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The present thesis is an examination of the early medieval (c. AD 600-1000) territorial divisions, estates and settlement patterns of eastern Dumfriesshire, specifically Annandale, using the parishes of Moffat, Lochmaben and Annan as case studies. The history of this region during the late first millennium AD has received little attention in recent scholarship, which can in part be attributed to the virtual non-existence of written sources before the twelfth century. The obstacle of the limited written evidence can be overcome by using theoretical models which have been created for early medieval territorial units and estates in other parts of northern Britain for which the documentary record is less scarce. One of these models is the multiple estate, also known as shire in a Northumbrian and Scottish context. In this idealised type of estate, a number of townships owe obligations, such as renders in kind or labour services, to a central caput or lord’s hall, which functions as the administrative and legal core. Scholars such as J. E. A. Jolliffe, Glanville R. J. Jones, Angus J. L. Winchester and Geoffrey W. S. Barrow have argued that traces of the multiple estate can be gleaned from the written sources and settlement patterns of eleventh-, twelfth- and thirteenth-century Wales, northern England and eastern Scotland, suggesting a common heritage of pre-Anglo-Saxon territorial organisation. This model can be applied to Dumfriesshire using a multi-disciplinary approach including place-names, medieval and early modern charters, eighteenth-century maps and estate plans, late prehistoric and medieval archaeology as well as spatial GIS analyses. In order to add to the existing body of evidence, a new methodology is proposed which takes into account the agricultural potential of the settlements and territories in Annandale. This approach involves the use of formulae and the reconstruction of land use and land capability to estimate the maximum population which could be supported agriculturally in a given area. The complexity of demographic estimates and agricultural systems means that the calculated numbers should not be understood as absolute values, but rather used to compare territories with each other. The ecclesiastical parishes of Dumfriesshire seem to have been formally established in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, but there is evidence that they represented territorial divisions dating back to before AD 1100. The Anglo-Norman knights’ fees which were created in Annandale in the twelfth century appear to coincide with the parish boundaries, and it is notable that the aforementioned population estimates give similar values for the parishes of Moffat, Lochmaben and Annan, despite the different sizes in area. Place-name patterns for the period from c. AD 700 to 1000 indicate that each parish was sub-divided into territorial or estate units prior to the establishment of Anglo-Norman lordship. In the parish of Moffat, these territorial units are mostly found to coincide with the natural boundaries of the major river valleys. A possible exception may be the group of farms which appear in the early seventeenth century as the barony of Ericstane, encompassing all of Evandale as well as the western banks of upper Annandale. Similarly, the parish of Lochmaben shows traces of two or potentially three early medieval sub-divisions, which may represent small estate units. In the parish of Annan, hints of the same patterns appear, but the evidence does not allow as detailed an examination as in the cases of Lochmaben and Moffat. In the absence of a detailed contemporary written record, much of the aforementioned findings must remain tentative. Nevertheless, the proposed methodology for the assessment of agricultural potential is shown to provide a valuable tool for further studies within Dumfriesshire as well as other regions with similarly limited documentation.

This is a study of the Old Norse (hereafter abbreviated to ON) setr/sætr and ærgi place-names in areas of Scandinavian settlement in Scotland. The elements setr/sætr and ærgi all have a general meaning of a place for summer grazing in the hills, referred to in Scotland as a shieling. However, the related terms setr and sætr, are employed as shielings names in Norway and are indistinguishable from each other in Britain. It is only in areas of Scandinavian settlement in Britain and the Faroes that ærgi is found to signify a shieling site. The element ærgi was adopted as a loanword from either, the Scottish Gaelic àirigh or Irish áirge, both of which can also have the meaning of a shieling. What is unusual about this adoption is it is rare for a more prestigious speech community (ON in this instance) to adopt a word from, what is believed to have been, a less prestigious language at the time (Gaelic). Various scholars have looked at this question, but none have adequately explained the reason for the adoption. Much of the previous research has relied on comparisons of local farming systems that were recorded many centuries after the Viking Age. Farming techniques from the fifteenth to twentieth century are unlikely to adequately represent the agricultural situation in the Viking Age due to different social imperatives. The overall question I want to answer in this thesis, is why Scandinavian settlers in Scotland adopted ærgi, when they already had corresponding ON terms for a shieling. The distribution of ON settlement names is one of the main pieces of evidence to prove Scandinavian settlement in Scotland during this period. This is especially true of secondary settlements, such as shielings, which rarely feature in early documentation. The language shift to either Gaelic or Scots-English is likely to have led to the loss of many ON place-names, but will also have fossilised some names in the landscape. The location of these settlement names can give an understanding of how Scandinavian settlers utilised the landscape and highlight differences in the use of different shieling names. This thesis is interdisciplinary in nature, but one based on cultural and historical geography. The first element of the study is to understand why shielings developed in Scandinavian society and if there are identifiable environmental factors behind their location. Studies in Norway suggest shielings developed as a response to environmental constraints to agriculture and social pressures to produce a surplus. A locational study of shielings in areas that were the likely origin of Viking settlers in Norway, highlighted seven key locations for shielings. These locational factors were then compared to setr/sætr-names in Scotland. The locations were broadly similar to Norwegian shielings, however, Scottish setr/sætr-names were more likely to be situated in slightly more fertile locations than Norwegian examples studied. A comparison of Scottish setr/sætr-names with ærgi-names also revealed the latter to be more likely found on even richer grazing land. The conclusion being, setr/sætr had a more general meaning of a place for summer grazing, whereas, ærgi was specifically linked to richer soils and richer grazing land. This link may relate to an intensive dairy economy, something which is known from contemporary documentary sources from the Gaelic world, but has not been proven in pre-Viking Age Norway.

