Chester (placename element)

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

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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Notes

  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.