MICKLA, MYCEL (Teut. and Scand.),
great, Scotch muckle; e.g. Mickledorf, Michelstadt, Michelham, Mickleton (great dwelling); Micklebeck (great brook); Michelau (great meadow); Mitchelmerse (the great marsh); Mecklenburg, anc. Mikilinberg (the great town or hill fort); Muchelney (the great island), in Somersetshire, formed by the conf. of the Rivers Ivel and Parret; Meikle Ferry (the great ferry), on Dornoch Firth; Micklegarth (the great enclosure), the Scandinavian name for Constantinople, Grk. Megalopolis; but mikil or miklos, especially in Russia and Hungary, is often an abbreviation of St. Nicholas, and denotes that the churches in these places were dedicated to that saint—thus Mikailov, Mikhailovskaia, Mikhalpol (St. Nicholas’s towns), in Russia; Miklos-Szent and Miklos-Nagy-Szent, in Hungary; Mikolajow, in Poland; Mitcham, in Surrey, in Doomsday is Michelham.
MIN, MEN, or MAEN (Cym.-Cel.),
a high rock or the brow of a hill; e.g. Maen-du (black rock), in Monmouth; Minto, a parish in Roxburghshire, on the brow of a steep hill; Meonstoke (hill station); East and West Meon, in Gloucestershire; Mendabia (at the foot of the hill), in Spain; Altmaen, corrupt. to “Old Man of Coniston,” in the Lake country, and to the “Old Man of Hoy,” in the Orkneys; the “Dodmaen,” in Cornwall—v. DODD—has been corrupted to Deadman.
MINSTER, MYNSTER (A.S.),
MUENSTER (Ger.),
a monk’s dwelling or monastery, hence a cathedral—Lat. monasterium; e.g. Illminster, Axminster, Stourminster, Kremmunster, Charminster (the monasteries on the Rivers Ill, Ax, Stour, Krem, and Char); Beaminster, Co. Dorset, named after St. Bega; Kidderminster (the monastery of Earl Cynebert); Westminster (the minster west of St. Paul’s); Warminster (near the weir or dam of the R. Willey); Monasteranenagh (the monastery of the fair); Monasterboice (of St. Bœthus); Monasterevin (of St. Evin), in Ireland; Monasteria de la Vega (of the plain), in Spain. In France: Moutier, Moustier, Moustoir, Munster, Monestier (the monastery); Montereau, Montreuil, Marmoutier (the monastery of St. Martin); Masmoutier (of Maso); Noirmoutier and Rougemoutier (the black and red monastery); Toli-Monaster or Bitolia (the monastery of the beech-trees), in Turkey; Munster (the monastery), in Alsace; but Munster, a province in Ireland, is compounded from the Scand. ster—qu. v.—and the Irish Mumha, a king’s name; Munster-eifel (the monastery at the foot of the Eifel-berg).
MIR (Sclav.),
peace; e.g. Mirgorod (the fortress of peace); Miropol, Mirowitz, Mirow (the town of peace).
MITTEL, MIDDEL (Teut. and Scand.),
MIEDZY (Sclav.),
the middle, cognate with the Lat. medius, Grk. mesos, and Gadhelic meadhon; e.g. Middleby, Middleton, Middleham, Mitton, Middleburg (the middle town); Middlesex (the territory of the middle Saxons); Middlewich (the middle salt manufactory), in Cheshire—v. WICH; Midhurst (the middle wood), in Sussex; Midmar (the middle district of Mar), in Aberdeenshire; Ardmeanadh, Gael. Ardmeadhonadh (the middle height), being the Gaelic name for Cromarty; Mitford (the middle ford); Melton-Mowbray, sometimes written Medeltune (the middle town), formerly belonging to the Mowbray family; Mittelgebirge (the middle mountain range); Mittelwalde, Sclav. Medzibor (the middle of the wood), in Silesia; Methwold, in Norfolk, with the same meaning; Mittweyda (in the midst of pasture ground), in Saxony; Methley and Metfield (middle field); Meseritz and Meseritsch, i.e. mied-zyvreka (in the midst of streams), in Moravia and Pomerania; Mediasch (in the midst of waters), in Hungary; Misdroi (in the midst of woods), in Pomerania; Mediterranean Sea (in the middle of the land); Media (the middle country, as then known); Mesopotamia, Grk. (the country between the rivers); Mediolanum (in the midst of the plain or land)—v. LANN—the ancient name of Milan, Saintes, and some other towns.