Thwaite (placename element)

Thwaite is a common element of placenames in North West England, and Yorkshire.[1][2] It is also found elsewhere in England, including two places called Thwaite in Norfolk and one in Suffolk.[3] It is most often found as a suffix. It is a common element of field names, as well as settlement names.[4]

The name is usually from Old Norse thveit (also written þveit), but sometimes from Old Danish thwēt, both meaning "clearing" or "meadow".[1] Nevertheless, in England the name does not necessarily indicate a place of Scandinavian or Norman foundation, because it is often found in combination with Middle English or Old German personal names.[2]

The element is also found in Normandy. In the Eure department alone there are at least five placenames with the same thveit root and meaning "clearing in a wooded area", locally represented as Thuit: Le Thuit; Thuit-Hébert; Le Thuit-Simer; Le Thuit-Signol; Le Thuit-Anger. In total there is no fewer than 89 placenames in Normandy with 'Tuit' in them.[5]

In Orkney and Shetland the element appears as Twatt. In Norway, the element appears as Tveit (Nynorsk) or Tvedt (Dano-Norwegian). In Sweden the word survives in the placename Tveta, denoting for instance a hundred in Småland province and parishes in Småland, Värmland and Södermanland.[6]

References

  1. 1 2 Watts, Victor, ed. (2010), "Glossary", The Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names, Cambridge University Press, p. xlviii, ISBN 978 0 521 16855 7
  2. 1 2 Smith, A.H. (1962). The Place-names of the West Riding of Yorkshire. 7. Cambridge University Press. p. 284.
  3. ↑ Watts, Victor, ed. (2010), "Thwaite", The Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978 0 521 16855 7
  4. ↑ Smith, A.H. (1962). The Place-names of the West Riding of Yorkshire. 7. Cambridge University Press. p. 261.
  5. ↑ Pierre Bauduin (ed.), Les fondations scandinaves en Occident et les débuts du duché de Normandie (2005)
  6. ↑ Svenskt Ortnamnslexikon, 2nd ed., Uppsala 2016, pp. 342f

See also

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