-wich town: Difference between revisions
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{{Short description|Anglo-Saxon trade settlement}} |
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In [[Anglo-Saxon England]] the '''"-wich towns"''' designated by the suffix '''-wic''' identified coastal trading settlements, equivalents of [[Marketplace|emporia]], provisioned from outside the protected community and characterised by extensive [[artisan]]al activity and imports, which have left [[Material culture|material traces]] in excavations.<ref>Simon T. Loseby, "Power and towns in Late Roman Britain and early Anglo-Saxon England" in Gisela Ripoll and Josep M. Gurt, eds., ''Sedes regiae (ann. 400-800)'', (Barcelona, 2000) esp. p. 356f ([http://www.raco.cat/index.php/MemoriasRABL/article/viewFile/23771/23605 on-line text]).</ref> The Anglo-Saxon ''wic'' signifies a dwelling place<ref>{{Cite web|title=Notes on Papplewick|work=Nottinghamshire History|url=http://www.nottshistory.org.uk/articles/potterbriscoe1884/papplewick1.htm|accessdate=2007-01-23}}</ref> or fortified place.<ref>{{Cite book|author=[[Charles Frederick Lawrence]]|title=The story of bygone Middlewich: In the County Palatine of Chester and Vale Royal of England|year=1936}}</ref> The ''wic'' form appears to give two endings, ''wich'' and ''wick''<ref>{{Cite web|title=The origin of words and names|url=http://www.krysstal.com/wordname.html|work=KryssTal|accessdate=2007-01-24}}</ref> (for example [[Papplewick]] in [[Nottinghamshire]]). Four are known through archaeological excavation, two on waterfront sites outside [[London]] (see [[Lundenwic]]) and [[York]] (see [[Jorvik]]) the others at ''Hamwic'' ([[Southampton]]), occupied from the end of the seventh century to the mid-ninth century, and [[Ipswich]].<ref>R. Hodges, ''The Anglo-Saxon Achievement: archaeology and the beginnings of English society'', 1989:69-104; as emporia: C. Scull, "Urban centres in pre-Viking England?" in J. Hines, ed. ''The Anglo-Saxons from the Migration Period to the Eighth Century: an ethnological perspective'', 1997:269-98.</ref> By the mid-ninth century there is a hiatus in seaport occupation at many sites, in consequence of [[Viking]] depredations. |
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{{distinguish|Wich (disambiguation){{!}}Wich}} |
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A "'''-''wich'' town'''" is a settlement in [[Anglo-Saxon England]] characterised by extensive [[artisan]]al activity and trade{{spaced ndash}}an "[[Emporium (early medieval)|emporium]]". The name is derived from the [[Old English|Anglo-Saxon]] suffix {{strong|-{{lang|ang|wīc}}}}, signifying "a dwelling<ref>{{cite web |title=Notes on Papplewick |work=Nottinghamshire History |url=http://www.nottshistory.org.uk/articles/potterbriscoe1884/papplewick1.htm |access-date=2007-01-23}}</ref> or fortified<ref>{{cite book |author=Charles Frederick Lawrence |author-link=Charles Frederick Lawrence |title=The story of bygone Middlewich: In the County Palatine of Chester and Vale Royal of England |year=1936}}</ref> place". |
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Such settlements were usually coastal {{cn|date=March 2022}} and many have left [[Material culture|material traces]] found during [[Excavation (archaeology)|excavation]].<ref>Simon T. Loseby, "[http://www.raco.cat/index.php/MemoriasRABL/article/viewFile/23771/23605 Power and towns in Late Roman Britain and early Anglo-Saxon England]" in Gisela Ripoll and Josep M. Gurt, eds., ''Sedes regiae (ann. 400-800)'' (Barcelona, 2000), especially p. 356 ff.</ref> |
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[[Eilert Ekwall]] wrote: |
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==Derivation of the name== |
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{{quote|{{abbr|OE|Old English (Anglo-Saxon)}} {{lang|ang|wīc}}, an early loan-word from Lat {{lang|la|vicus}}, means 'dwelling, dwelling-place; village, hamlet, town; street in a town; farm, esp. a dairy-farm'. ... It is impossible to distinguish neatly between the various senses. Probably the most common meaning is 'dairy-farm'. ... In names of salt-working towns ... ''wīc'' originally denoted the buildings connected with a salt-pit or even the town that grew up around it. But a special meaning 'salt-works', found already in [[Doomsday Book|DB]], developed."<ref>Ekwall, Eilert (1960). ''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names'' (fourth ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 515–516</ref>}} |
