In message <BAY14-DAV14mVFOh1vd000009c0@hotmail.com>, David Pott <davpott@hotmail.com> writes > > > > >> >> It is normally reckoned to be a word either for household or group, or >> small settlement, where said household chose to live. So Haddenham - >> Hadd/a/s ing's piece of real estate in a larger settlement. Bocking - >> Bocc/a/'s settlement; Dinton aka Donington or Danington - the Danish >> chap's settlement.> > >Not quite, the Old English ingas suffix element translates to "followers of" >or "dependants of". So Haddenham probably translates to "homestead of the >followers or dependants of Hadda". Bocking probably translates to "followers >or dependants of Bocca" and would originally have refered to the people not >to any fixed place or settlement. This is a bit of a quibble. Groups led by a particular person (chief equivalent) settled down to live together - otherwise the 'followers' would no longer have been part of Hadda's or Bocca's group. And once they had settled, and remained, the place took their name. Otherwise - had they moved on, somewhere else would have become known as Bocking. >One thought on the Dinton etc names, would it not seem strange to find Old >English name elements of C5th to C7th still in use in a Danish area in the >late C9th. It was not a Danish area per se, but an area beyond the borders of the Danelaw, though not too far for its influence to be felt. A bunch of Danes had intruded, fought a messy battle, and settled by right of conquest. Which is why it was the Danes' place (personal names unknown because we don't speak to that lot) Another hamlet a few miles across country is called Eythrop - again a Danish tag, covering a settlement of aliens beyond the usual boundaries of the Danelaw. It is what happens at the interface of two opposing peoples. -- Eve McLaughlin Author of the McLaughlin Guides for family historians Secretary Bucks Genealogical Society