A Handbook of the English Language

by R. G. Latham

c. The termination -by ( = town, habitation, occupancy,) rather than -ton, as Ash-by, Demble-by, Spills-by, Grims-by, &c.

d. The form Kirk rather than Church.

e. The form Orm rather than Worm, as in Orms-head.

In Orms-kirk and Kir-by we have a combination of Danish characteristics.

[§ 546]. In respect to their distribution, the Danish forms are—

At their maximum on the sea-coast of Lincolnshire; i.e., in the parts about Spills-by.

Common, but less frequent, in Yorkshire, the Northern counties of England, the South-eastern parts of Scotland, Lancashire, (Ormskirk, Horn-by), and parts of South Wales (Orms-head, Ten-by).

In Orkney, and the northern parts of Scotland, the Norse had originally the same influence that the Anglo-Saxon had in the south.—See the chapter of the Lowland Scotch.

This explains the peculiar distribution of the Norse forms. Rare, or non-existent, in central and southern England, they appear on the opposite sides of the island, and on its northern extremity; showing that the stream of the Norse population went round the island rather than across it.