Проект по английскому языку "The Origin of London Street Names"

Министерство образования и науки Российской Федерации

Государственное бюджетное образовательное учреждение города Москвы

гимназия №1595

Проект

по предмету «Английский язык»

The Origin of London Street Names

Выполнили:  

Зотова Дарья, Уханова Елена

ученицы 10 класса А

Научный руководитель:

учитель английского языка

Орехова Людмила Владимировна

Москва, 2013  

Structure

Introduction ……………………………………………………………….…. 3

Chapter 1. ....................................……………………………………………..4

                     1.1. Historical  background ………………...…………4

                     1.2. The classification of London street names ...……...5

Conclusion …………………………………………………………..……......12

Bibliography ……………………………………………..………....................13

Introduction

London has many strange and unusual names attributed to its streets. Some place names are elemental, as they originate from certain famous individuals who will never be forgotten; other names come from prominent historical events; some names originated from businesses which were prominant in a certain area.

The aim of our research project was to establish toponyms – London street names. There were several tasks arising from the main objective: firstly, to treat the history of the foundation of London street names; secondly, to classify street names; thirdly, to

The material for the research was taken from textbooks, maps and guides.  

Theoretical and practical significance results in the possibility of using the given material in teaching British Studies,  while teaching English practice as well to enrich students’ vocabulary.

The methods of our project are overall extraction examples out of  English articles, analytical method.

Structure: the project consists of Introduction, one chapter, Conclusion and Bibliography.

The results of our project can be the foundation for further investigations in the sphere of etymology of toponyms and their peculiarities.

Chapter 1

1.1.Historical Background

London is one of the oldest cities in Europe, the foundation of which is usually referred to the period when Britain was inhabited by Celtic tribes. But the history of the city is better known since the Roman conquest of the British Isles. At that time the settlement  on the Thames called Londinium became an important trading center of Northern Europe.

The appearance of the first London street names referred to the 10th century when the center of the old Roman province destroyed the Anglo-Saxons gradually began to be built up again. Then the earliest name of London streets were mostly generic and descriptive, usually named after the goods sold in them. Streets were called by their most notable characteristics: width, length, facilities, etc.

London grew and developed very slowly, and only after the Great Fire in 1666, when most of the wooden buildings of the city were destroyed, the intensive construction of new stone and brick houses bagan to appear in London, that led to the emergence of a large number of street names. At this time the so-called street names of belonging/possession were widespread, that is the streets were given  name after the living there landowners. Later, in the XVIII-XIX centuries  commemorative names appeared, eg names of streets in honor of the monarchs, nobles, generals, etc. Depending on the motivation names of London streets can be divided into 9 more or less distinct groups of toponyms (including Groups 1 – 6 constitute descriptive toponyms, group 7 – belonging/possession, group 8 – commemorative names; one more  special group called advertising names can be classified).

1.2. The classification of London street names

1. Street names which reflect the labor activity and everyday life of Londoners. This group  can be subdivided into smaller groups:

a) Names of people united by one profession:

Carter Lane – Lane in the City of London, carters (or cabbies) lived traditionally.

Pottery Lane – Lane near North Kensington, where at the beginning of the XIX century lived potters who produced tiles, bricks, drainpipes.

Apothecary Street – Street in the City, leading to the building of the Guild of pharmacists, founded in 1617.

b) the names of the places where the trade and commerce took place and the names of objects themselves:

Cheapside is a street in the City, the former site of one of the principal product markets in London, cheap, broadly meaning «market» in medieval English. Many of the streets feeding into the main thoroughfare are named after the produce that was once sold in those areas of the market, including Honey Lane, Milk Street, Bread Street, Poultry, Wood Street. In medieval times, the royal processional route from the Tower of London to the Palace of Westminster would include Cheapside. The contemporary Cheapside is widely known as the location of a range of retail and food outlets and offices, as well as the City's only major shopping centre, One New Change.

Haymarket  is a street in the City of Westminster (central London); was chiefly used as a street market for the sale of fodder and other farm produce. At that time, it was a rural spot.

Garlic Hill is a street on the Thames, known in the Middle Ages as a place of unloading and sale of garlic.

Old Seacoal Lane is a lane in the City where in the XIII-XVII centuries coal was delivered by ferries from the Thames to the Fleet River (coal brought to London by sea from Newcastle and therefore called it seacoal).

Cock Lane is a lane in the City, where in the XII century fighting cocks were sold (cockfights were very popular in medieval London).

