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ArchivesRe: Meaning of last name Thornburgh?
in reply to a message by Jeromiah Baker
My mother’s maiden name was Thornburgh.
The Norse Vikings had a rune for the first part ᚦ meaning Thurisaz, Thorr, or Simply Thorn.
That runs is now a letter still used in the Icelandic language as þ lowercase, making the Thhh! Sound.
It also means giant.
Technically Thornburgh in Swedish is Törnberg, most likely its origin.
It means giant thorn mountain. As berg means mountain in old Germanic.
The Norse Vikings had a rune for the first part ᚦ meaning Thurisaz, Thorr, or Simply Thorn.
That runs is now a letter still used in the Icelandic language as þ lowercase, making the Thhh! Sound.
It also means giant.
Technically Thornburgh in Swedish is Törnberg, most likely its origin.
It means giant thorn mountain. As berg means mountain in old Germanic.
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Replies
That's three unrelated words which just happen to start with the same letter. þ is called "thorn" in Gothic and English, and "þurs" (thurse/giant/long man) in Norse. Some people call it Thor, assuming (without evidence) þurs and þorn are later errors for þunr-. They are not the same word or even related words and the meanings are not interchangeable.
The form suggest old Swedish *Thornborgh (thorn-city), but if Swedish it is probably folk etymology from modern Swedish Tornborg (only a surname, not a place, so probably "thorn" not "tower" (Torn from Turn/Turm from Latin Turrim, accusative of Turris, tower)). This type of surname in Sweden is only modern. There is a simpler explanation though - there is a town in Gloucestershire named Thornbury, but this is simply the dative/genitive case of Thornburgh (i.e. when grammatical cases were still used you'd say "Thornburgh is a market town", but "there is a manor at Thornbury").
The form suggest old Swedish *Thornborgh (thorn-city), but if Swedish it is probably folk etymology from modern Swedish Tornborg (only a surname, not a place, so probably "thorn" not "tower" (Torn from Turn/Turm from Latin Turrim, accusative of Turris, tower)). This type of surname in Sweden is only modern. There is a simpler explanation though - there is a town in Gloucestershire named Thornbury, but this is simply the dative/genitive case of Thornburgh (i.e. when grammatical cases were still used you'd say "Thornburgh is a market town", but "there is a manor at Thornbury").
This message was edited 10/13/2020, 4:22 PM
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