At 5:19:44 PM on Wednesday, August 19, 2009, Andrew Jarrette
wrote:
> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "tgpedersen"
> <tgpedersen@...> wrote:
[...]
>> I noticed something interesting in Udolph's long list of
>> -tun names. In England there are tons of -tun's with a
>> first element in P-, ie. a non-Germanic element. [...]
> I would say (and I guess you're already aware of it) that
> the names in P- in England are probably mostly of
> post-conquest Norman French origin, perhaps some are
> Celtic.
Not, however, the <-tu:n> names. There are a few of
post-Conquest origin, like <Puxton> 'Pukarel's estate',
<Pukarel> being an OFr byname, and there are a few with
British specifics, like <Priston>, probably from Prim. Welsh
*prisc 'brushwood', and <Petherton> 'settlement on the river
Parrett', but the vast majority are OE. Quite a few have
first element <pirige> 'a pear-tree', <pre:ost> 'a priest'
(usually in the gen. pl., <pre:osta>), or <plu:me> ~
<ply:me> 'a plum-tree'. OE simplex names (e.g., <Put(t)a>,
<Pe:ofa>, <Punt>) are fairly common first elements, and the
dithematic OE name <Pi:lheard> occurs. OE *<putta> 'a hawk,
a kite' is a possibility in at least one case.
[...]
Brian