Perhaps you mean to say that "Thackeray" is the name of
a village in England, that - perhaps - began as a viking
colony?

Right. "The place off the beaten path where roofing material grows."
Yes, I understand the ON surname matrix, but in England they used
surnames. It seems that the first listing of this name is in a Poll
Tax record from the West Riding of Yorkshire of 1379, when a Johannes
de Thakwra & Robertus de Thakwra were recorded (note the Norman
influence of "de"). Its clearly a compilation of Þakk + wra. Þakk is
easy enough to solve (as you confirmed--thank you).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I do not find a word "þakkr" in Old Norse. But, there "is also the
*verb* "þekja", which describes the work of laying a roof onto a
house. This verb has a past participle by ablaut þakiðr/þaktr/þakinn,
which forms relate to the ON word for "roof" (=þak)."

What I do find instead is the name of a slave called "Þakkráðr"
(Thakkraadr),[...] That is however similar enough - and so perhaps
it is a person name, rather than a place name?

I would guess too. But atleast we know that Þakk- is akin to
modern "thatch" or "material used for roofing". Cf. Dach, dag, deck,
etc. (even rel. to Greek (s)tego- as in stegosaurus); but that's
little too deep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To quote another example of a PN ending in -ráðr, there
is Langobardic "Walderada". Perhaps Þakkráðr means "he who
gives good advice"?

Although very appreciative, I'm certain -raðr isn't a possibility; -
raðr reminds me of "reden" in Modern Deutsch meaning to speak; thus
Rat, advice (I don't know the ON froms of -raðr).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This little guy though--

> With respect to the word "vrá" that you mention, I cannot find
> this one either in normalized Old Norse.

> Meaning no. 4 has indeed been associated with place names,
> and here an older ON word "vro," has been listed.
> The meaning is supposed to mean "land" or something like that.
> An alternative spelling is "ró" (=roo).

That sounds like the little guy. Wray, wra, and wrah are said to mean
a nook or corner of land used in placenames for a secluded or
outlying place.

Keth, Thank you very much for your insight. Outside of the
magnificent online course, are texts which are highly recommended or
considered standards in ON grammars?


Wishing I knew how to write "tusend tak" in ON,
Thomas Þakkvro? now? lol. Thanks again.

> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Best regards
> Keth

Works cited:
Geipel, John. "The Viking Legacy: The Scandinavian Influence on the
English Language." London: David & Charles Pub, 1971.