an area, both for subsistence and for religious reasons. Names were given to springs, streams, rivers and lakes as well as marshes, bays and seas. Eilert Ekwall carried out an early study of river names in England while Krahe conducted a European-wide examination of river names which showed that there were common roots in the names over a wide area. There is still controversy over the language of these roots. Sometimes a generic word was adopted as a specific label, for example the Celtic word for river was afon which is used in many cases as the name (Avon) of rivers in England. Land characteristics were important to both hunters and farmers, and there are many terms relating to different types of hills and valleys. Some terms, like cumb and penn, were adopted from Celtic by Anglo-Saxons. Other terms relate to the expansion of farming. Topographical names were held in low esteem by early place name scholars but their importance was raised in a book by Margaret Gelling, first published in 1978. This discusses the many elements of topographical place names, with updates in 1988 and 1997. Names of settlements Most pre-modern settlement names contain a generic element describing the place's function (e.g. 'farm', 'market', 'fort') or a prominent natural feature, or both; if only one of these is present, it is often modified by a personal name or an adjective. For instance, examples from England: Personal name + function + feature - Todmorden - 'Totta's boundary valley' Personal name + function - Grimsby - 'Grimr's farm' Existing name + function - Exeter - 'River Exe (Roman) fort' Function + natural feature - Church Fenton - 'Marsh Farm (with a church)' Personal name + natural feature - Barnsley - 'Beorn's clearing' Existing name + natural feature - Cockermouth - 'River Cocker mouth' Function - Keswick - 'Cheese farm' Natural feature - Blackburn - 'Black stream' These basic elements can also be found in place names in other countries; e.g. Amsterdam ('River Amstel dam'), Liechtenstein ('Light-stone'), Copenhagen (equivalent to “chapmen’s haven”), Paris ('Home of the Parisii'), Shanghai (approximately 'Seaport'), Tashkent ('Stone city'). These elements are also clearly present in the less 'weathered' New World place names - e.g. Fort Knox, Thunder Bay, Little Rock and so on. Carson City, for instance, was named for Kit Carson, and Belo Horizonte means "beautiful view". However, some apparent meanings may be deceptive; New York