New Post
Search
Help[Surname] Re: Pentelow
in reply to a message by Rory Skene
Pentelow is from the placename Pentlow in Essex, which is recorded as Pentelawe in the 11th century. The etymology of the place-name is uncertain, though it may derive from an Old English personal name *Penta + Old English hlāw ‘hill, mound’, probably from the circular mound on which the church sits.
1
Replies
Although when it comes to "Old English" personal names, any name beginning with "P" is almost certainly not Old English, but Latin, Greek or Celtic (including the early Saxon kings Pybba and Penda). Words with "p" initial are so commonly adaptations of foreign words that the name of the rune for P appears to be taken from an Iranian language, either directly (from the Alanian of the Pontic steppes) or via Slavonic.
This message was edited 5/29/2018, 4:48 AM
1