What does wich mean in place names

Members Current visitors. Interface Language. Log in. Install the app. Forums English Only English Only. JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.

You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly. You should upgrade or use an alternative browser. Thread starter Kirill V. Start date Aug 7, Kirill V. Senior Member Moscow, Russia. Hello, I've noticed that in Britain there is quite a number of towns and cities, especially in Norfolk, with the ending -wich Norwich, Ipswich, Harwich Is there any theory as to where this ending came from?

Thanks a lot! English - South-East England. No need for theory. The Old English word wic meant "village" and is used in plenty of place names, in two forms -wich and -wick reflecting two ways of pronouncing the Old English. Ask Question. Asked 7 years, 2 months ago. Active 1 year, 7 months ago. Viewed 3k times. Does -wich suffix as in Greenwich, sandwich, etc. Improve this question. Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. Improve this answer.

Fine drizzle or a wet-to-the-undies downpour, the Brits know a thing or two about rain. Radio 4 in Four. Main content. Talk of the town: how where you live got its name. Relating to a valley - Castle Combe, Wiltshire in England. Aerial view of Bristol. There are places named after people Personal names are also part of the typology of place naming. There are places named after trades What do Croydon and Saffron Walden have in common?

Crocus flowers growing in the spring sunshine. Originally, Nottingham was known as Snottingham, because of the Germanic and Saxon settler influence on place names. The Anglo-Saxons also liked to name things after themselves. And, before converting to Christianity, they named some places after their gods — Wednesbury is named after Woden. Then the Scandinavians arrived. They started in the 8th Century with raids: Danes from the east and Norsemen, coming around Scotland by sea, from the northwest.

In the mid-9th Century, they staged a full-scale invasion and began to settle in the areas they controlled. At the height of Scandinavian power in Britain, they controlled an area known as the Danelaw that covered most of England north and east of a line from Liverpool to the Thames — a line you cross at Watling Street an ancient road as you drive northeast toward Ashby-de-la-Zouch.

Both, however, also bear the marks of the Anglo-Saxons who where there first: the apple and ash trees. In , the Normans came: Frenchmen, many of whom were descended from assimilated Viking invaders of France. William took over the government and gave ownership of many places to knights who had supported him. The invasion also led to French versions of English originals, such as Rievaulx, translated from Ryedale.

But the Norman French did not settle in with the same comfort as the Anglo-Saxons and the Scandinavians, and certainly not in the same numbers. The commoners — made up of Anglo-Saxons, Scandinavians and remaining Celts — kept speaking English, which was still evolving and came to add many French words.