| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 1111.1 | | VORTEX::SMURF::BINDER | etsi capularis ego vita fruar | Thu Aug 18 1994 07:45 | 11 |
| It's just as well that you didn't post it in the Latin conference,
because ermine is not of Latin descent. :-) It's a Middle English
word derived from Old French, and it's related to the Old High German
harmo, meaning weasel.
Spelling in English has always been haphazard. As you should know,
living in the UK, before the American Noah Webster made an attempt to
rationalize it in the 19th century it was far worse than it is now.
It's reasonable that the terminal `e' of an imported word should be
used in some places and not in others. I live on Fairmount Street, but
the sign two blocks in the other direction says Fairmont.
|
| 1111.2 | Thanks | 45266::SWANN_M | Not all those who wander are lost. | Thu Aug 18 1994 10:15 | 5 |
| Weasel Street eh? That should go down well with the locals!!
Thanks a lot for the help.
Mike
|
| 1111.3 | | SEND::PARODI | John H. Parodi DTN 381-1640 | Thu Aug 18 1994 11:14 | 7 |
|
Well, ermine the fur is specifically the weasel's white winter coat.
I don't suppose it could have been Herman street with the "h"
dropped...
JP
|
| 1111.4 | Maybe we are dealing with two different roads? | PASTIS::MONAHAN | humanity is a trojan horse | Fri Aug 19 1994 01:14 | 8 |
| A quick check of "The Towns of Roman Britain" lists both "Ermin
Street" and "Ermine Street" in its index, and none of the references
are to the same page. Are we dealing with two different streets? A
closer check of the book might tell me, but I had at first just assumed
it was a spelling variant. I didn't spot a complete map, but two of the
references were for completely different parts of the country, and the
map for one part didn't indicate that the road was going in the
direction of the other part.
|
| 1111.5 | More input!!!!! | 45266::SWANN_M | Not all those who wander are lost. | Fri Aug 19 1994 03:47 | 4 |
| This is the Ermin Street which runs, as far as I can see, from
Cirencester, past Swindon, to somewhere around Newbury.
Mike
|
| 1111.6 | | PASTIS::MONAHAN | humanity is a trojan horse | Fri Aug 19 1994 04:23 | 10 |
| The book seems to confirm that Ermin street ran through
Cirencester, and in an East-West direction, while Ermine street went
from London to Lincoln and near Peterborough, which means roughly
North-South. I suppose Ermin(e) street could have had a bend in it at
London, but Roman roads mostly only bent for a very good reason.
Choosing two such similar names for roads was obviously to confuse
Anglo-Saxon or Norman invaders, so they wouldn't know in which
direction they were going when they followed the road signs. The French
have similar signposting.
|
| 1111.7 | A road by any other name ... | KERNEL::MORRIS | Which universe did you dial? | Tue Aug 23 1994 02:34 | 12 |
| Mike,
I used to live in Great Shefford, which is pretty close to the avenue
we are discussing. This may be a red herring, but isn't one of the two
roads called the Ermin Way and the other Ermin Street?
I can't think what reference book I can use to look that up but I'll
have a dig in a few Ordnance Survey maps when I get home.
Jon
Now resident in Basingstoke and missing the north Berkshire country
daily :-(
|
| 1111.8 | RCHM | FILTON::SWANN_M | Not all those who wander are lost. | Mon Sep 05 1994 05:20 | 12 |
| A little extra snippet. I was fortunate enough last week to pick up a
call at the Royal Commission for Historic Monuments. The chap I was
talking to gave me the usual "not really my field" line, but told me:
there is a recognised reference by a bloke called Margery. This takes
every known and guessed at Roman road in Britain. It is referenced to
all mention of roads by contemporary writers, and associates the names
quoted with what's on the ground. Thus Ermine Way running from Lincoln
to London would have been referred to by Tacitus(or someone), whereas
my Ermin Street would never have been directly referred to.
Mike
|