ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2395
http://www.s-gabriel.org/2395
************************************

21 Nov 2001
From:  (Josh Mittleman)


Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!

You asked our help naming your SCA branch, located in a state border
community at a crossing over a major river; you wondered whether
<Borders Crossing> or <Borders Cross> is an appropriate name for an
English place in our period.  Here is what we have found.

As we noted earlier, the word <crossing> was first used to mean "a
geographical place where people cross a river, street, etc." only in
1632; and <border> was first used to mean "a boundary-line between
countries or regions" only in 1535 [1].  Neither usage is early enough
to plausibly allow the creation of a period place name like <Borders
Crossing>.

As you had found in your own research, the word <cross> does appear as
the substantive element in some medieval English place names.  We
found several period examples: <Horecros> 1251 [2], <La Charryngcros>
1360, <Walthamcros> 1365 [3].  In these names, the element <-cros>
refers to a large cross set up as a monument.  In the latter two
cases, this is an "Eleanor Cross", i.e. one of the monuments erected
by Edward I in 1290 in memory of Queen Eleanor.  Other examples have
similar origins [4].

Unfortunately, we've found no evidence that the word <border> was used
in any way in English place names, so we cannot recommend either
<Borders Cross> or <Border Cross> as a plausible medieval English
place name.


At this point, we considered several options: a name that sounds
similar to <Border Cross>, or one that means "river crossing at a
regional border" or "place on a border that is marked by a cross" or
"place on a river that it marked by a cross".  

We found one way to create a place name that sounds similar to <Border
Cross>, though it has a completely different meaning.  The word <cros> was
sometimes combined with given names to create place names.  Modern
<Buckrose> was originally <Bukka cros> from the Old Norse given name
<Bukki> [7].  The modern name <Bordley>, recorded as <Bordeleia> c.1140,
<Bordelay> 1162, derives from an Old English phrase <Brordan leah>
"Brorda's wood" [8].  (The shift from <Brordan-> to <Borde-> is noted as
early as the Domesday Book, and follows known patterns in the development
of English [9].)  An analogous Old English place name <Brordan cros>
"Brorda's cross" could similarly have produced <Bordecros> in the 12th or
13th century.  Note that it would not have been understood to have anything
to do with either borders or crossing points.

We found more possibilities when we tried to match the meaning you
were originally trying to convey.  There are several words used in
English place names that mean "river crossing" in some sense; the most
obvious and common is <ford>.  Others are the Old English synonym
<w{ae}d> and its Norse cognate <va{dh}> that became <-wade> and
<-wath> respectively in many place names [10].  The symbol {ae}
represents the letter aesc, written as an a-e ligature; {dh}
represents edh, written as a backward '6' with a crossbar on its upper
limb.

Some appropriate words meaning "border" or "boundary" include:

  * Old English <mearc> "a march, a boundary" found as both the first
    and last element of names, e.g. <Markham>, <Marksbury>,
    <Shiremark>, <The West March>;
  
  * <m{ae}re> "boundary, border" in <Marbrook>, <Mereburn>; and 
  
  * Old Danish <skial> in <Skeldike> "boundary ditch" and <Skelfleet>
    "boundary stream" [11].

We can combine these elements in various ways:

  * river crossing on a border: <Markford>, <Marwade>

  * river crossing marked by a cross: <Crosford>, <Croswade>,
                                      <Croswath> 

  * border marked by a cross: <Marcross> [12], <Crossmark> [13],
                              <Merecross> [14], <Skelcross> [15]

There are many more possibilities.  If any of these ideas appeals to
you, we can suggest variations or combinations with other roots that
have related meanings.

Wandering a bit further from your original idea, we note the Old
English word <ende> "end, the end of an estate, district, etc.", which
appears in names like <Gravesend>, <Sandsend>, <Wallsend>, <Sewards
End> [16].  Since the Murray river is the southern border of New South
Wales, a place there might be described as <Southend>.  There was a
<Sowthende> recorded in Essex in 1481 [17]; in the 13th century, it
could have been <Suthende>.  However, this name might not be
registerable [18].

If you are particularly interested in one of our suggestions, we can
supply more details.


We hope this letter has been useful.  Please write us again if any
part of it has been unclear or if you have other questions.  I was
assisted in researching and writing this letter by Maridonna
Benvenuti, Adelaide de Beaumont, Talan Gwynek, Mari neyn Brian,
Margaret Makafee, Juliana la Caminante de Navarra, Will Dekne,
Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Timothy of Glastonbury, and Ursula Georges.

