And isn’t Cambridge named for a bridge over the river Cam? Both places have names = river crossing sites.
The Welsh name for Oxford is Rhydychen (rhyd = ford [they’re even cognate] & ychen = oxen).
The Welsh name for the English town (and colleges of) Cambridge is Caergrawnt (caer < Lat. “castrum” = fortress; Grawnt = river-name Granta), which matches the town of Grantchester, now a bit to the south of Cambridge. The English town of Cambridge was know as Grantbridge (variously spelled) until the 15th century; “Cam” seems to have arisen from a combination of sound changes (G > C) and shortening (ntab > mb), though that seems less certain.
Yarmouth is at the mouth of the river Yare.
Interesting!
But then there’s Newtowne (Massachusetts Bay Colony) → Cambridge (on the Charles). I’m guessing this change wasn’t due to changes in language over time.
Sort of. In English placenames, -ing means “a clan or kin-group, or group of descendants”. So a chief named Beorma might found with his followers and family - the Beormingas - a settlement that becomes known as Beormingasham - “the Beormingas’ home”. Eventually, that mutates to Birmingham.
Washington is probably another of the same - the most likely derivation for the Tyneside settlement from which the first President’s ancestors came is Hwæsingatūn, although no records of a Hwæsa survive. The name means “wheat sheaf” in Anglo-Saxon.
HIstorians estimate 200-500 “Death by Miscellaneous” along the Oregon Trail.
That’s how I wanna got. Miscellaneous.
You should always assume “miscellaneous” is a euphemism for cannibalism .
Or shot by John Wesley Hardin, just fer snorin’.
I’m fond of “Death By Misadventure”.
No wonder they still settle their differences by a rowing contest.
What about dying of dissing Terry?
I recently learned the Filipino flag is properly folded in a triangle, as the American flag is. I wonder if any other flag is folded in such a difficult way.
While settling an argument about holly and mistletoe, I discovered that mistletoe is a parasitic plant. I also discovered that in parts of the US, the way to harvest mistletoe is by shooting it out of treetops. Usually with a shotgun.
Did you know (wikipedia says)?
Pagan cultures regarded the white berries as symbols of male fertility, with the seeds resembling semen.[23] The Celts, particularly, saw mistletoe as the semen of Taranis, while the Ancient Greeks referred to mistletoe as “oak sperm”.[24][25] Also in Roman mythology, mistletoe was used by the hero Aeneas to reach the underworld.[26][27]
So you’re kissing under a bouquet of jizz…how romantic!
Only in America (and unfortunately your link does not work in Europe because the linked page does not like our data protection laws). In the civilized pagan world of Celtic resistance against the Roman oppressor, whatever they ever did for us, mistletoe is cut with a golden sickle. Otherwise the magic potion does not work.
Yes, I saw that too. Kind of puts a damper on the whole kissing thing. I’ll stick with holly and just tell people it’s mistletoe. The person I was talking to about this thought they were the same thing so most people probably wouldn’t know the difference.
I know, and what’s the point of harvesting all that mistletoe if the magic doesn’t work? Sometimes the old ways are the best ways.
Due to a rather confusing recent crossword puzzle clue, I learned that even though the most recent pope named John was Pope John XXIII, there have actually only been 21 popes named John. The previous Pope John XXIII was the antipope John XXIII from back during the Western Schism, and apparently there was never a Pope John XX.
Or enhances it.
ISWYDT