Hi Listers, As many of us already know, the floods on the Somerset Levels have been in the forefront of the U.K. news for a number of weeks. We have seen lots of pictures and film of this this devastating flood, which no doubt will be archived. A Wells Journal article, featuring some paintings of this flood, has also caught my attention: Godney painter Kate Noble captures Somerset floods on canvas http://www.wellsjournal.co.uk/Painter-finds-magical-floods/story-20523165-detail/story.html What has also struck me about the flood on the Somerset Levels is the 'ey' at the end of place names such as Goldney, Muchelney and Thorney. The 'ey' at the end of some place names may be derived from a Saxon word meaning island or some land partially surrounded by water in the form of streams or marsh. I'm just recalling a talk I attended on Saxon place names some years ago, but I haven't delved too deeply into this so there may be another explanation. Josephine

The -ey ending is presumably the same as the -ay ending in parts of Scotland, which definitely means "island" - Colonsay, Islay, Berneray, South Ronaldsay, Papa Westray ... I always understood it to have a Scandinavian root. Up here it occurs principally in areas which the Vikings occupied. (The Gaelic word for island is eilean, and I'm not sure where the word inch comes from, which also occurs in placenames in southern Scotland meaning isalnd.) In Somerset it presumably refers to higher ground in former areas of marsh which are effectively islands? Colin -----Original Message----- From: bristol_and_somerset-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:bristol_and_somerset-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Josephine Jeremiah Sent: 07 February 2014 12:49 To: bristol_and_somerset@rootsweb.com Subject: [B&S] Godney painter Kate Noble captures Somerset floods on canvas - Wells Journal Hi Listers, As many of us already know, the floods on the Somerset Levels have been in the forefront of the U.K. news for a number of weeks. We have seen lots of pictures and film of this this devastating flood, which no doubt will be archived. A Wells Journal article, featuring some paintings of this flood, has also caught my attention: Godney painter Kate Noble captures Somerset floods on canvas http://www.wellsjournal.co.uk/Painter-finds-magical-floods/story-20523165-de tail/story.html What has also struck me about the flood on the Somerset Levels is the 'ey' at the end of place names such as Goldney, Muchelney and Thorney. The 'ey' at the end of some place names may be derived from a Saxon word meaning island or some land partially surrounded by water in the form of streams or marsh. I'm just recalling a talk I attended on Saxon place names some years ago, but I haven't delved too deeply into this so there may be another explanation. Josephine ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to BRISTOL_AND_SOMERSET-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ----- No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 2014.0.4259 / Virus Database: 3697/7069 - Release Date: 02/06/14 ----- No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 2014.0.4259 / Virus Database: 3697/7069 - Release Date: 02/06/14

On Fri, 07 Feb 2014 13:18:53 -0000, Colin Salter <colin.salter@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote: > The -ey ending is presumably the same as the -ay ending in parts of > Scotland, which definitely means "island" - Colonsay, Islay, Berneray, > South > Ronaldsay, Papa Westray ... I always understood it to have a Scandinavian > root. Hi Colin, I didn't know the meaning of the place name ending of 'ay' in Scotland, but have just looked it up and the sites I looked at note that it was Old Norse for island so I have discovered something new. > In Somerset it presumably refers to higher ground in former areas of > marsh which are effectively > islands? I've just looked on the Wikipedia page for Muchelney and the first paragraph in the history section mentions the 'ey' suffix being common to villages in this location, which stood like islands just above the marshes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muchelney Josephine