Re[2]: [tied] -leben/-lev/-löv and -ung-

At 4:45:34 AM on Friday, December 7, 2007, tgpedersen wrote:

> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Brian M. Scott"
> <BMScott@...> wrote:

>> At 5:58:57 AM on Thursday, December 6, 2007, tgpedersen
>> wrote:

>>> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Rick McCallister
>>> <gabaroo6958@> wrote:

>>>> So, any relation to George? The one from Wassa's ton?

>>> Hard to say.
>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington%2C_Tyne_and_Wear

>>> This article roots for *hwæs- but doesn't document the
>>> h-; instead it cites a Wasindone from 1096.

>> The <Washington> in Tyne and Wear is 'the estate called
>> after Hwæssa', from OE <Hwæssingtûn>. Forms:

>> Wessint', Wessinton ~1170x80
>> Wessington('),-yng- 1183[~1320], 1196x1215-1473
>> Wesshyngton, -yng- 1411-1556

>> Wassinton' 1211
>> Wassington, -yng- 1382, 1418
>> Wasshin(g)ton 1406
>> Washington 1581-

>> Quessigton' 1280
>> Quessigton' ~1310
>> Whessyngton 1475, 1548
>> Qwassyngton 1388x1406
>> Whassington, -yng- 1350-70

>> It's the third group that shows that the base anthroponym
>> must have been <Hwæssa> rather than <Wassa> (see below).
>> Victor Watts notes that the first two groups seem to have
>> been influenced by OE <wæsse> 'a wet place, a swamp, a
>> marsh', which however does not at all fit the topography.

> According to the Wikipedia article, some disagree:

> "A second potential Anglo-Saxon origin, could be from Old
> English wæsc "to wash" + -inga 'people of' + du:n "hill"
> (i.e. people of the hill by the stream). This theory
> originates from its proximity to the Wear. This origin
> could possible be shown in an apparent record of the name
> as Wasindone from 1096."

I'll take Victor Watts over an unsourced Wikipedia
assertion any day. In this case there isn't even a source
given for the alleged <Wasindone> 1196, which is mentioned
neither by Watts nor by Ekwall. Moreover, even if it is
legitimate and does refer to the place in question, it's
clearly the odd one out.

> cf Udolph p. 154:

> "Schon E. Förstemann waren die -ungen-bildungen
> aufgefallen, weil sie sehr häufig von Flussnamen
> abgeleitet sind", but he also quotes G. Mann stating that
> "die Ortsbenennung nach Personen ... im germ. Bereich
> offensichtlig erst eine Erscheinung der späteren
> Landnahmezeit [ist]".

> But how many of those putative PNs are separately
> documented?

Quite a few, at least in England.

>> The name <Hwæssa> is also seen in <Whessoe> (Durham).

> Odd. Especially since the the forms without k- or h- are
> the oldest.

You of all people have no business objecting to late
appearance of a more accurate representation of the
underlying form!

> Are there similar alternations in other English placenames

Yes.

> and if yes, do they occur in names of any particular type?

Not to my knowledge, but I've never looked into it.

[...]

> Are the PNs Hwæssa and Wassa documented?

Independently attested as personal names? I'm not aware of
any such attestations, but there isn't any really good OE
onomasticon. Watts stars <Hwæssa> but does not star
<Wassa>, and his sources were much better than mine.

<Whessoe> would be from <Hwæssan hôh> 'Hwæssa's hill-spur'.

Brian