This article represents an important analysis of ethnonymic nominatives with reference to the role of ethnonyms in place names of England. The study deals with the problems of classification and etymology of ethno-toponyms. The article also considers the following issues of contemporary ethnonymy: analysis of the linguistic status of the ethnonym; development of ethno-toponyms and functioning of ethnic names in geography; the study of ethnic groups. It is deducted that these problems can be solved by the analysis of local linguistic and toponymical data thorough investigation of historical development and contemporary state of regional place-names.

Key words: ethnonym; ethnonymy; toponymy; category; emic; ethnic groups, toponymy, onomastics.

Introduction

Britt,Bretnach

Britt, and the adjectival form Bretnach which finallymodified it, are coming from the Proto-Celtic country-name given by Aandewiel and Koch as*Brittв.

Gall-BrittRegarded as an anthroponym, for the begetter of the Galbraiths, meaning'alien Britt '.

Breatan

Instead of being aexplicit elaboration of Breatan, the modern form Breatannachmay be a distinct development from the geographical name n. f. Breatainn'Britain'. Aftera pause following the extinction of the ethnicity, ScGBreatannachmay have came outaccording to the lexical requirements of politics [1] [3]. A peculiarity, though possibly under the effect of this lexical development, is as an anthroponym. The surname is found *breatan, indicating to the low, narrow ridge here; Breatannachappears in two names where, if not the ethnonym, it may be a kin label or areference to the clan chief [7].

Brett

Another versions are Britt and Brytt. This is not a common ethnonym in placenames in England. Ekwall suggests that OEbrзcmay be the specific in northern English Bretton-names, theequivalent of Bratton-names further south [8].

Briton

Standard English has arranged on British as the common adjective, but Britonappears in a historical facts [6]. Three Briton-names have been found, with two of the settlements known to have been connected with assumed archaeological features. The earliest recording is 1755, which may show a name coined with Briton, applied in the same faeture.

Cruithen

Cruithen was borrowed, through its plural, from the northern British plural*Priteni, and applied originally to the aboriginal people of Britain both north and south of the Roman frontier. Two related forms of the ethnonym appear as genitive plurals by the middle of the twelfth century, viz Cru (i) thenandCruithnech, the latter also recorded as the pluralCruithnig.

Cruithneach

The only ethnonym form to persist into the recorded Scots Gaelic period is *Cruithnech. It is generally used in the modern language to unite with Pict. There is no evidence of the ethnonym having being used toponymically other than in the genitive plural [3] [6]. With intransitive application, accumulation of mist or low cloud might explain both the noun and the toponyms.

British plural Brпtton (singular *Brпtto) [9] was longer in north Britain than in the south, but the Britons of Cumbriacame to adopt the plural*Cumbri. It is supposed *Cumber loan-word derived from British plural *Combrogо, might be used as a higher status term than the etic Walh. It is regarded to be present in the Old English name forCumbria, Cumbra land (Cumberland) adopted by 945; Hicks argues that thischange of nomenclature was necessary once the geographically specific name "Strathclyde" had ceased to equate with the expanding British territory of the tenth century [1] [4]. Drawing on cognitive linguistics, Hough challenges the assumption that reference in place-names is always to a distinctive feature, that the ethnicity must be distinctive and notable in the local context [11]. Hough postulates that some settlements gained an ethnonymic name through renaming by the inhabitants as an affirmation of identity in the language of a neighboring majority community [8]. Hough argues that a minority-language community would have a level of bilingualism and a requirement to communicate an affirmation of ownership to the majority society, and suggests the possibility of the emic ethnonym being purposefully hybridised withland and dalr by Cumbric speakers to coin Cumberland and Cummersdale [1] [11] Picts: ethnonyms derived from plural Picti

The Latin ethnonym is first appeared as the Latin nominative plural Picti in 297, with a rare occurrence the following century of a possible variant, Latin plural Pecti. This variant, followed by the Old English and Old Norse forms may also be present in the name Pexa. To be correct, this is the only Pict-name recording coexisting with the Picts as aapparent ethnicity [3]. It is not known what the Picts called themselves. But Nicolaisen sees the ethnonyms *Pictus, Pettr and Peht as each obtaining direct from a probable emic name.

In addition to Pictavia Latin *Pictus appears in the name Rune Pictorum, recorded in 1221 [11].

Pettr

A number of toponyms have been discovered as containing the element, though only Pettland, 'land associated with the Picts', seems to be extant with the ethnicity. Certainly, the ethnonym appears to have developed from shortvowelledPeht, and the male given name Pйtr, originally Pet (t) arr, likelyexperienced a vowel lengthening [1] [8]. Excluded from the background information are place-names with the letter string pet, with a working assumption that this statesn. f. pett ' (land-) holding'. Exceptions to this are those names in a Norse linguistic context, which may represent the ethnonym Pettr.

Pict