Vol. 74 No. 2 (2026): NAMES: A Journal of Onomastics
Articles

Old Norse-Old English interactions in Medieval Lancastrian Place-Names

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  • Emma E. Horne
Emma E. Horne
University of Nottingham
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5195/names.2026.2882

Published 2026-05-26

Keywords

  • toponomy,
  • Old Norse,
  • regionality,
  • topography,
  • linguistic analysis,
  • environmental analysis,
  • Old English
    • ...More
    Less

Copyright (c) 2026 Emma Horne

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

This paper presents the analysis of a corpus of place-names, assessing the patterns and impact of Old Norse–Old English (ON-OE) language contact in medieval Lancashire. It argues that Lancashire proves to be a particularly dense area for ON onomastic evidence. However, it does not appear to follow the general patterns of ON–OE interactions established in other areas of Scandinavian settlement in England. Instead, these linguistic interactions may be better understood within the regional context of Irish sea mobility, multilingual speakers, and mixed communities.

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