While the Romans occupied Britain for 400 years, the legacy in terms of place-names is not from Latin itself but from Anglo-Saxon descriptors of the geographical locations of places near Roman settlements or camps. British place-names have Celtic, Saxon and Viking roots.
The English suffix -chester (and variant forms) is derived
from Old English (OE) ceaster (fortress; fortified/ walled town), a
loan-word from Latin: castra, castrōrum [2/n/pl] camp e.g.
Chester, Dorchester, Manchester.
Locations in England with -ceaster did not have the
suffix as part of an original Roman name. Some origins can be unclear and / or disputed,
and are sometimes derived from Latinisation of Celtic terms pre-dating Roman
occupation.
[1]
Chester: founded as a Roman fort was originally
called Deva Victrix, a settlement then developing around it.
Mamucium (or Mancunium): the name of the Roman fort in an
area of what is now known as Manchester, citizens of which are still
called Mancunians. However, the Latin name has its origins in Celtic.
Image #1: Mameceſtre [ſ = s] (Manchester) listed in the Domesday
Book, a manuscript survey of England and Wales written in Latin and completed
in 1086 on the orders of William the Conqueror
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domesday_Book
Colchester: known by the Romans as Camulodunum,
it was first referred to as Colenceaster and Colneceastre in the
10th century; one view is that the name is a combination of colōnia and castra,
the former word referring to a Roman colonial settlement, which is possible
given that it was the original capital of Roman Britain, and the city of
Cologne (Köln) in Germany is
similarly derived from colōnia.
Image #2: (Domesday) Coleceſtra
[2] Variations of the OE ceaster exist in place-names
such as:
Ancaster (Lincolnshire)
Doncaster (Yorkshire); (Domesday) Donecastre
Cirencester (Gloucestershire) < OE: Ċirenċeaster;
(Domesday) Cirecestre
Worcester < OE: Weogornaċeaster; (Domesday) Wirecestre
Caistor (Lincolnshire); Castor (Cambridgeshire)
[3] In the present location of Leicester was the
Roman settlement of Ratae Corieltauvorum, renamed in the Anglo-Saxon
period as Ligera ceaster or Legoraceaster i.e. a walled
settlement relating either to the name of the river or to a Celtic tribal name.
Image #3: (Domesday) Civitas de Ledecestre
[4]
Exeter: Roman Isca Dumnoniorum < Isca
(Celtic): water (the river is still known as the Exe) + Dumnoniorum
(of the Dumnonii tribe); the Anglo-Saxons adapted the name to Escanceaster
> Exeter
Wroxeter: Roman Viroconium Cornoviorum < Viroconium
(the name of a Celtic leader or tribe) + Cornoviorum (of the Cornovii
tribe);
Image #4: (Domesday) Rochecestre
[5] An interesting example is Chesterton, a
combination of OE ceaster and ton < OE: tūn (town) i.e.
a settlement near a Roman camp.
The word tūn itself could refer to any enclosed piece
of ground hence Modern Dutch: tuin (garden) or Modern German: Zaun
(fence). Similarly: Casterton (Cumbria) and both Little Casterton
and Great Casterton (Lincolnshire).
Image #5: (Domesday) Cestretone
[6]
Gloucestershire shows the layers of linguistic influence in the British
Isles: Roman: Glēvum (or colōnia Glēvum) + OE: ceaster (La:
castra) > OE: Glowecestre
+
OE scīr (administrative region),
that word itself possibly related to La: cūra which can mean
‘administration’ or ‘management’ > Gloucestershire
Image
#6: (Domesday) Glowecestre
Image #7: (Domesday Book) HIC ANNOTANTUR TENENTES TERRAS IN
DEVENESCIRE │ Here are noted
those holding lands in Devonshire
Image #8: note the use of CEASTRA in the Bayeux Tapestry
This is a good site: https://opendomesday.org/
Names of people and places can be easily searched with links
to clear manuscripts and detailed extracts.
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