Richard Coates

The genealogy of eagre ‘tidal surge in the river Trent’

A case is made for the derivation of the regional word eagre ‘tidal surge’, ‘bore’, and relatives or variants found in other contexts, from OE e(a)gor- meaning ‘flood’ or the like, despite the phonological difficulty. A Latin source is proposed. The evidence for the word is considered alongside place-name evidence, and explanations are tentatively reaffirmed, and proposed, respectively, for two problematic names in Nottinghamshire and Gloucestershire.

A new explanation of the name of London

The history of attempts to explain the name of London is charted, and it is concluded that none of them succeeds in making any headway with the problem. A tentative new solution is proposed which explains it as a probably Celtic place-name derived from a Celticized river-name originally forming part of the Old European stratum of European toponymy, in the sense established by Hans Krahe. Topographical arguments are used to support the proposal, as well as arguments from pre-English naming patterns for rivers and their estuaries. The proposed etymology also succeeds in accounting for the Middle Welsh name of the city, Llundein, without any of the special pleading associated with current explanations.

On the possibility of proper verbs

Abstract The quality of being proper is always presumed, for perfectly understandable reasons to do with its function in acts of reference, to be restricted to nouns or noun phrases. This article is an exploration of the idea that a defensible case can be made for the real, if often ephemeral, existence of proper verbs. Evidence is presented from four categories of usage, mainly in English, but also in French and Dutch.

The Name of the State of Maine: An Irish Perspective

Abstract The three current theories of the origin of the name of the American state of Maine are reviewed and rejected. The connection of the colonist Sir Ferdinando Gorges with Ireland is explored, and a possible origin is proposed in the circumstances of the Anglo-Irish wars of 1594–1603 and their impact on his thoughts and motives.

Why Hungarian isn't as extrinsic as Vago thinks

i. The industry of explaining away apparent cases of extrinsic rule-ordering in phonology has been in recession recently. Kenstowicz and Kisseberth, in a recent textbook (I979), make rather soothingly conservative noises about ordered-rule solutions. In this lull, during which (it is clear) ordered-rule solutions are still reckoned to be a possibility, Vagos claim (I977) to be able to substantiate such a position has gone unchallenged. He presents evidence for why phonological theory needs to retain extrinsic ordering as a possibility; in so doing he aligns himself with the tradition of

Reservations on the origin of syllabic consonants

A universal concerning the origin of syllabic consonants is proposed by Bell, 1978: 165. This says that ‘the syllabicity of syllabic consonants never arises spontaneously from a marginal consonant, as far as I can ascertain. The source of syllabicity is always a vowel’. Certain apparently contradictory data in English ([elm] elm ) are adduced, but following Dobson, 1968, Bell (167) assumes an intermediate stage with shwa (eləm). There is evidence in Dobson that spellings with a vowel letter are indeed earlier than (for instance) Bullokars capitalized consonant letters representing syllabic consonants. It seems to me, though, that we need to make a reservation about the assumption of the priority of svarabhakti over syllabization.

Pyewacket: A Familiar Spirit of the Witchfinder General

Abstract The name of a witch’s familiar, Pyewacket, was reported by the Witchfinder General of England, Matthew Hopkins, at the height of the witch persecution in the middle of the seventeenth century. It has eluded explanation so far. It is suggested that it derives from the name of a village presently in the State of Maine, and that it became known in England through family connections between Hopkins and the Governor of Massachusetts John Winthrop.

The name of the Hwicce: A discussion

Abstract This article presents the evidence for the Anglo-Saxon ethnic name Hwicce borne by a people of the south-west Midlands, and reviews previous unsatisfactory attempts to explain it. It appears to be probably of British Celtic origin, and an etymology in two variants, consistent in etymological meaning with that of other early ethnonyms, is suggested.

