Scandinavian origins of place names in Britain

These pages are designed to help you understand more about the role of Scandinavian languages in the origins of place names in Britain.

The pages are made up of two parts: an introduction explaining a little about the language, and a glossary of Scandinavian elements with examples of their use.

In the glossary, the examples given are drawn from Orkney and Shetland, since in those areas, the Scandinavian origins have been comparatively little changed by later language influences.  However, the same Scandinavian influences are present in place names in many parts of Britain.

If you are interested, have a look at the corresponding pages for Welsh, Gaelic and Scots.

The Introduction and the Glossary are also available for download together as a Guide to Scandinavian origins of place names in Britain.

Guide to Scandinavian origins of place names in Britain PDF (236kb)