Re: Toponymic incorrectness


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Posted by Robert Dilley on September 14, 2005 at 16:40:40 from 65.39.13.107 user rdilley.

In Reply to: Re: Toponymic incorrectness (Was Re: Start New Threads) posted by Mark D. on September 14, 2005 at 11:22:28:

Torpenhow. In The Place Names of Cumberland (The English Place Names Society) it is stated that:

The old story, first told by Denton [1887], that the name bears witness to three successive races -- British (Pen), Saxon (Tor), Danish (How) is incorrect.

There is then a learned disquisition on the more probable etymological roots of those words. However, the meaning of the words is nonetheless "hill" in some form or other (the last may be ridge).

As Torpenhow is the name of the village, the hill behind is Torpenhow Hill and can, indeed, be said to translate as "Hill hill hill hill".

Torpenhow is only a few miles from where I lived for many years. It may be interesting to point out that the local pronunciation is "Trepenna"; designed to confuse any visitor (and neighbouring Aspatria is "Spee-atree". Accent on the first syllable, as in all English place names.)

To my recollection, AR does not go much into actual pronunciation of Lake District words. Billy Lewthwaite's last name, for example, would have come out as "Loo-thet" (accent again on the first syllable).

For those interested in these oddities, I recommend a visit to www.lakelanddialectsociety.org.


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