Idle question

[ladyofastolat]

Can anyone think of an English place name (English, as in located in England, not America, Scotland, Wales, Ireland or Alpha Centauri) that consists of a single word with two syllables, in which the stress is on the second syllable, not the first. It came up in conversation (idle attempt to come up with an Isle of Wight version of "First we'll take Manhattan, then we'll take Berlin." It made sense at the time, honest. It grew naturally out of discussion of gleaming hidden lairs, doomsday machines and garlic) and we can't think of any at all. Scottish ones, yes, two word English ones - e.g. St Ives - yes, but that's all. Mind you, as soon as we started thinking, we could hardly think of any English place names at all, let alone ones that fitted the criteria, so that's not saying much.

Comments

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

Penzance

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

Unless you're going to disqualify it on Mebyon Kernow grounds that Cornish ain't English...

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

Since English place names even in the non-Cornwall parts of the country derive from a mish-mash of languages, then it seems unfair to exclude Cornish names. It does seem to me as if Cornish names are more likely to have this stress pattern than names in other parts of England. Perhaps it's a Celtic thing? I could think of lots of Scottish names that had this stress pattern, too - though, if I remember correctly, linguistically Scottish Gaelic comes from a different branch of Celtic languages than Cornish.

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

Welsh, Breton and Cornish are one sub-group. Irish Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic and Manx are another.