Really, really small hommlet names

[BiggusGeekus]

I know that in history some hammlets of ~50 or so people barely made the census (or at least the Domesday Report). Did those villiages have names? Were they just "the villiage"? Or did they have names and simply nobody cared?

 

[drunkmoogle]

I don't recall where I heard this, or even if it's true, but the name is chosen by the landowner or the people. Until then, the land is named after the formal name of the Landowner/Head Honcho who founded/developed/conquered the land.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Wait.

So in Year 100 the villiage could be called Honchoville, but in year 200 it could be called Landownertown?

 

[Varianor Abroad]

Wait.

So in Year 100 the villiage could be called Honchoville, but in year 200 it could be called Landownertown?

From what I've studied of English linguistics, more likely it would be Honcholandownertown.

For a clickable map of surveyed counties, with more names than you can shake a stick at, click here.

As to your original question, I honestly don't know. I remember studying about the book in college. I seem to recall a history class that indicated that small villages and their numbers were often incorporated into a larger, "named" village nearby, but that could be age misremembering.

 

[Jolly Giant]

Oh, they all had names. Often the name referred to something that once happened there or someone who used to live there, sometimes before there even was a hamlet.

It may have started out as a whole sentence; a description to let others know which place you're talking about. Through the years the description would become shorter and shorter, reduced to just a few words first. After yet some time, you'd be down to one or two words, and then they might merge into just word and the place would have its name.

Any number of decades later, somebody finally decides to put the name down in writing; on a map or a roadsign. That somebody very likely knows nothing of the story behind the name, and might very well get it a little bit wrong when writes it down. But the power of the written word is strong, so the written vertion would most often become the official name.

"That hill where farmer Brown broke the axle on his wagon" might be known as "Brown's Hill", until it finally gets put on the map as "Brownsville". I know I've read about dozens of examples like this, some of them quite hilarious, but I can't remember a single one of them now... :\

 

[BiggusGeekus]

That story shortening version works. Actually, in this case it works very well.

It lets me think of a sentence to describe the Ancient Evil and then wack it down to something innocent.

 

[Jolly Giant]

That story shortening version works. Actually, in this case it works very well.

It lets me think of a sentence to describe the Ancient Evil and then wack it down to something innocent.

Glad to hear it, Biggus!

 

[Dark Jezter]

Did those villiages have names? Were they just "the villiage"? Or did they have names and simply nobody cared?

Yes, they were called "The Village", and a giant bouncing ball chased after anyone who tried to escape.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Ooh, this just cries out for a Brust quote.

What followed was ten years of almost constant war between the Dragonlords of the Empire and the Easterners, during which the Easterners occupied the area and fought from the surrounding mountains. The Serioli, who departed the area to avoid any of the unfortunate incidents that war can produce, left only their name for the place, which was "Ben," meaning "ford" in their language. The Easterners called the place "Ben Ford," or, in the Eastern tongue, "Ben gazlo."

After ten years of fierce battle, the Imperial Army won a great victory on the spot, driving the Easterners well back into the mountains. The Dragonlords who had found the place, then, began calling it "Bengazlo Ford." The Dragons, wishing to waste as little time on speech as possible, shortened this to Benglo Ford, or in the tongue of the Dragon, which was still in use at the time, "Benglo ara." Eventually, over the course of the millenia, the tongue of the Dragon fell out of use, and the Northwestern language gained preeminence, which rendered the location Bengloara Ford, which was eventually shortened to Bengloarafurd. The river crossing became the Bengloarafurd Ford, which name it held until after the Interregnum when the river was dredged and the Bengloarafurd Bridge was built. Should anyone be interested in finding this delightful city, it still stands, but the city was renamed Troe after the engineer who built the bridge, either because the citizens were proud of their new landmark, or because the engineer's name was short.

Steven Brust, The Phoenix Guards.

-Hyp.

 

[Greybar]

Thanks, Hypersmurf, that's a great quote!
john