Course Catalogue

View Specification Document | Reading List

What's your name? The names of people and of places encode a huge amount of historical, linguistic and social information, much of it unavailable from other sources. In this course we study the origins, development and uses of names, focusing particularly on Scotland and England.

1x1hr lecture; 1x1hr seminar per week over 10 weeks as scheduled on MyCampus.

This is one of the Level 3 options in English Language and Linguistics and may not run every year. The options that are running this session are available on MyCampus.

Grade D3 or above in English Language and Linguistics Level 2A and 2B or at the discretion of the Head of English Language and Linguistics.

ENGLANG4044 Name Studies

ENGLANG4012 Onomastics (30 credits)

None

Article review (500 words) - 10%

Portfolio of online technical exercises - 40%

Coursework essay (2500 words) - 50% 

The aim of this course is to:

■ make students aware of the origins and development of names of places and of people in Scotland and England;

■ familiarise students with the main types and structures of place-names, given names and surnames.

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

■ recognise the characteristic structures of different types of personal names and place-names;

■ recognise the main languages that have contributed to the personal names and place-names of Scotland and England;

■ offer a general account of the historical development of personal names and place-names.

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.