Aspatria NY 143 423

Aspatria  NY 143 423  Aspatric c1160, Aspatric, -k(e)  c 1160 in St Bees Cartulary. Espatric 1171-5, Ascpatric c 1220, As(ke)paterk 1279, Ask Patrick 1348, Estpateric 1224, Astpatrik 1292  then later Aspatry 1423-9, Asspatry 1488 PNCu suggest this is an inversion compound - that is a Germanic name formed using Celtic syntax and that it is askr Norse for an ash tree, with the personal name Patric - so Patrick's Ash tree - and the -patria ending is a learned spelling trying to assimilate it to Latin patria (Armstrong et al. 1950). Local dialect  "Spyatree" preserves the authentic pronounciation. We know that the ask "ash tree" became As-  as in Asby near Rowrah. (It was probably never  askr in  Britain (Coates 1997)). However the earliest forms show As- and Es- until 1279. What if understanding the first element as ask(r) was an attempt to etymologise the name just as the later -patria was? Aspatria most probably is Patric's Ash tree, but... What could Aspatric be if purely Cumbric? Edmonds cites the importance of the cult of St Patrick to the royal house of the kingdom of Strathclyde, leading to Gospatric (Patrick's servant in Cumbric) becoming a popular name in our area. She gives a list of forms of the name Gospatric, which also appears as  Waspatric (Edmonds 2013). In 1070 Hubert de Vallibus (Vaux) was granted Gilsland. He gave Denton to Wescop or Wesescop - from his name a local Cumbrian whose name looks equivalent to Welsh Gwasesgob (The Bishop's Servant). My point being that initial Cumbric  "g" can fail to appear in English renderings. This might be due to the vocative case "O Waspadrig!"  where the g- would be lost when calling someone. However, place-names such as the Wampool River, Poll Waðæn in Gospatric's Charter - Wathenpoll 1190 may come from a Cumbric word cognate with Welsh gwaeddan "one who cries". (cf the Norse name for the rivers Greta "Crying River") and Wampool also seems to show loss of intial g-. (though not w) Therefore, tortuously, and tenatively, I had wondered whether Aspatric represented a Cumbric equivalent of Welsh Gwas-Padrig "Patrick's abode", where the initial gw- is not showing.  There are a number of Cumbric names nearby and the church is dedicated to St Kentigern (though this most probably dates from the expansion of the cult of Kentigern/Mungo in the time of David I). Kentigern was the, patron saint of the Cumbrian kingdom. So there is some evidence that there was a Cumbrian population  in this area around the time the name was coined.  James notes Guasmoric (in Welsh this would be Gwas Meurig") or "Meurig's Abode" as an old name for the Roman fort at Old Carlisle NY265465 some 9 miles to the north. Gwas "abode" is discussed by James in his Dictionary (James 2016: 286) However, there is no evidence of initial w-, which should be present if this is Was-Padrig. As for loss of final -g (k when taken into English), we see this in Paisley which was Basaleg and in Greystoke which was "Crekestoc"  - it seems to happen inconsistently. So Aspatric: A Norse name showing Celtic syntax and containing a name popular among the Cumbrian Britons, or a Norse take on Guaspadrig? Take your pick.