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Stour and Blyth as English river-names

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 May 2006

RICHARD COATES
Affiliation:
Department of Linguistics and English Language, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QN, United Kingdomr.a.coates@susx.ac.uk

Abstract

The disputed etymology of the river-name Stour is revisited. It is suggested that an ‘Old European’ river-name was taken for an OE adjective, and that this adjective with its antonym represented in the river-name Blyth expressed the principal opposition in the classificatory system imposed on rivers in the Anglo-Saxon period.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2006

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