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In the mid-nineteenth century the American West was still largely unsettled and the West Coast was not yet part of the nation but the Hudson River Valley was becoming an iconic American landscape, depicted in literature and art, and imbued with a history that was building the self-awareness of the new nation. Yet its natural landscape was already threatened by industrialisation and the intensive farming required to serve growing markets and trade; lumbering and quarrying were affecting the ecology and scarring the landscape. By the early twentieth century the Hudson River itself was already heavily polluted. In this beautifully presented book Schuyler explores the role of those who helped to build an appreciation of the natural beauty and its historical significance into the American psyche. In 1823, James Fenimore Cooper described the beauty of Kaaterskill Falls in the Catskills as evidence of ‘the hand of God . . . in the wilderness’ and others saw Nature as ‘the source of America’s distinctiveness as a culture’, a landscape far ‘older than all the institutions of European civilization’ (pp. 9-10), with this area a ‘special place’ with its own emerging folklore, hallowed by its association with history and especially its role in the struggle for American independence. Tourism began to thrive but the comments of travellers reveal the tensions of the age, some preferring the domestication of a ‘tamed’ nature or the potential for material progress. This led to impassioned pleas, by Washington Irving and Thomas Cole among others, for an appreciation of the natural picturesque landscape. Tourism is shown to have had a profound impact on the development of nineteenthcentury American culture. In similar vein, the author examines the role of artists and writers. Amongst the former, Cole pursued his fight against the needless destruction of nature, especially in his beloved Catskills (his 1826 painting of the Falls of Kaarterskill is reproduced here), and the lack of attachment to place. A number of writers have been closely identified with the river and its environs, particularly Irving and Nathaniel Parker Willis, the latter bringing the Native Americans back into the scene. Another influence in the region was A. J. Downing, nurseryman and landscape designer, who championed various revival styles in building and a more natural style in landscape gardens. Despite his short life (he was tragically killed in 1852 at the age of only thirty-six with the burning of the Hudson River steamboat Henry Clay), he articulated the idea that the ‘Hudson Valley landscape was the example the rest of the nation should follow’ (p. 91), thereby contributing to the recognition of the Hudson as America’s river. With the passing of so many influential people, the midcentury ushered in a period of great change and uncertainly which even threatened the United States as a nation. Cultural upheaval was mounting with disputes over slavery and over the future of the new territories acquired as a result if the war with Mexico, record-high immigration, the rapid growth of cities (especially New York), the realities of industrialisation (including the growth of steampowered industry), and the transport revolution (railroads and the Delaware and Hudson Canal): ‘change was accelerating, spiralling beyond most residents’ ability to comprehend’ (p 94). But plans for the preservation of sites and buildings of historical significance were being put in place, not least Washington’s Headquarters at Newburgh. A celebration of the landscape may have been a critical component in American national identity but the concept of Manifest Destiny saw a United States which was to reach the Pacific Ocean. Jervis McIntee did not fit comfortably into this school of thought, a landscape painter who remained inspired by the natural grace and beauty of his native Catskills but who had to face an influx of foreign paintings and a cataclysmic shift in the art world as it abandoned the ascendancy of the Hudson River. The conflict in part abated with the work of the naturalist John Burroughs, a close friend of John Muir. He lived at a time when the Hudson was descecrated by ice harvesting (for food preservation) and brick making (to feed the demands of urban growth), a period of enormous social, cultural and technological change, but he helped Americans to ‘see the natural world in a new light, to appreciate birds and wildflowers and the simple beauties of nature close at hand’ (p. 133). The twentieth century remained a period of conflict, between commerce versus conservation, public good pitted against private gain, but it

An Unusual Source of Evidence for Dialect: The Sword Inscriptions of William Peachey

The sword inscriptions of William Peachey, a seventeenth-century Sussex blacksmith, are an unusual and neglected source of evidence about the dialect of eastern Hampshire and western Sussex of this period. What they tell us is remarkably consistent with the assumption of long-term stability in local speech-patterns before the immediate present. The cavalry unit for which they were made was raised at Hambledon, Hamsphire, and the evidence of the inscriptions tallies well with the dialect features recorded from the same place around 1960.