SAGA-BOOK - Viking Society Web Publications

Scandinavian Names in English Place-Names 7I
may all have been named from the same man. In
addition, two place-names contain forms of the personal
name in Os-. These may represent either OE Osweard or
Old Scandinavian A sward, since the Os- could be an
Anglicisation of the original As- or a native Scandinavian
development from *A nsu- by u-mutation to Qs- and later
development to Os- due to nasalisation (d. BrNGG
§ 85 n.j, § I54, and L. Jacobsen and E. Moltke, Danmarks
Runeindskrijter, cols. IIS-I7, 69Sn) or, of course, it could
be original OE Os-. The place-names in question are:
1. Osioardebec, Wardebec I086 (Oswaldbeck (lost) an
eleventh-century division of Bassetlaw wapentake), taking
its name from a stream and the manor; 2. Oswardesbec II30
(PKNt 24, 43)·
The three points treated above are only a few of the
many which can confirm, add to or call in question
existing information about Scandinavian personal names.
It is much to be desired that the English Place-Name
Society's county surveys for the areas of Scandinavian
settlement will soon be completed and that the number
of old documents from these areas made available in
printed form will steadilyincrease, so that a comprehensive
list of Scandinavian names in English sources may become
something more than a castle in the air.