昨日の記事「#1735. カナダ州名の由来」 ([2014-01-26-1]) に続いて，今回はイギリスの州 (county, shire) の名前の起源について．まずは，州境の入った地図を掲げたい．Ordnance Survey - Outline maps より入手した，1972--1996年の旧州名の入った地図である．下図をクリックして拡大 (65KB) ，あるいはさらなる拡大版 (260KB)，あるいはPDF版 (243KB) を参照しながらどうぞ．
以下の州名の由来は，Crystal (143) にもとづく．Western Isles, Highland, Central, Borders など，自明のものは省略してある．当然ながらケルト諸語に由来する州名が多い．
| Avon | "river" |
| Bedford | "Beda's ford" |
| Berkshire | "county of the wood of Barroc" ("hilly place") |
| Buckingham | "riverside land of Bucca's people" |
| Cambridge | "bridge over the river Granta" |
| Cheshire | "county of Chester" (Roman "fort") |
| Cleveland | "hilly land" |
| Clwyd | "hurdle" (? on river) |
| Cornwall | "(territory of) Britons of the Cornovii" ("promontory people") |
| Cumbria | "territory of the Welsh" |
| Derby | "village where there are deer" |
| Devon | "(territory of) the Dumnonii" ("the deep ones", probably miners) |
| Dorset | "(territory of the) settlers around Dorn" ("Dorchester") |
| Dumfries and Galloway | "woodland stronghold"; "(territory of) the stranger-Gaels" |
| Durham | "island with a hill" |
| Dyfed | "(territory of) the Demetae" |
| Essex | "(territory of) the East Saxons" |
| Fife | "territory of Vip" (?) |
| Glamorgan | "(Prince) Morgan's shore" |
| Gloucester | "(Roman) fort at Glevum" ("bright place") |
| Grampian | unknown origin |
| Gwent | "favoured place" |
| Gwynedd | "(territory of) Cunedda" (5th-century leader) |
| Hampshire | "county of Southampton" ("southern home farm") |
| Hereford and Worcester | "army ford"; "(Roman) fort of the Wigora" |
| Hertford | "hart ford" |
| Humberside | "side of the good river" |
| Kent | "land on the border" (?) |
| Lancashire | "(Roman) fort on the Lune" ("health-giving river") |
| Leicester | "(Roman) fort of the Ligore people" |
| Lincoln | "(Roman) colony at Lindo" ("lake place") |
| London | "(territory of) Londinos" ("the bold one") (?) |
| Lothian | "(territory of) Leudonus" |
| Man | "land of Mananan" (an Irish god) |
| Manchester | "(Roman) fort at Mamucium" |
| Merseyside | "(side of the) boundary river" |
| Norfolk | "northern people" |
| Northampton | "northern home farm" |
| Northumberland | "land of those dwelling north of the Humber" |
| Nottingham | "homestead of Snot's people" |
| Orkney | "whale island" (?) (After J. Field, 1980) |
| Oxford | "ford used by oxen" |
| Powys | "provincial place" |
| Scilly | unknown origin |
| Shetland | "hilt land" |
| Shropshire | "county of Shrewsbury" ("fortified place of the scrubland region") |
| Somerset | "(territory of the) settlers around Somerton" ("summer dwelling") |
| Stafford | "ford beside a landing-place" |
| Strathclyde | "valley of the Clyde" (the "cleansing one") |
| Suffolk | "southern people" |
| Surrey | "southern district" |
| Sussex | "(territory of) the South Saxons" |
| Tayside | "silent river" or "powerful river" |
| Tyne and Wear | "water, river"; "river" |
| Warwick | "dwellings by a weir" |
| Wight | "place of the division" (of the sea) (?) |
| Wiltshire | "county around Wilton" ("farm on the river Wylie") |
| Yorkshire | "place of Eburos" |
（後記 2014/02/24(Mon)：イギリス州名の学習にはこちらをどうぞ．）
・ Crystal, David. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. 2nd ed. Cambridge: CUP, 2003.
Referrer (Inside):
[2019-08-04-1] [2016-01-04-1] [2014-01-28-1]