Germanic placenames
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Many region names (and some place names) in Europe derive from the original Germanic word for stranger or foreigner, rendered as "wal" or "gal" (and variations). Germanic w became gu when borrowed into Old French. (Contrast guardian, guerre and Guillaume with the Anglo-Saxon forms warden, war and William).
"Gal/Wal" especially came to mean "strangers at the edge of (our) region". Examples of place/region names possibly deriving this way include:-
- Wales
- Wallonia (Belgium)
- Galway (Ireland)
- Galloway (Scotland)
- Wallachia (Romania)
- Cornwall (England)
- Wallis (Valais) (Swiss Canton)
- Walsall (England)
Some non-Germanic languages adopted this Germanic root. The Scottish Gaelic term for the Outer Hebrides is Innse-Gall.
- See also
- German placename etymology