Placenames in Normandy have a variety of origins. Some belong to the common heritage of the Langue d'oïl extension zone in northern France and Belgium; this is called "Pre-Normanic". Others contain Old Norse and Old English male names and toponymic appellatives. These intermingle with Romance male names and place-name elements to create a very specific superstratum, typical of Normandy within the extension zone of the Langue d'oïl. These are sometimes called "Normanic".

Pre-Normanic placenames

There are still a significant number of Celtic (Gaulish) names, as there are throughout France and western Europe. These names, partly mixed with Latin elements, follow the Late Latin phonetic changes that led to Langue d'oïl.

Traditional large cities

Almost all the main cities kept a Romanized Celtic name, that produced the modern toponym.

BC era

AD era

In the following examples, a Gaulish toponym was replaced by the name of the local tribe, according to a process well known in the later Roman Empire: There were exceptions to this practice, such as: Some of these would disappear later, replaced by Normanic names; thus Coriovallum became Cherbourg and Caracotinum became Harfleur. Such changes indicate that the older inhabitants who used the earlier name were displaced by newcomers, either leaving completely or becoming a small minority. Some cities' Pre-Normanic names are not known, such as Honfleur or Dieppe.

Common northern French toponymic types

The most common suffix in northern France is -acum (written -acum, -acus or -aco in early Medieval Latin documents, pronounced in Vulgar Latin as -acu), that means "place of" or "property". Its origin is the Celtic -āko(n). Originally, it was used to as the location of either a god or a people. Examples include Anualonacu, meaning "sanctuary of Anualō [a god]" and nautae Parisiaci, meaning "sailors of the Parisii [tribe]". In northern France and southern Belgium, –(i)acum became -ay, -ai, -ey, -é or -y. All of these variations are found in Normandy. Places with this suffix include Gournay, Bernay, Cernay, and Andilly. Another, generally later, variation is composed of masculine names that can be either Gaulish or Latin, for example: Massy from Gaulish Mascius; Marcilly from Roman Marcellus; Fleury from Roman Florius; and Montigny from Roman Montanius. However, the latest -acum formations are combined with a Christian or a Germanic masculine name, such as Repentigny, from the Christian name Repentin(i)us or with a Romance placename element. The most common -acum place-name in Normandy is Glatigny, of which more than 40 exist.

Romance place-name elements

These come from the Vulgar Latin, but began only about 100 years after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, in the 6th century AD, but we don't own any document mentioning such place-names before the 8th century with Bourville (Bodardi villa in 715). In this province, it is sometimes difficult to know if these formations (-ville, -val, -mont, -mesnil, etc.) are Pre-Normanic or Normanic, due to similarities between the two. The main romance appellatives are the following:

General description

In Northern France, including Normandy, the extension of -court, -ville, and -mesnil (including its variant spellings -maisnil and -ménil) corresponds generally to Frankish and other Germanic settlements. This is the most likely reason why the common word order is also from the Germanic: determinative (adjective, appellative or owner's name) plus determined (romance element). Examples include: Neuville, meaning "new village"; Bourville (Bodardi villa, 8th century) meaning "Bodard's farm"; Harcourt (Herolcurt, 11th century) meaning "Herulf's farm"; and Attemesnil (Ademesnil, 13th century) meaning "Adda's property". Less than one-third of France, the north, makes use of the Germanic ordering. In Vulgar Latin, as in Celtic, the opposite word order prevailed: determined (Romance appellative) plus determinative (adjective). This order dominates in Occitan toponymy, as well as in western France. Instead of Neuville, in the south we find Villeneuve, derived either from Occitan, Vielanova, or from a more modern name. Similarly, northern Neuchâtel, Neufchâtel, or Neufchâteau, meaning "new castle", corresponding to southern Châteauneuf or Châtelneuf, a translation of Castelnau in Occitan.

