From 1898, it was commonly accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos; this explanation has since been rejected. Richard Coates put forward an explanation in 1998 that it is derived from the pre-Celtic Old European *(p)lowonida, meaning 'river too wide to ford', and suggested that this was a name given to the part of the River Thames which flows through London; from this, the settlement gained the Celtic form of its name, *Lowonidonjon; this requires quite a serious amendment however. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *(h)lōndinion (as opposed to *londīnion), from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name.
From 1898 , it was commonly accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called * Londinos ; this explanation has since been rejected . Richard Coates put forward an explanation in 1998 that it is derived from the pre - Celtic Old European * ( p)lowonida , meaning ' river too wide to ford ' , and suggested that this was a name given to the part of the River Thames which flows through London ; from this , the settlement gained the Celtic form of its name , * Lowonidonjon ; this requires quite a serious amendment however . The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain , which should demand a form * ( h)lōndinion ( as opposed to * londīnion ) , from earlier * loundiniom . The possibility can not be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date , and thus can not be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name .
Early consensus was that London's name originated in what language?
Early consensus was that London 's name originated in what language ?
Celtic
Celtic