--- In cybalist@..., "Piotr Gasiorowski" <gpiotr@...> wrote:
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: tgpedersen@...
>
> > And how old is the name Helsinge (obviously Germanic) then?
>
> I don't know for sure, but I think Scandinavian X-ing(e) is more or
less the same formation as German X-ing(e) and English X-ing(s) (OE X-
ingas), with the suffix added to a personal name and the placeneme
referring to "people of X". My guess is *Hals-ing- "(village
inhabited by) people of someone whose nickname was Hals)", but I may
be wrong. This type of placename formation is archaic in Britain and
in Germany, and presumably also in Scandinavia.
From <hals> in the sense "throat" > "narrow strait" is what I've
read.
> Piotr
Torsten