Laura Wright
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780197266557
- eISBN:
- 9780191905377
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197266557.003.0003
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Sociolinguistics / Anthropological Linguistics
The railway age brought about an increase in suburban housing. From the 1840s, London outer-suburb house-name categories were the transferred place-name (Cintra Villa), the nostalgically rural (Oak ...
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The railway age brought about an increase in suburban housing. From the 1840s, London outer-suburb house-name categories were the transferred place-name (Cintra Villa), the nostalgically rural (Oak Lodge), the commemorative (Albert Villa), the upwardly-mobile (Tudor Lodge), and the latest fashion or fad (Ferndale, referencing the then-prevaling fashion for fernery). Post mid-century the ‘pick & mix’ category came into being, whereby house-namers uncoupled existing placename elements and recombined them to create authentic-sounding, yet new, names (Penthwaite). Post 1860s purpose-built blocks of flats took the final element -mansions.
Post 1880s jocular names began to occur (Wee Neste) and post 1895 purpose-built blocks of flats took the final element -court. Overall, shifts in naming trends were caused by movements of people, both socially and geographically, but in the main house-names were consistently conservative across time and place.Less
The railway age brought about an increase in suburban housing. From the 1840s, London outer-suburb house-name categories were the transferred place-name (Cintra Villa), the nostalgically rural (Oak Lodge), the commemorative (Albert Villa), the upwardly-mobile (Tudor Lodge), and the latest fashion or fad (Ferndale, referencing the then-prevaling fashion for fernery). Post mid-century the ‘pick & mix’ category came into being, whereby house-namers uncoupled existing placename elements and recombined them to create authentic-sounding, yet new, names (Penthwaite). Post 1860s purpose-built blocks of flats took the final element -mansions.
Post 1880s jocular names began to occur (Wee Neste) and post 1895 purpose-built blocks of flats took the final element -court. Overall, shifts in naming trends were caused by movements of people, both socially and geographically, but in the main house-names were consistently conservative across time and place.
Laura Wright
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780197266557
- eISBN:
- 9780191905377
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197266557.003.0002
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Sociolinguistics / Anthropological Linguistics
294 pre-1400 London house names given in Appendix 1 are analysed as to meaning and structure. Before 1300 haw, bury, seld, hall and house were the predominant medieval house-naming nouns, but haw, ...
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294 pre-1400 London house names given in Appendix 1 are analysed as to meaning and structure. Before 1300 haw, bury, seld, hall and house were the predominant medieval house-naming nouns, but haw, bury and seld dropped out around the Norman Conquest. Modifiers were limited to the householders’ name, the householders’ occupation, and the appearance of the house. From the 1320s heraldic names became common for commercial premises, adopting the emblems used by chivalric knights. Commercial premises also used synecdoche to signal their wares (such as the Cock referencing the stopcock on a barrel), and double meanings were exploited visually on signage. Cock seems to have been the first (literal meaning ‘tap’, punning meaning ‘fowl’), starting a fashion for bird names. By the 1700s an extensive informal code of trade signs had evolved, such as a rainbow to signify a dyer. From 1762 numbering replaced urban building signs, with the exception of bookshops and pubs.Less
294 pre-1400 London house names given in Appendix 1 are analysed as to meaning and structure. Before 1300 haw, bury, seld, hall and house were the predominant medieval house-naming nouns, but haw, bury and seld dropped out around the Norman Conquest. Modifiers were limited to the householders’ name, the householders’ occupation, and the appearance of the house. From the 1320s heraldic names became common for commercial premises, adopting the emblems used by chivalric knights. Commercial premises also used synecdoche to signal their wares (such as the Cock referencing the stopcock on a barrel), and double meanings were exploited visually on signage. Cock seems to have been the first (literal meaning ‘tap’, punning meaning ‘fowl’), starting a fashion for bird names. By the 1700s an extensive informal code of trade signs had evolved, such as a rainbow to signify a dyer. From 1762 numbering replaced urban building signs, with the exception of bookshops and pubs.