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As well as ''-wich'', ''-{{lang|ang|wīc}}'' was the origin of the endings {{strong|-''wyck''}} and {{strong|-''wick''}},<ref>{{cite web |title=The origin of words and names |url=http://www.krysstal.com/wordname.html |work=KryssTal |access-date=2007-01-24}}</ref> as, for example, in [[Papplewick]], [[Nottinghamshire]]. |
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Four former "-''wīc'' towns" are known in [[England]] as the consequence of excavation. Two of these{{spaced ndash}}[[Scandinavian York|Jorvik (Jorwic)]] in present-day York and [[Lundenwic]] near London{{spaced ndash}}are waterfront sites, while the other two, [[Hamwic]] in Southampton and Gipeswic (Gippeswic) in [[Ipswich]] are further inland.<ref>R. Hodges, ''The Anglo-Saxon Achievement: archaeology and the beginnings of English society'', 1989:69–104; and, as emporia, C. Scull, "Urban centres in pre-Viking England?" in J. Hines, ed. ''The Anglo-Saxons from the Migration Period to the Eighth Century: an ethnological perspective'', 1997:269-98.</ref> <!--Starting to move off-topic?: By the mid-ninth century, there is a hiatus in seaport occupation at many sites, in consequence of [[Viking]] depredations.--> |
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| ⚫ | By the eleventh century, the use of ''-wich'' in placenames had been extended to include areas associated with salt production. At least nine English towns and cities carry the suffix although only five of them tend to be associated with salt: [[Droitwich]] in [[Worcestershire]] and the four -''wich'' towns of [[Middlewich]], [[Nantwich]], [[Northwich]] and [[Leftwich]] in [[Cheshire]]. |
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{{quotation |
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| ⚫ | | Our English salt supply is chiefly derived from the [[Cheshire]] and [[Worcestershire]] salt-regions, which are of [[triassic]] age. Many of the places at which the salt is mined have names ending in wich, such as [[Northwich]], [[Middlewich]], [[Nantwich]], [[Droitwich]], [[Netherwich]], and [[Weston, Staffordshire|Shirleywich]]. This termination wich is itself curiously significant, as Canon Isaac Taylor has shown, of the necessary connection between salt and the sea. The earliest known way of producing salt was of course in shallow pans on the sea-shore, at the bottom of a [[shoal bay]], called in [[Old Norse language|Norse]] and Early English a wick or wich; and the material so produced is still known in trade as bay-salt. By-and-by, when people came to discover the inland brine-pits and salt mines, they transferred to them the familiar name, a wich; and the places where the salt was manufactured came to be known as wych-houses. Droitwich, for example, was originally such a wich, where the droits or dues on salt were paid at the time when [[William the Conqueror]]'s commissioners drew up their great survey for [[Domesday Book]]. But the good, easy-going mediaeval people who gave these quaint names to the inland wiches had probably no idea that they were really and truly dried-up bays, and that the salt they mined from their pits was genuine ancient bay-salt, the deposit of an old inland sea, evaporated by slow degrees a countless number of ages since, exactly as the Dead Sea and the Great Salt Lake are getting evaporated in our own time. |
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|[[Grant Allen]]|''Falling in Love: With Other Essays on More Exact Branches of Science''|source=1889<ref>{{cite book|last=Allen|first=Grant|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16807 |title=Falling in Love; With Other Essays on More Exact Branches of Science by Grant Allen|publisher=Smith, Elder & Co.|year=1889|access-date=2014-06-05}}</ref> |
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}} |
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== See also == |
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* [[History of salt#Salt production in England|English "-''wich'' towns" and the history of salt]] |
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* [[Emporium (early medieval)|Emporium]] |
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* [[Wick, Caithness]] |
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wich Town}} |
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[[Category:History of salt]] |
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[[Category:Place name element etymologies]] |
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[[Category:English suffixes]] |
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Latest revision as of 06:00, 14 July 2024
A "-wich town" is a settlement in Anglo-Saxon England characterised by extensive artisanal activity and trade – an "emporium". The name is derived from the Anglo-Saxon suffix -wīc, signifying "a dwelling[1] or fortified[2] place".