Cockspur Street is a street where spurs for fighting cocks were manufactured and sold.

Giltspur Street is a street in the City, where there were workshops in which Knights’ Spurs were made – Medieval tournament participants (over each shop hung a gilded spur – gilt spur).

Glasshouse Alley is a street, where a workshop for making one of the best brands of glass was located.

Glasshouse Street is a street where brewed green bottle glass was produced.

c) the names of pets and useful plants:

Cowcross Street is a street where in the Middle Ages cattle for slaughter were driven (in the middle of the street there stood a cross).

Wormwood Street, Camomile Street is a street in the area of the original city wall surrounding  medieval London (according to the rule that existed in the Middle Ages, within the city walls a strip of land 16 feet wide was to remain free from building, there townspeople grew tarragon and chamomile, applied for medical purposes).

2. Street names for those cities and villages to which they led. Here are the most famous ones:

Oxford Street – “Road leading to Oxford” – is one of the oldest streets in London, built by the Romans and probably existed even before them; the street was formerly part of the London-Oxford road which began at Newgate, City of London, and was known as the Oxford Road.

Old Kent Road  - “An old road leading to Kent”.

3. Street names leading to/charactirising the most famous buildings:

Great Tower Street is a street in the City, leading to the Tower.

Gray’s Inn Road is a street named after Gray's Inn, one of the main Inns of Court.

London Wall is a street running along the original city wall that surrounded  medieval London.

Bishopsgate is a street in the City named after one of the original seven gates in the London Wall. The site of this former gate is marked by a stone bishop's mitre, fixed high upon a building located at Bishopsgate's junction with Wormwood Street, by the gardens there and facing the Heron Tower. The history dates back to the Romans road. Once destroyed the gates were restored in the VII century by bishop Erkenvaldom (Erkenwald, Bishop of London), the street became known as Bishopsgate. In the XVIII century the gates were finally demolished.

Old Bailey is a street in the City located in the Middle Ages along the ramparts (called Bailey), which was constructed as additional strengthening outside the city wall.

4. Street names to ancient signboards:

In medieval London there were very few literate people and instead of numbering houses colorful signs were placed in front of the house. Some signs were so widely-known that became part of names of streets or roads that took place nearby. The words Bull, Unicorn, Angel can be seen:

Bull Alley is the name of the lane associated with a sign depicting a bull. These signs often showed a tavern where bulls were teased by dogs (popular pastime in the Middle Ages) – bull-baiting.

Unicorn Passage – the name comes from one of the signs depicting a unicorn. In the Middle Ages such signs were used by hoteliers as a sign that their guests shouldn’t be threated to be poisoned, as well as pharmacists, who attributed the ability to cure people from many serious diseases to this mythical animal.

Angel Street, Angel Court – street names associated with a sign depicting an angel. In the Middle Ages it was believed that such an image protected the house and its inhabitants from evil.

5. Street names to geographical objects.

The most famous of them are street names associated with rivers flowing  on the territory of London:

The Strand is formed from the Old English word 'strand', meaning shore. Initially it referred to the shallow bank of the once much wider River Thames, before the construction of the Victoria Embankment. The name was later applied to the road itself. It is a major thoroughfare in the City of Westminster in central London.

Water Street  means  “Street leading to the water”. Before the construction of the Thames embankment several streets thad this name. Now this name is preserved only in one street .

Fleet Street, Fleet Lane is a street and alley named after the River Fleet, which in the XVIII century was enclosed in a pipe.

Battle Bridge Road – the street got its name after the name of the ancient village of Battle Bridge, which was located near one of the bridges over the River Fleet.

6. Street names after monasteries, churches, church realities:

Blackfriars Lane is a lane in the City, got its name from the monastery of the Dominicans.

Whitefriars Street is a street which name comes from the Carmelite monastery.

St. George Street, St. Martin’s Lane, St. Micahel’s Alley are the streets and alleys, received the name of churches situated there.

Paternoster Row is a street in the area of St. Paul’s, where in the XIV century rosary prayers were produced and sold (one of the oldest streets in the City).

Ave Maria Lane, Amen Corner are the lanes on which lived clerks earning a living by corresponding ecclesiastical texts and prayers.

7. Street names after the names of landowners and homeowners, educational titles and other institutions:

Bedford Square, Bedford Avenue, Bedford Place, Bedford Passage, Bedford Street – these streets, etc. Appeared on the lands owned by Duke of Bedford.

