ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1045 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1045 ************************************ ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Later research turned up additional * * information relevant to this report. * * See the end of the letter for details. * * * ************************************************* 30 Aug 1998 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings, Here's the information we found on your group name "College of Three Bridges." We found a place in Germany called "Three Mills". (The colon represents an umlaut on the .) We also found "Three Springs" used as a surname (1). Neither of these names was used for a college, but they do support the used of the word in naming a place. The element "bridge" is a fairly common one in German place naming (2), so, we think that , meaning "three bridges," is a reasonable late-period German place-name. Earlier in period the spelling would be different; write us again if you'd like to see some of the possibilities. We also found a number of places in England that include , , and as elements, including these examples (3, 4): * Thrybergh, Thribergh "three hills of mounds" * Four Oaks (modern spelling; probably in period) * Fourstanys 1236, Fourestanes 1256 "four stones" * Five Ashes (modern spelling; probably in period) * Fyfhide 1345 "five hides, a unit of land measurement" Given these examples, we think that an English or "Three Bridges" is also reasonable. We hope this has been helpful, and that we can continue to assist you. Research for this letter was provided by Talan Gwynek, Tangwystyl vz. Morgant Glasvryn, Zenobia Naphtali, Walraven van Nijmegen, Aryanhwy Prytydes, Raphael van Antwerpen, and Charles O'Connor. In service, Alan Fairfax and Arval Benicoeur Academy of S. Gabriel 24 Aug 1998 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References (1) Brechenmacher, Josef Karlmann, _Etymologisches Worterbuch der deutschen familiennamen_ (Limburg a. d. Lahn, C. A. Starke-Verlag, 1957-1960), s.n. Dreispringer, Dreimu:hlen (2) ibid., passim. (3) Smith, A.H., _English Place-Name Elements_ (Cambridge: At the University Press, 1956), under "threo," "feower," and "fif." (4) Ekwall, Eilert, _The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names_, 4th edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991). - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Addendum added 04 June 06 by Aryanhwy: For more information on place names meaning 'three bridges', see S. Gabriel Report #3039, http://www.s-gabriel.org/3039.