The Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names

The Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names, ed. Victor Watts (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004). Ixiv + 713 pp. ISBN 0-521-36209- 1. £200.00/$300.00.A. E. Housman once observed that a reviewer's most useful job was usually the listing of errors. The Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names is a fine volume and will be a standard reference work for decades. Nevertheless, it attracts error as dogs (even pedigree dogs) attract fleas. They include the following.Blencathra: the second element is not 'unexplained'. It is equivalent to Welsh carthwr 'draught horse'. The Cumbrians likened this Lakeland peak (also called Saddleback) to a dray horse, with a dip in its back. The meaning is thus 'draught-horse summit'.Bovey and Bovey Tracey: the Devon river name here is not of 'uncertain' derivation. It means 'pignut river, river where pignuts grow' (useful for feeding swine). Compare Welsh bywi 'pignuts', which gives names to streams in Dyfed and Gwynedd.Bride and Bridport: the Dorset Bride, a gende stream, has no link with a Celtic word meaning 'gushing, boiling'. The sense here is Varm one', as with Nant Brydan, near Carmarthen.Bude: the explanation 'dirty one' for this form, originally a hydronym, is impossible. Welsh budd 'profit; blessing' and Arbuthnott in Scodand show the sense is 'favourable one', used of a stream with medicinal powers. The river passing Bude is from a region of rock salt, as indicated by Penhallym (compare Cornish holen salt) near its source.Cray and Crayford: the sense is not 'fresh water' in the sense 'pure, clean'. Welsh crai originally meant 'raw, rough', so that the meaning is 'rough stream, turbulent stream', as shown by Afon Crai in the Brecon Beacons.Creedy and Crediton: there are no grounds for a sense 'winding one'. The Creedy is the 'shrinking one' (compare Welsh ctyddu Svaste away, dwindle"), as with Crythan Brook in Glamorgan and as not with the Creedy's powerful neighbour, the river Yeo.Cronton: the explanation 'farm where saffron grows' is absurd. The first element corresponds to Welsh crowyn 'pigsty'. Cronton, in Liverpool's hinterland, would be known for pork and bacon; not exotic spices like saffron.Dunwich: there is no link with Bede's 'Domnoc' or a sense 'deep-water port*. Bede's form is due to a Briton called Domnoc, who gave his name to the fort (now below the sea) at Felixstowe, Suffolk. He had nothing to do with Dunwich, where Professor Coates of Bristol righdy sees an English name meaning 'dune huts, sandhill sheds'.Elmet: this Yorkshire form, originally applied to a Celtic people, is not 'of obscure origin'. It can be related to Welsh el 'many' and medi 'reap, harvest', indicating a ferocious warrior tribe who called themselves 'those who cut down many'.Kilpeck: the second element is not 'unexplained'. It comes via Welsh from Latin pedica 'snare'. This place near Hereford was a 'snare corner', with traps set for animals.Lox Yeo, near Weston-super-Mare: there is no link with Greek loxos 'oblique' or a sense "winding river'. The meaning is 'bright one, shining one', as indicated by Welsh llosgi 'to burn' and Aberlosk Burn, near Moffat in southern Scodand.Manchester: Welsh *mamm 'breast; breast-shaped hill' quoted here is a ghost. The correct form is Welsh mam 'mother', which would have been the Celtic name of the river Medlock. Manchester was the 'fort on (the river called) mother'. Similarly for Mansfield on the river Maun. The latter means 'mother' and has nothing to do with hills (breast-shaped or otherwise). Mansfield was dius 'open land of (the river called) mother'.Nidd: the sense here is not 'flowing water'. …