DORSET PLACE NAMES

WEST KNIGHTON

When defining English place names it can prove a lesson in the way the use and meaning of words has changed over the centuries.

What might have meant one thing to the Saxons in their Old English tongue may be rather different than our modern understanding.

West Knighton is just such an example. Here the additional ‘west’ refers to it being to the left on the map from another similar name found elsewhere.

However it is the main name which is of greater interest, for while it is easy to see cniht tun as describing ‘the farmstead of the knights’, it does not represent what we might think.

Knighthood was unknown to the Saxons when the place was named and therefore could not refer to a ‘Sir’ anyone.

Indeed Old English cniht was a much more general term and this place name can therefore be defined as ‘the farmstead of the thanes’ – a thane being a term referring to a ranking servant.

ANTHONY POULTON-SMITH