Grosvenor Square, Grosvenor Crescent, Grosvenor Gardens, Grosvenor Gate, Grosvenor Hill, Grosvenor Place, Grosvenor Road, Grosvenor Street – these names are associated with the family name Grosvenor, who owned many houses and land in London.

Rugby Street – a street in London that occurred on land that belonged to one of the oldest private schools for boys  “Rugby” (the school itself is located in the town of Rugby, Warwickshire).

Oxford Square, Cambridge Square – Squares in London, situated on land that belonged to Oxford and Cambridge Universities (in the XV century. These lands were donated to the University to pay for student scholarships).

Covent Garden is a street, formed on land that belonged to Westminster Abbey. Monks who owned the land before the middle of XVII century grew their fruit and vegetables and sold them. From 1661 to 1974 this was the main street of London wholesale market for fruits, vegetables and flowers (now it was transferred to the area of ​​Vauxhall – Vauxhall).

Skinner Street is a street, located on land that belonged to the Tanner Company (one of the many trade guilds that emerged in London in the Middle Ages).

8. Names of streets in honor to the monarchs, royal family members, commanders, etc.:

Victoria Street, Victoria Road, Victoria Embankment, Prince Albert Road – these streets were named in honor to Queen Victoria (reigned 1837 to 1901) and her husband, Prince Albert.

Wellington Place, Wellington Road, Wellington Street – these names are associated with the name of the Duke of Wellington, who commanded the British forces at the Battle of Waterloo (1815) and won a victory over Napoleon’s army.

Dombey-Street is a street named after the hero of the novel by Charles Dickens “Dombey and Son” (Dealings with the Firm of Dombey and Son).

9. The so-called advertising street names:

Paradise Row -  “Paradise Street”;

Prospect Terrace – “Hope Street”;

Meads Road – “Meadow street”;

Mountview – “Mountain View”

Streets with such names are located on the outskirts of the city, in the poor neighborhoods of the East End. The outward appearance of streets does not match the names given to them.

Of particular interest are the words that serve as the second element in the names of streets: street, road, avenue, terrace, lane, etc. In modern usage differences in their values have ​​to some extent erased, but in historical perspective, each of these toponyms had its specific value.

The term “street” (one of the earliest terms) originates from Roman “via strata” – “paved road”. With the departure of the Romans the art itself of paving roads had been forgotten, but the word “street” left and a new meaning occurred “the road between the houses.”

The term “road” is connected with the verb “to ride”. In the Middle Ages it belonged to the roads on which riders rode. It should be noted that in central London (in the City of) there are almost no street names having as the second element the word “road”; on the outskirts such names are much more common than here, having as the second element the word “street”.

The term “lane” in medieval London described a street that was not wide enough for two loaded carts to depart. Terms “hill” and  “rise” are used in the names of streets running down the slopes of a hill. Streets located in low-lying areas have as the second element names “vale”. In the names of the streets we can see the words ‘yard’ and ‘court’, which historically meant roughly the same thing – walled open space at a hotel or inn. Moreover, the word “court”, which is associated with the royal court (royal court), is used in street names more often than the word ‘yard’. In 1661, after the building of Bloomsbury Square (Bloomsbury Square) in London the first term “square” appeared meaning “a square area”. Then, as the second element of street names was used the word “crescent” – “semicircle”, circus – “circle”, avenue – “wide street lined with trees”, terrace –  “a continuous row of houses along the street” etc. The history of the term “mews”, occurring in the names of streets is very amasing. In the Middle Ages, when falconry was very popular, Royal Mews were located in the area of ​​present Trafalgar Square. In the XVIII century  in their place stables and mews were built. Later, this word named not only stables, but also houses, where coachmen  lived. Hence, the term penetrated into street names (e.g. Stratford Mews). The second element of the street names are also such words used for advertising purposes as gardens, walk, grove, park, drive, ride, etc.

Conclusion

The given examples of London street names can only outline the etomological meaning of toponyms. Street names are a living record of a community's history. When we learn something about the name of a street, we often learn something new about the place where we live as well.

Bibliography

1. Варданян М. О названиях улиц Лондона // Английский язык. – 2009. - №9. – С.39-42.
2. Леонович О.А. В мире английских имён. – М.: ООО «Издательство АСТ»: ООО «Издательство Астрель», 2002.
3. http://london.streetmapof.co.uk/
4. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Streets_in_the_City_of_London
5. http://www.londononline.co.uk/streetorigins/
6. http://knowledgeoflondon.com/streetnames.html
7. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/uk/london/9328699/The-surprising-reasons-behind-Londons-oldest-place-names.html