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Chester (placename element)

The English place-name Chester, and the suffixes -chester, -caster and -cester (old -ceaster), are commonly indications that the place is the site of a Roman castrum, meaning a military camp or fort (cf. Welsh caer), but it can also apply to the site of a pre-historic fort.[1] Names ending in -cester are nearly always reduced to -ster when spoken, the exception being "Cirencester", which (commonly nowadays) is pronounced in full.[2] However, names ending in -ster are not necessarily related, as the Irish province of Leinster, which comes from the tribe Laigin Irish tír or Old Norse staðr, both meaning "land" or "territory". The pronunciation of names ending in -chester or -caster is regular.

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Geographic clustering of the suffixes:
-caster -cester -chester -cetter/-xeter

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B

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C

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D

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E

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F

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G

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H

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I

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K

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L

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M

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P

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R

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S

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T

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Notes

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  1. ^ Ekwall, E. (1960). The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-Names (4th ed.). OUP. p. 92. ISBN 0-19-869103-3.
  2. ^ Wells, John C. (2000). Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. 2nd ed. Longman. ISBN 0-582-36468-X.
  3. ^ Sedgefield, Walter John (1915). Place names of Cumberland and Westmorland. Manchester University Press. p. 13. Retrieved 22 December 2024.
  4. ^ "Key to English Place-names - Craster, Northumberland". University of Nottingham. Retrieved 22 December 2024.
  5. ^ "A Key to English Place-Names - Gloster Hill, Northumberland". University of Nottingham. Retrieved 22 December 2024.
  6. ^ "Key to English Place-names - Horncaslte, Lincolnshire". University of Nottingham. Retrieved 22 December 2024.
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