Laura Wright
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780197266557
- eISBN:
- 9780191905377
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197266557.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Sociolinguistics / Anthropological Linguistics
This book traces developments in the history of British house-names from the tenth century, beginning with medieval house-naming practices referencing the householder’s name, the householder’s ...
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This book traces developments in the history of British house-names from the tenth century, beginning with medieval house-naming practices referencing the householder’s name, the householder’s occupation, and the appearance of the house. In the early fourteenth century heraldic names appeared on commercial premises: tavern names such as la Worm on the Hope, and shop names such as the Golden Tea Kettle & Speaking Trumpet. From the eighteenth century five main categories are identified: the transferred place-name, the nostalgically rural, the commemorative, names associated with the nobility, and the latest fashion or fad. From the nineteenth century new developments are ‘pick & mix’ names consisting of uncoupled elements from British place-names joined together in new combinations, and jocular house-names. Historically, the house-name Sunnyside predominates in Scotland, and is traced through Middle English, Medieval Latin, Anglo-Norman French Scottish Gaelic, and the influence of Old Norse, recording a prehistoric Nordic land-division practice known as solskifte. It was spread southwards in the eighteenth century by Nonconformists, and became a Quaker shibboleth. Quakers took the name to North America where it remains in use as a church name. A specific historic Sunnyside in the Scottish Borders influenced author Washington Irving to name his famous New York Sunnyside, which boosted the name’s popularity. London Sunnysides of the 1870s were grand suburban residences owned by rich industrialist Nonconformists with Scottish family ties, confirming the trend.Less
This book traces developments in the history of British house-names from the tenth century, beginning with medieval house-naming practices referencing the householder’s name, the householder’s occupation, and the appearance of the house. In the early fourteenth century heraldic names appeared on commercial premises: tavern names such as la Worm on the Hope, and shop names such as the Golden Tea Kettle & Speaking Trumpet. From the eighteenth century five main categories are identified: the transferred place-name, the nostalgically rural, the commemorative, names associated with the nobility, and the latest fashion or fad. From the nineteenth century new developments are ‘pick & mix’ names consisting of uncoupled elements from British place-names joined together in new combinations, and jocular house-names. Historically, the house-name Sunnyside predominates in Scotland, and is traced through Middle English, Medieval Latin, Anglo-Norman French Scottish Gaelic, and the influence of Old Norse, recording a prehistoric Nordic land-division practice known as solskifte. It was spread southwards in the eighteenth century by Nonconformists, and became a Quaker shibboleth. Quakers took the name to North America where it remains in use as a church name. A specific historic Sunnyside in the Scottish Borders influenced author Washington Irving to name his famous New York Sunnyside, which boosted the name’s popularity. London Sunnysides of the 1870s were grand suburban residences owned by rich industrialist Nonconformists with Scottish family ties, confirming the trend.
Laura Wright
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780197266557
- eISBN:
- 9780191905377
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197266557.003.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Sociolinguistics / Anthropological Linguistics
This chapter explains how the author came to study house names and summarises the findings of the book: that house- names are ancient, that there is plentiful data, that house-names express ...
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This chapter explains how the author came to study house names and summarises the findings of the book: that house- names are ancient, that there is plentiful data, that house-names express historical social information, that they have held steady over recorded history with occasional addition of new categories. The history of the house-name Sunnyside is sketched out: it had a historic regional distribution reflecting the Nordic land-division practice of solskifte and crossed languages spoken in the region, so that traditional Scottish names in Green such as Greens of Bogbuie express Scottish Gaelic grian ‘sun’ rather than the English word green.Less
This chapter explains how the author came to study house names and summarises the findings of the book: that house- names are ancient, that there is plentiful data, that house-names express historical social information, that they have held steady over recorded history with occasional addition of new categories. The history of the house-name Sunnyside is sketched out: it had a historic regional distribution reflecting the Nordic land-division practice of solskifte and crossed languages spoken in the region, so that traditional Scottish names in Green such as Greens of Bogbuie express Scottish Gaelic grian ‘sun’ rather than the English word green.