Such settlements were usually coastal [citation needed] and many have left material traces found during excavation.[3]
Eilert Ekwall wrote:
OE wīc, an early loan-word from Lat vicus, means 'dwelling, dwelling-place; village, hamlet, town; street in a town; farm, esp. a dairy-farm'. ... It is impossible to distinguish neatly between the various senses. Probably the most common meaning is 'dairy-farm'. ... In names of salt-working towns ... wīc originally denoted the buildings connected with a salt-pit or even the town that grew up around it. But a special meaning 'salt-works', found already in DB, developed."[4]
As well as -wich, -wīc was the origin of the endings -wyck and -wick,[5] as, for example, in Papplewick, Nottinghamshire.
Four former "-wīc towns" are known in England as the consequence of excavation. Two of these – Jorvik (Jorwic) in present-day York and Lundenwic near London – are waterfront sites, while the other two, Hamwic in Southampton and Gipeswic (Gippeswic) in Ipswich are further inland.[6]
By the eleventh century, the use of -wich in placenames had been extended to include areas associated with salt production. At least nine English towns and cities carry the suffix although only five of them tend to be associated with salt: Droitwich in Worcestershire and the four -wich towns of Middlewich, Nantwich, Northwich and Leftwich in Cheshire.
Our English salt supply is chiefly derived from the Cheshire and Worcestershire salt-regions, which are of triassic age. Many of the places at which the salt is mined have names ending in wich, such as Northwich, Middlewich, Nantwich, Droitwich, Netherwich, and Shirleywich. This termination wich is itself curiously significant, as Canon Isaac Taylor has shown, of the necessary connection between salt and the sea. The earliest known way of producing salt was of course in shallow pans on the sea-shore, at the bottom of a shoal bay, called in Norse and Early English a wick or wich; and the material so produced is still known in trade as bay-salt. By-and-by, when people came to discover the inland brine-pits and salt mines, they transferred to them the familiar name, a wich; and the places where the salt was manufactured came to be known as wych-houses. Droitwich, for example, was originally such a wich, where the droits or dues on salt were paid at the time when William the Conqueror's commissioners drew up their great survey for Domesday Book. But the good, easy-going mediaeval people who gave these quaint names to the inland wiches had probably no idea that they were really and truly dried-up bays, and that the salt they mined from their pits was genuine ancient bay-salt, the deposit of an old inland sea, evaporated by slow degrees a countless number of ages since, exactly as the Dead Sea and the Great Salt Lake are getting evaporated in our own time.
— Grant Allen, Falling in Love: With Other Essays on More Exact Branches of Science, 1889[7]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Notes on Papplewick". Nottinghamshire History. Retrieved 2007-01-23.
- ^ Charles Frederick Lawrence (1936). The story of bygone Middlewich: In the County Palatine of Chester and Vale Royal of England.
- ^ Simon T. Loseby, "Power and towns in Late Roman Britain and early Anglo-Saxon England" in Gisela Ripoll and Josep M. Gurt, eds., Sedes regiae (ann. 400-800) (Barcelona, 2000), especially p. 356 ff.
- ^ Ekwall, Eilert (1960). The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names (fourth ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 515–516
- ^ "The origin of words and names". KryssTal. Retrieved 2007-01-24.
- ^ R. Hodges, The Anglo-Saxon Achievement: archaeology and the beginnings of English society, 1989:69–104; and, as emporia, C. Scull, "Urban centres in pre-Viking England?" in J. Hines, ed. The Anglo-Saxons from the Migration Period to the Eighth Century: an ethnological perspective, 1997:269-98.
- ^ Allen, Grant (1889). Falling in Love; With Other Essays on More Exact Branches of Science by Grant Allen. Smith, Elder & Co. Retrieved 2014-06-05.