Beorma

Beorma

Beorma ( BAY-or-mə, Old English: [ˈbeːorˠmɑ]) is the name most commonly given to the circa 7th century Anglo-Saxon founder or later leader of the settlement now known as the English city of Birmingham before its first mention in 1086. At its Saxon founding the forerunner settlement was known by an unknown name or as it in Norman times came to be recorded in an established two-part form "Beorma's ham" ("homestead of...") or "Beorma-inga-ham" ("homestead of the tribe/people of/related to..."). If Beorma, or similar, is probably a relevant personal name as the majority of Anglo-Saxon historians publishing on the subject claim, it has one other known exponent, a different Anglo-Saxon figure who owned another farmstead across the far side of Wessex, that of Barton-on-Sea, Hampshire which appears twice in the Domesday Book, as Bermintune and as Burmintune, directly cognate to the entry for Birmingham. The meaning and linguistic proximity of 'beorn', prince, coupled with the usually personal suffix -ing so correlated by following well-known names in most cases, underpins the leading theory that both places had an eponymous human leader. However few records of such princely names containing the 'm' sound supports a counter-theory of word origin. It points to relative proximity to forests/heath clearings of multi-pointed shrubs, broom (and relatives gorse), as the origin in both cases.

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