Page:Essays and studies; by members of the English Association, volume 1.djvu/13



Ordnance Map of England contains many thousands of names—names of towns, villages, districts, rivers, mountains, and the like. From the point of view of the unlearned, these names may be divided into two classes: those which have an obvious meaning, and those which have not. As examples of the first class we may take Newcastle, Highbridge, Redhill, and Blackwater. These, and many more, are at once perceived by everybody to be significant, though topographical or historical knowledge may be needed to show the precise reason for which they were given. On the other hand, names like London, Kent, Thames, Helvellyn—in fact, the vast majority of the names on the map—are, to persons not specially instructed, mere arbitrary sequences of sounds, which might just as fitly have been applied to any other places or natural objects as to those which they actually serve to identify. At the same time, no intelligent person can doubt that even these names cannot have been given without some reason, and that if we had only sufficient knowledge we should find them just as significant as those which need no interpretation.

It is natural that curiosity with regard to the meaning of these enigmatical names should be very widely felt, and the writers who have attempted to satisfy this curiosity are innumerable. Unfortunately nearly everything that has been written on the subject is worthless. With very few