Local specificity

In the Norman toponymy, the most widespread appellative is -ville or Ville-, with an estimated 20% of the French communes of Normandy containing this appellative. The oldest recorded instance is Bourville, as Bodardi villa in 715. This is in contrast to the much less frequently used -court, which was not used anymore in the Viking Age. The most widely used -ville toponyms are combined with either an Old Scandinavian or Anglo-Scandinavian male name or a Romance adjective: Amfreville (Ásfríðr′s farm), Auzouville (Osulf / Osolf′s farm), Beuzeville (Bosi′s farm), Colleville (Kolli′s farm), Épreville (*Sproti′s farm, cf. Faroese Sproti), Sotteville (Sóti′s farm), Tocqueville (Tóki′s farm), Touffreville (Þórfríðr′s farm), Tourville (Þórr's farm), Trouville (Thorold's farm), Grainville (Grímr / GrímR's farm), Bretteville (Briton's farm) and Englesqueville or Anglesqueville (English farm). These toponyms do not exist in France outside of Normandy, because their first element is an Old Scandinavian or an Old Anglo-Scandinavian personal name and sometimes a romance adjective marking they came from Great-Britain, but were mainly Anglo-Scandinavian farmers. In addition some typical Gaelic male′s names can be found in Doncanville (Donnchadh> Duncan′s farm), Quinéville or Quenneville (Cináed > Kenneth′s farm), Néville (Niall > Njáll′s farm). The -court appellative is usually combined with either a Germanic masculine name, as in Hébécourt, from Herbert > Norman-French Hebert (today the surname Hébert), as in Sébécourt, from Sigebert > Sebert (today the surname Sébert). It almost never appears as a suffix in the western part of Normandy, but as a prefix (Cour-, Gour-, Col-, Coul-): Gourfaleur from falor, the name of a people; Coulvain, meaning "Laipwin's court"; and Coulimer, meaning "Lietmar's court". François de Beaurepaire observed that -court and Cour- were never used with an Anglo-Scandinavian male's name or element. Another common appellative is -mesnil or Mesnil- (written as ménil in the Orne département). They are mainly combined with masculine anthroponyms as in Aubermesnil or Avremesnil, much like the -ville place-names, and were later built according to the Romance order, for example Mesnil-Hermant and Mesnil-Esnard. The appellative -bosc or Bosc- (pronounced [bo:] or [bɔk]), meaning "wood", corresponds to the French word bois, and is specific to this Province. In Normandy, it is usually combined with a masculine name: Auberbosc and Colbosc, when following the Germanic order; while the later Romance order gives numerous examples, such as Bosc-Roger, Bosc-Renoult, and Bosc-Robert. -vast is the only one that never appears as *Vast-, but autonomous as le Vast. The first element must be a personal name, like Gallo-Romance Martin in Martinvast, Old Norse Sóti in Sottevast (Sotewast, 12th century), and Old Norse Tóli in Tollevast (Toberwast and Tolewast, 12th century). Véraval, now often misspelled as Ver-à-Val, became a -val ("valley") place-name by popular etymology. First recorded as Warelwast in 1024 (see William de Warelwast), utilizing the former appellative, -wast (meaning "bad land", or "unfertile or uncultivated land"), which is now spelled -vast in the north and ga(s)t(te) in the south. Its etymology is ultimately Latin vastus "bad land" mixed up with Old Low Franconian *wost "desert" (Old High German wuosti, Old English wēste).

Normanic place names

Description

Old Norse place names were given during the Norse settlement at the end of the ninth century, expanding in the tenth century with the creation of the Duchy of Normandy by Rollo in 911. Since the speakers of Old Norse were linguistically assimilated into the Old French dialect society within a few generations, these settlement names were given most likely date prior to the 11th century. Most of these settlers were coming from areas that are today most likely Danish and/or Norwegian. These languages were quite similar to each other, making it difficult to distinguish the origin of the appellatives and accompanying adjective or male name.

Old Norse and Old English appellatives

A similar use can be found in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany : Haddeby (Hadæboth 1285).

Old English appellatives

Old English appellatives:

Old Norse masculine names

Old Norse -i names

The names in parentheses are the earlier forms of the place-names, with the century in which they appeared.

Old Norse simple and combined names

Old Norse simple and combined names:

Anglo-Saxon -a names

Anglo-Saxon -a names:

Anglo-Saxon simple and combined names