ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2889 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2889 ************************************ 3 Jul 2004 From: Femke de Roas Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked us if the name or a variant would be a suitable place name for a locale in England during the time period from 1066-1400. We found no medieval English place names compounded from and a topographical term. The only use of we found in English place names is a modern which derives from the Middle English for "pine-tree" [1]. That example doesn't support a construction like , though. Places in England weren't named after pines, but places in France often were: There are numerous examples of French place names derived from or . A name like , , or would be excellent re-creation. French place names often combined a topographical element with a descriptive element: There are modern places and . The latter appears in a Latin document from 1330 as , which tells us that the compound name was used by the early 14th century [2]. Thus, we can recommend "[town on a] river [in] the pines" as a fine re-creation of medieval French place- naming. A Norman family from one of the French places settled in England, and two places in Devonshire were named for them: and . These names don't directly have anything to do with pine trees, of course, but a town called might still use a pine tree in its arms. Unfortunately, this pattern doesn't support a compound with [3]. Note that affixes of this type usually refer to a 13th century tenant of the area, and don't usually occur as placenames until the early 14th century. 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. Research and assistance in writing this letter was provided by Arval Benicouer, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Talan Gwynek, and Juliana de Luna. For the Academy, Femke de Roas July 3, 2004 ______________________________________________________________________ REFERENCES [1] Smith, A.H., _English Place-Name Elements_ (Cambridge: At the University Press, 1956). s.v. . [2] Dauzat, Albert & Ch. Rostaing, _Dictionnaire Etymologique des Noms de Lieux de la France_ (Paris: Librairie Larousse, 1963). s.n. Pin, Mont, Ravi\eres. is analgous to the place name in Manche, cited here. [3] Reaney, P. H., & R. M. Wilson, _A Dictionary of English Surnames_ (London: Routledge, 1991; Oxford University Press, 1995). s. nn. Comb, Upton.