Synopses & Reviews
Alphabetical listing of all place-names of England, with historical and etymological commentaries.
Review
"Scholars will need this book...Interested amateurs will use this as a browsing book. It will have a long shelf life and be much loved by Anglophiles." E. Joan Wilson Miller, Illinois State University, H-Net"This will undoubtedly be the definitive dictionary of its kind for decades to come." -- American Reference Books Annual
Synopsis
Victor Watt's reference work comprises a completely new compilation, based on the archives of the English Place-Name Society. It reflects the most recent scholarship for all names of cities, towns, villages, hamlets, rivers, streams, hills and other geographical locations included in the Ordnance Survey Road Atlas of Great Britain (1983), with many more recent additions. The Dictionary will be of interest to geographers, historians, historical linguists and language scholars.
Synopsis
A major new reference work, containing around 20,000 entries with historical and etymological commentaries on the names of cities, towns, villages, hamlets, rivers, streams, hills and other geographical locations in England. Based on the latest research, it also uses maps and illustrations to demonstrate the significance of the names.
About the Author
Victor Watts is Master of Grey College and Dean of Colleges, Durham University. He is the Honorary Director of the English Place-Name Society and Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London. In addition to many articles and reviews on place-names, he has written Book 17 De herbis et plantis in On the Properties of Things: John Trevisaâs Translation of Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Rerum Naturae (1975), and translated Boethius: The Consolation of Philosophy (1969/1999).
Table of Contents
Foreword; Guide to dictionary entries; Abbreviations and Bibliography; Place-names; Glossary of most frequently-used elements; Distribution maps.