By Ending Place Names?
Place Names Ending in -By, Such as Selby or Whitby. These -by Endings Are Generally Places Where the Vikings Settled First. in Yorkshire There Are 210 -by...
Place names ending in -by, such as Selby or Whitby. These -by endings are generally places where the Vikings settled first. In Yorkshire there are 210 -by place names. The -by has passed into English as 'by-law' meaning the local law of the town or village.
What does by mean in a town name?
Thwaite comes from the Norse thveit, meaning a clearing or meadow. By far the most common is -by which means farmstead or village. Like most conquerors, when Vikings moved to a new area they settled into communities alongside the previous inhabitants, then changed the names they found difficult to pronounce.
What are Viking place names?
In England Viking place names are of course most common in the area known as the Danelaw, the areas where Danish law applied in Northern and Eastern England, the shires of Yorkshire, Leicester, Nottingham, Derby, Stamford, Lincoln and Essex.
Alexander Ross has covered the video game industry for a decade, writing deep dives on game design, esports tournaments, VR developments, and gaming culture.
