Whaley, D. (2014). The other millennium: English place-naming after the Norman Conquest. Journal of the English Place-Name Society, 46, 5–31.

Students should buy either Gelling’s Signposts to the Past or Cameron’s English Place Names as you will be required to read chapters from these books on a weekly basis.


The information on this page is indicative of the module that is currently on offer. The University is constantly exploring ways to enhance and improve its degree programmes and therefore reserves the right to make variations to the content and method of delivery of modules, and to discontinue modules, if such action is reasonably considered to be necessary by the University. Where appropriate, the University will notify and consult with affected students in advance about any changes that are required in line with the University's policy on the Approval of Modifications to Existing Taught Programmes of Study.