Extra t.p. with thesis statement inserted. Thesis--Stockholm. / Errata slip inserted. Includes bibliographical references (p. 157-168).

The dissertation describes the names related to justice and places in the landscape where justice was administered, applying an interdisciplinary perspective with place names as the chief source material. One aim is to collect and describe place names in Skåne designating or indirectly associated with meeting places and districts of the court, and to study the named places. The study covers many different periods, but especially the Middle Ages and the transition from the Late Iron Age to the Middle Ages. The analysis raises questions such as: Was there continuity in judicial sites between prehistoric and historic times? How old are the hundreds (härader)? Is there a spatial link between judicial sites and other central functions such as cult, markets, or rulers’ estates? The work is permeated by material-based onomastic research in combination with current perspectives in text research, historical geography, and archaeology. Nine case studies are conducted to describe the interaction between place, linguistic expression, and meaning. The study demonstrates the existence of a large corpus of names reflecting the early administration of justice. Most of the many field names which contain ting ‘court’ and galge ‘gallows’ can be related to the actual administration of justice. The medieval sites where courts assembled and people were executed stand out in particular, but in many cases these have prehistoric roots. Both unbroken continuity and the reuse of earlier places of assembly may be assumed. Close to sites with names indicating the administration of justice there are also landscape features with names that grant epic and mythical status to the locale. The special quality of these places was handed down, incorporated in larger narratives, based on changing ideas and circumstances in different periods. The landscape of the hundred courts (häradsting) is archaic, magnificent and mythical, and shared, qualities that contributed to the maintenance and legitimation of judicial practice. A division into a general, public judicial sphere and a more limited and exclusive sphere can be seen. In the medieval exercise of justice this division is manifested in two different judicial districts – härad and birk – but the phenomenon can be traced back to the Late Iron Age. The study also problematizes a traditional image of the names of the hundreds.

The purpose of this thesis is to present the general features of field names from the early 17th century to 2012, and to investigate the continuity of such names and attempt to understand what factors are of importance when it comes to their continuity and disappearance. A general survey is conducted in two parishes, Almunge and Väddö, in Uppland, Sweden, with more detailed investigations covering the hamlets of Söderby and Ösby, in Almunge, and Södra Fjäll and Norrbyle, in Väddö. The theoretical framework of the thesis is based in dialogical theory and the theory of an onomasticon. A total of 5,736 field names are examined and categorized in an onomastic analysis covering a number of angles: name elements, the semantics of generics and specifics, and name continuity. Field names exhibiting continuity, drawn from the four hamlets studied more closely, are also analysed in terms of non-onomastic factors: type of land, joint ownership, and location on the hamlet boundary. The study shows that a majority of field names are formed in the same way: with a specific denoting a natural or cultural feature and a generic indicating a type of farmland. Some variations over time may be noted: specifics describing location seem to be more common in the earlier periods, while those denoting settlements appear more often in later names. In general, it is not possible to speak of a strong continuity of field names. The names that do show continuity usually belong to the most general field-name types, although there is a tendency for names consisting of only one element or including a generic that does not denote land to have a better chance of surviving. The results of my study seem to indicate that both onomastic and non-onomastic factors are of importance when it comes to the survival of field names.