<p>The fact that five invasions have taken place in Great Britain, which all made a big impact on the country, makes the history of place-names particularly interesting. The aim of this essay is therefore to compare place-names in the Manchester area and the London area, and try to find the origin of the names. An additional aim is to find out which foreign invasion, if any, has coloured the areas the most.</p>

<p>This study investigates the translation of cultural features in fiction. It is based on two translations into English of the Swedish book <em>The Brothers Lionheart</em> and its focus lies on proper names, place names, food, and dialect. Acomparison between the two translations is also made.</p><p>The results showed that there were differences in the translation of proper names, place names, and food. While the overall differences for proper names, place names and food were small, there were big differences in the way some proper names and food were translated. However, these cases were very few, and on the whole, the translations resemble each other in most areas. As regards the translation of dialect, this was completely omitted in both translations.</p>

This study investigates the translation of cultural features in fiction. It is based on two translations into English of the Swedish book The Brothers Lionheart and its focus lies on proper names, place names, food, and dialect. Acomparison between the two translations is also made. The results showed that there were differences in the translation of proper names, place names, and food. While the overall differences for proper names, place names and food were small, there were big differences in the way some proper names and food were translated. However, these cases were very few, and on the whole, the translations resemble each other in most areas. As regards the translation of dialect, this was completely omitted in both translations.

The fact that five invasions have taken place in Great Britain, which all made a big impact on the country, makes the history of place-names particularly interesting. The aim of this essay is therefore to compare place-names in the Manchester area and the London area, and try to find the origin of the names. An additional aim is to find out which foreign invasion, if any, has coloured the areas the most.

This study focuses primarily on the inflection of singular place-names belonging to strong declensions and how their inflection developed in the Old Swedish period. It is based mainly on sources from Södermanland. Examination of the dative inflections of masculine and neuter place-names suggests that by and large place-names underwent the same course of development as appellatives, the dative having almost completely disappeared as a formal category by the end of the Middle Ages. In some cases dative endings were, however, retained in place-names: for example, certain name elements tended to keep the ending when they occurred as simplexes, but lost it in compound names. The dative may then have become the general form of such names. A special study was made of iō-stem place-names. Even in the nominative, forms ending in -e and -a predominate. The -e ending derives from the dative/accusative form, which may have become a new basic form at an early date. Reinterpretation of the dative/accusative resulted in someplace-names passing into the weak declension. Via the dative/accusative singular ending, place-names also adopted the generalized -a form which developed in plural habitative names. In the Middle Ages a mode of inflection peculiar to place-names appeared. In Latin texts, Swedish place-names occur in a generalized form, used regardless of case. A suitable form was chosen, often an accusative which had converged with the nominative. Generalized forms of this kind are found in both Latin and Old Swedish texts. The Latin scribal tradition was a contributory factor in their introduction. The author discusses whether place-names can be shown to have changed paradigm earlier than appellatives. Secondary -s genitives in particular, which occur earlier in place-names than in appellatives, suggest that they did. The fact that place-names exhibit secondary -s genitives in early sources may be partly due to their naming function. / <p>Doktorsavhandling vid Uppsala universitet.</p>