Adapting Roman Place Names for Britain

hey, all. i've decided to put some more effort into Roman-inspired place names for *Britain in my ASB ATL. the entire country is called Britannia ITTL (because the TL was inspired by Code Geass and i'm not changing it, period) and some of its larger regions use not-entirely-accurate Roman names (mainly for the British Isles themselves; their overseas empire is another matter entirely).

anyway, i'm specifically trying to decide on Roman names for cities, towns, etc., rather than larger regions. this would seem a simple task, just using OTL's Roman place names in Britain, but 1) that's kinda lazy, 2) it's not as interesting, and 3) i want to take linguistic evolution into account. one example that comes to mind is Newcastle upon Tyne, which (according to my research) called Pons Aelius in Roman times. seems simple, right? but my idea is that the name is partly simplified: instead of being two separate words, it could/would change over time into Ponsaelius (pronounced pon-SAY-lee-us), which could potentially change further down the line into Ponsalius/Ponselius and then into Ponsalis/Ponselis

what i'd like to look at first, though, is Winchester, which was apparently called Venta Belgarum by the Romans. since this is a much more important city than my previous example (it's the de jure capital of Britannia) i want to devise a plausible name for it to develop later in history. at the moment, i have it as Ventabelg, but i'd like some second opinions. i'll post further questions here as i go along.
 

TFSmith121

Banned
What language do the people speak?

Latin?

A Latin-Brythonic syncretic language?

The above influenced by a bunch of Continental types?

Something else entirely?

Best,
 
there's fewer Romance influences on English ITTL, so it sounds much more Germanic, but they use Latin loanwords where appropriate. using Roman Latin place names is just because i want to run with this theme naming.
 
Venarum? Venaru? Ventz? Vienbel/Vienbelg? Ventzberg/Vientzberg? Vienaru(m)? Ventzrum/Vientzrum/Ventsrum/Vientsrum? Viebel?
 
Thing is "Venta Belgarum" was probably out of use already by the Late Roman times, in favour of "Venta Castrum" that is the main form that went translitterated in "Wintanceastre"

Now if we're talking ASB (but it may not be the right board for that then), and that Venta Belgarum is maintained...

Wintanbaelcam, Wintanbael, maybe.
 
Thing is "Venta Belgarum" was probably out of use already by the Late Roman times, in favour of "Venta Castrum" that is the main form that went translitterated in "Wintanceastre"

Now if we're talking ASB (but it may not be the right board for that then), and that Venta Belgarum is maintained...

Wintanbaelcam, Wintanbael, maybe.

Wintanbael sounds alot cooler than Ventabelg :) i think i'll go with that one. one last thing concerning it: does anyone think it would be plausible for "Wintanbael" to change further? for example, to Wintabel? (dropping the second N and dropping the last vowel)


another one i've been batting around is Eboracum, which became York IOTL. this is one i'm a little reluctant to change (the TL as a whole is being written as the backdrop for an RPG--since changing York would require changing New York, you can kinda see my reluctance) but i will if something good comes up. any thoughts on this?
 
does anyone think it would be plausible for "Wintanbael" to change further? for example, to Wintabel? (dropping the second N and dropping the last vowel)
Depends of your TL, which invasions of England are incoming? How much Medieval Latin would influe on Anglo-Saxon graphy?

If it's a comparable to IOTL evolution, I would say it would evolve as "Wintabele" or "Wintabel" if with a franco-norman influence based (complete with false ethymology of "belga" as "belle/bellan")

but i will if something good comes up. any thoughts on this?
Why not use the OTL AS name, Eoferwic?
 
Depends of your TL, which invasions of England are incoming? How much Medieval Latin would influe on Anglo-Saxon graphy?

If it's a comparable to IOTL evolution, I would say it would evolve as "Wintabele" or "Wintabel" if with a franco-norman influence based (complete with false ethymology of "belga" as "belle/bellan")


Why not use the OTL AS name, Eoferwic?

English history is pretty much the same up until Hastings, the main difference being that King Arthur is a historical but decidedly non-fantastical person (probably not even actually NAMED Arthur) who draws alot of his own influences from Rome.

thanks for your input concerning Wintanbael. i just wanted to get another opinion before i committed to it ;)

concerning Eoferwic, again, it's partly concerns for non-AH nuts, which is the broad group i'm making the TL for. it's really because i'm trying to look into the theme naming possibilities since i'm already using Romanesque names for British regions, with York/Eboracum/Eoferwic being one that i'm not sure about since changing that would require changing the name of the much more famous New York. an alternative around this, of course, would be to just rename it New Amsterdam or something while York itself is renamed appropriately.

whatever's plausible, really. at the moment i'm leaning towards keeping it as York, just looking into the etymology.
 
Or the Vikings? (and the ensuing place name changes, especially in the North)

up until the Norman invasion, British history is pretty much the same, and after it's recognizable to OTL, with the main differences being the monarchs until roughly the Tudor era. Canute is still one of their kings for a time, the Angles and Saxons still invade, Stamford Bridge still happens. the general POD for Britain is William losing at Hastings
 
whatever's plausible, really. at the moment i'm leaning towards keeping it as York, just looking into the etymology.

Erm...Eoferwick is the historical ethymology for York (when York is the result of norse than norman influence). If you want to keep a mix of Norse and AS, then something along the lines of Jorvik -> Yearic/Yeric/Ierce
 
up until the Norman invasion, British history is pretty much the same, and after it's recognizable to OTL, with the main differences being the monarchs until roughly the Tudor era. Canute is still one of their kings for a time, the Angles and Saxons still invade, Stamford Bridge still happens. the general POD for Britain is William losing at Hastings

How can there be a Tudor era if William loses at Hastings?
No Norman Kings -> No Plantagenet Kings -> No York vs Lancaster -> No Tudors
 
York it is, then ;)

any ideas for Gloucester? currently i have it as just Glevum (one of the Roman names; another was Glouvia)
 
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