Etymology of Lincoln

To those that hate Western society (i.e. liberals), we are a people without culture. Like fish, who don't realize they flutter about in an aqueous medium, or we landwellers who tend to ignore the sea of air the surrounds us, they are so accustomed to western culture that they fail to note its existence at all. The truth is that we have a culture and history as rich as anyone else, and arguably much richer. I find it interesting to trace common English words back to their origins. To the left there is probably no place in the world less culturally interesting than Lincoln, Nebraska. Let's run that one all the way back.

The city of Lincoln is named after the great American president who fought to preserve the union two centuries ago, and is credited for ending slavery in the US. His name, presumably, comes from the English city of Lincoln, the county seat of Lincolnshire. The name Lincoln derives from its history as the Roman military settlement Lindum Colonia. By merging the terms in a portmanteau, we can easily see the emergence of the name Lincoln as well as the source of the silent L.

Lindum was a Latinization of the Brittonic word lindon, meaning pool or lake. The root lin can be found in many other names, such as Dublin*, which means "black pool." The Welsh name Lynn derives from the same root and is one of the most common names in America. The similarity of Lindon to London has been noted, although the etymology of the English capital city is uncertain. Lindon derives from the proto-Celtic root lendu-, meaning lake or water. This dates the term all the way back to the Bronze Ages in continental Europe - before the Celtic people migrated to the British Isles - around 1200 BC. So the first syllable of Lincoln dates back at least three thousand years.

Colonia is a Latin word, derived from colonus (farmer) which derived from colo (to till) which traces all the way back to the Proto-Indo-European root *kʷel- (to turn, end-over-end). So the second syllable traces all the way to the emergence of the caucasian race, 6000 years ago on the Eurasian steppe.

The name Lincoln most nearly means "lake colony." The first half was brought to England by the Celts; the second half was delivered by the Romans. The name was carried to North America by English settlers, one of whom became so prominent that many American locales bear the name today. The name passed through the three greatest empires of history (Roman, English, and American). The city name in England required or survived four invasions of the British Isles: the Celts, the Romans, the Anglo-Saxons, and the Normans. The fifth great invasion of Britain is currently underway. The name will likely survive, although that is never certain.

We are surrounded by words of similar historical significance. Our culture and traditions are similarly rich. Our ancestors built the world's greatest empires, and provided the majority of the major advances achieved by humanity. When anyone suggest we have no culture, they are as wrong as they could possibly be on the matter.


* The first half of Dublin comes from the proto-Celtic root dubno-, meaning deep or dark, which can be traced all the way back to the PIE root *dʰewb-, meaning deep or hollow.