Blindbothel NY 128 265

Blindbothel NY 128 265

Blendebothel 1278, Blendbothel 1279 Blyndebothill, Blyndebothel 1333. PNCu, p345 says that the derivation of the first element from English blind is unlikely because of the -e- in the early forms. Blindbothel is a parish name but the site of the original settlement is lost. PNCu does not think that it is Cumbric blaen because of the topography. Diana Whaley says the first element is obscure, echoing the comments about the -e- in PNCu (Whaley, 2006).

It was assimilated early to English blind- however, which locally is pronounced with a short vowel and the -nd reduced to -n "blin'" /blɪn/, as in Scots (MacAfee & Aitken, 2002). This reduction occurred after the vowel lengthening that occurred in the late 8th or early 9th century in standard English. The same feature occurred in Welsh between the end of the 5th century and the 7th Century. However, Cumbric names were taken into English with the -mb- intact, hence Cumberland, not Cummerlan (as of course it is in dialect now). I wondered whether it was the Brittonic substrate influence that caused Northern English/Scots nd, mb → nn, mm (then loss of geminates in both Welsh and English to n, m)?

The 1847 County Directory says Blindbothel township is 1200 acres with "about fourteen scattered houses,2 1⁄2 miles S. of Cockermouth" (Mannix & Whellan, 1974)

The second element is Old English bōðl "dwelling, house, palace". Settlements with the name Bothel or Bootle date to the period of Northumbrian rule from the 8th to the 10th Centuries.

As to whether blaen is inappropriate because of the topography. We see that Blindbothel parish lies on a place where the land climbs quite steeply from the lower land around the River Cocker c 100m up to Whin Fell and Fellbarrow and the higher ground c 410m. In Blaenau Ffestiniog, the blaen refers to the top of the rising land from the valley of the Bowydd. Blaenau Gwent is where the land rises steeply at the top of the river valleys, and Blaenmelyn SO240065 is again steeply rising land from a river valley to a steep hillside. So, I think Blindbothel is exactly right for a blaen.

P A Wilson, in 1978, wondered whether the farm at Palace How was a later translation of Blindbothel and this was the original centre of the township. He finds other features that suggest to him that this was a major centre of pre-Anglian Cumberland (Wilson, 1978). Alan James considers Blindbothel as from Cumbric blajn + bod - "dwelling at the hill front" (James, 2016) where the Brittonic bod "dwelling" also appears in Breton, Cornish (now bos) and Welsh. James cites Wilson and I think it is Wilson's argument that has persuaded him that the Anglian bōðl is a translation of the earlier Cumbric bod.