For the Academy,


  Arval Benicoeur
  21 Nov 2001


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References

[1] _The Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary_ (New York:
Oxford University Press, 1973), s.vv. crossing, border.

[2] Ekwall, Eilert, _The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English
Place-names_, 4th edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991),
s.nn. Hoar Cross, Crosby, Crosland, Crosthwaite.

[3] Mills, A. D., _A Dictionary of English Place-Names_ (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1991), s.nn. Charing Cross, Waltham Cross.

[4] Other place names of the same type include (in modern spellings)
<Norcross>, <Rey Cross>, <Staincross>, <Twycross>, <Normancross>,
<Trengrouse>, <Stoke Holy Cross>, <Bledlow Cross>, <Handy Cross>,
<Ringlecrouch>, <Stonecrouch> [5].  Your example, <Mortimer's Cross>,
is in Herefordshire, the site of a major battle in 1461 during the War
of the Roses [6].  We did not find an explanation of <Mortimer's
Cross>, but we assume it also refers to a monumental cross.  The word
<cross> was also used as a descriptive element in place names, with a
similar meaning, e.g.  <Crosseby> 1291 "village where there are
crosses", <Crosland> c.1200 "land by a cross", <Crosthwayt> 1233
"clearing by a cross", and many more [2].

[5] Smith, A.H., _English Place-Name Elements_ (Cambridge: At the
University Press, 1956), s.v. cros.

[6] "Mortimer's Cross", The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition (WWW:
Columbia Univ. Press, 2001).
http://www.bartleby.com/65/mo/MortmrCrs.html

[7] Smith s.v. cros.  Similarly, <Lilla Cross> contains the Old
English given name <Lilla>, <Osgoldcross> contains Old Norse
<A/sgautr>, and <Swarthoe Cross> contains Old Norse <Svartho,f{dh}i>.
The slash in one of these names represents an acute accent mark on the
preceding letter.  <o,> stands for a Norse letter written as an <o>
with a small hook hanging from the bottom.

[8] Ekwall s.n. Bordley.

[9] Feilitzen, O. von, _The Pre-Conquest Personal Names of Domesday Book_
(Uppsala: 1937), p.208 s.n. Brorda.

[10] Smith, A.H. s.vv. ford, (ge)w{ae}d, va{dh}.  Examples of <w{ae}d>
include <Biggleswade>, recorded <Bikelswada> 1181; <Cattawade> which
is <Cattiwad> 1247 probably from <cattgew{ae}d> "cat-ford"; <Iwade>
1257 probably "ivy ford"; <Landwade> 1281.  Examples of <va{dh}
include modern names like <Broadwath>, <Sandwath>, <Crookwath>,
<Lambwatch>.

[11] Smith s.vv. mearc, (ge)m{ae}re, skial.

[12] Modern <Mark> in Somerset was <Mercern> 1065, <Merkerun> ca.1070,
<Merker> 1164, <Merke> 1201, <Merk> 1225; it's from <mearc{ae}rn>
'boundary house' (Ekwall s.n. Mark).  This shows that the second
element of such a compound could be a discrete object rather than
something forming or running along the line of a boundary.

[13] Smith s.v. *cegel "a pole" notes <Chilmark> from <cegel-mearc>.
This illustrates the inverted word order of <Crossmark>.

[14] Ekwall s.n. Merriott derives this name from <(ge)m{ae}rgeat>
"boundary gate".  Our suggestion <Merecross> similarly combined
<(ge)m{ae}r> with a discrete object.

[15] The word <skial> is most often combined with a term denoting an
object forming or running along the boundary, but Smith notes another
Old Norse word <skil> "a boundary" which may be the root of
<Skilgate>, in which the second element means "gate", a discrete
object.

[16] Smith s.v. ende.

[17] Ekwall s.n. Southend on Sea

[18] Southend-on-Sea has its own entry in Britannica (vol.11, p.50 in the
1989 edition), so <Suthende> might conflict under SCA College of Arms
rules.  <Southend-on-Sea> does not conflict with <Suthende>, but the
College might consider the informal name <Southend> to be important enough
to protect.  You should consult the heralds in your kingdom if you want to
use this name.