The North Germanic place-name element bec in England, Normandy and Galicia

Abstract

The place-name element bec is one of the most prolific components of Scandinavian toponyms in Normandy and England. Bec comes from ON bekkr, meaning ‘small stream’ or ‘rivulet’, and the element appears in compounds or as simplicia with suffixes and/or articles. Place-names with the element bec can also be found in Galicia, a region that experienced significant Scandinavian presence throughout the Viking Age. This paper evaluates whether the geographical distribution and etymology of the Galician place-names reflect the characteristics of bec toponyms in Normandy and England, or whether bec is a native place-name element from a pre-Roman root meaning ‘peak’.