Re: Apple Lane

From: donald_at_...
Date: Thu, 06 Oct 2005 02:08:05 GMT

In message <00a801c5c9f2$b69c6aa0$f29c9dcd_at_TEST> "Roderick and Ellen Robertson" writes:
>
>> >In fact it is precisely this tendency for duplication that led
>> >medieval scribes to add suffixes like 'Magna' and 'Parva' to
>> >village names.
>>
>> If you ignore such suffixes there are towns with the same name
>> less than 25 miles apart. e.g. Ashton-under-Lyne and
>> Ashton-in-Makerfield.
>
>Ignoring the suffixes is a bad thing to do, they are there for a
>reason (ie, to make sure the towns have "unique" names

Better tell the locals that, in or nearby the suffixes are dropped and the assumption is you're talking about the local one. Can be confusing if you're talking to someone from one when you're nearer to another. More usually it's clear from the context. Just as mentioning Manchester doesn't confuse anyone in the UK but quite a few people in the US.

>With all the different things one could call "a place where apple
>trees grow" I'd still be surprised by more than "Apple Lane": Apple
>Hill, Applehurst, Applemont, Apple Valley, Apple Creek, Apple Dale,
>Appldore, Appleby, Appletun, Applestead, Applewark, Applemart, Apple
>Lane Parva, Apple Lane Magna, Apple Lane Regis, Upper Apple Lane,
>Apple Lane Magna, Apple Lane on the River, Apple Lane sur le mare,
>Apple Lane under hill...

If the Lunars are there long enough I'm sure they'll eventually add suffixes or prefixes to identify each. There's no reason for the locals to take any notice though. Then several of your examples are the same name in different languages (e.g. hill and mont). So we end up with half a dozen names for all the places in Sartar where apples grow.

-- 
Donald Oddy
http://www.grove.demon.co.uk/