2006-10-19 21:21:34 · 17 answers · asked by Alex D 1 in Travel ➔ United Kingdom ➔ London
London was originally named Londinium, and was established as a residential town [civilian settlement] by the Romans - after the invasion of AD43 led by the Emperor Claudius.
Archaeological excavations (undertaken by the Department of Urban Archaeology of the Museum of London) since the 1970s have also failed to unearth any convincing traces of a major settlement before c.50.
A wooden drain by the side of the main Roman road excavated at No 1 Poultry has been dated to c.47 which is likely to be the foundation date.
The name Londinium is said to be pre-Roman in origin. Recent research by Richard Coates has suggested that the name is derived from 2 roots, 'plew' and 'nejd', meaning something like 'the flowing river', or 'the wide flowing river'.
Londinium therefore means 'the settlement on the wide river'. Coates suggests that the river was called the Thames up river where it was narrower, and Plowonida down river where it was too wide to ford.
2006-10-19 21:48:04 · answer #1 · answered by IndyaBelle 6 · 7⤊ 0⤋
Just to add a little more to IndyaBelle's excellent answer:
"When a settlement was set up by Plowonida the Celts added a place name suffix 'on' or 'onjon' giving Plowonidon or Plowonidonjon, but the British Celts did not pronounce the P and so through linguistic change it developed into Lundonjon and then Lundein or Lundyn which is the form of the name that the Welsh used and from which the Romans derived Londinium."
2006-10-21 06:13:42 · answer #2 · answered by Chris 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
London gets it name from the romans,when first settled it was called Londinium and u can see still see many parts of the roman buildings too.Best place would be Tower Hill
2006-10-20 05:45:48 · answer #3 · answered by brian g 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because the Romans called the settlement they found in current place London "Londinium".
The name degenarated to London with time.
2006-10-20 04:24:33 · answer #4 · answered by Tzctlpc 2 · 3⤊ 0⤋
The name "London" comes from "Londiniensium," it is from the Roman's
Have a great day!
Kim
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2006-10-20 04:29:00 · answer #5 · answered by Kimxxxx 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Yeah its to do with the Roman name for the original settlement... it means something like "village by the river", the exact meaning has been lost over the thousands of years since...
2006-10-20 07:40:30 · answer #6 · answered by saltwater 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Its a shortened version of the name the Romans used.
2006-10-20 04:30:41 · answer #7 · answered by Sandie 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
london was called blackpool years ago did you not know
2006-10-20 07:25:16 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
To tie up with the guide books ?
2006-10-20 04:27:30 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Cos if it was called Jeremy it would be a gay town
2006-10-20 09:43:02 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