Tuna revisited. The place-name Tuna, the diffusion of linguistic innovations and the emergence of central places in Northern Europe during the first millennium A.D.
The place-names in tuna are well known but have not been subject to much interest from linguistics or name-scholars in recent years. The only major investigation is now nearly 50 years old and to a considerable extent obsolete. At the same time, the names in tuna have gained increasing attention in the archaeological-historical discussion of central places during the first millennia A.D. Such places were centres for power, crafts and rituals and are vital for our understanding of the society of the time. The identification and conceptualisation of the central place has created a wholly new context for the names in tuna. In our study we will use this new knowledge and reassess the meaning and age of the names. But we will also investigate whether the central places have functioned as redistributive nodes for linguistic innovations. This will be possible through an analysis of the special place-name environments in which they occur, environments of which the names in tuna often are vital components. An important issue that such an analysis might elucidate is if there are European models for the tuna-names and for the central places as such.
Final report
Tuna revisited
The place-name Tuna, the diffusion of linguistic innovations and the emergence of central places in Northern Europe during the first millennium AD
Per Vikstrand, Stefan Brink
The Aim of the project and its development
The names in tuna have today an eminent role in the flourishing discussion of central places in Scandinavia. However, from a linguistic/onomastic point of view not much ground has been gained since the 1960s. No major investigation has been launched to reassess the names according to new theories and new empirical knowledge. The aim of this project is to be such an investigation but also to study the names in tuna as part of the very special historic and linguistic context of the central places. A further aim, then, is to investigate whether the diffusion of names in tuna can be understood as a part of a much more far-reaching wave of linguistic change, related to the emergence of the Proto-Scandinavian language.
As usual in a research process, questions and approaches have been revised as the investigation has proceeded. Several aspects, which were to be treated separately, have been colligated into a larger study, taking its starting point in the specifics of the names. A line of inquiry that was not included in the original plan is the potential influence between tuna-names and English ”functional tun-names”. This has resulted in a special study.
Implementation
The project has been set up in the form of a number of smaller and well defined analyses.
The different analyses have been carried out on the basis of a systematic investigation of the Scandinavian names in tuna. Their specifics have been interpreted (as far as possible) and their name environments and archaeological settings have been scrutinised. Names and name environments have been mapped in a GIS application.
The three most important results
1. The controlling function of the tuna-sites
2. Tuna have not always denoted the core of the central site
3. The potential influence between tuna-names and English” functional tun-names”
1. The controlling function of the tuna-sites
The systematic study of the different tuna-sites indicates that they are carefully positioned in the landscape. Most of them occur in what must be described as strategic positions, hinting at territorial control and command of waterways. It is not unusual that they control both sides of an inlet or a fairway. Sometimes they are placed by rapids, which obstructed traffic along rivers. In all these cases they appear as manifestations of territorial ascendancy and command of important areas of resources. This quality of the tuna-sites is very pronounced.
Along the coast of Uppland, a central Swedish province, a number on tuna-sites also occur at the bottom of deep inlets. They are situated close to main fairways but at the same time protected by their hidden locations. This hints at a naval significance. It is likely that they were a kind of naval strongholds, from which warships quickly could respond and engage with an enemy. It could be noticed that tuna-sites in such position seldom show any other signs of high status beside their names. Sometimes they do not even seem to be permanent settlements during their earliest phase, and perhaps they were only manned during the sailing season.
It seems probably that many tuna-sites have had a controlling or even military function. It is conceivable that this controlling aspect has been an important part of the semantic of the name-element, and disposed it for usage both of high status settlement and controlling sites of a more specialised character.
2. Tuna have not always denoted the core of the central site
The old observation, that names in tuna often are associated with central places from the first millennium AD, still holds true. Examples such as Torstuna in Uppland, Sättuna in Östergötland and Tune on Gotland give little room for doubt. However, the tuna-name does not always designates the core settlements of these places, which often have a multi-focal character. Instead, they might appear on the outskirts, often by the shore of the sea, a lake or a river. A spectacular but somewhat uncertain example might be the royal manor of Gamla Uppsala, which is surrounded by a wide circle of tuna-sites. A less ambiguous case is the royal manor of Strö in Västmanland, beset by a number of tuna-sites and especially close to Jämmertuna by the shore of Lake Mälaren. An other example is Grimeton (*Grimutuna) in Halland in the south of Sweden, which is neighbouring an old central place at Broåsen, no longer known by name. Many more cases can be adduced.
When tuna-sites appear in such locations, the question is whether they should be regarded as belonging to the central place or as an attempt at external control of this places. That is, if the tuna-site is subordinate or superordinate. Any view taken on this subject depends on which historical framework we are prepared to accept. Superordination implies some kind of supra-regional supremacy, hardly later than during the Merovingian period. If counting on subordination, on the other hand, we must ask ourselves how this could be accommodated with the fact that other names designates settlements of the highest rank. As suggested above, the controlling function might offer a conciliatory link. An other possibility is that of chronological differences in meaning.
3. The potential influence between tuna-names and English ”functional tun-names”
Although etymologically identical, one do not immediately presume a connection between the plural Swedish names in -tuna and the singular Anglo-Saxon names in -tun. The later are very common and in the vast majority of cases seem to have meant only ‘farmstead’. They are, however, not a homogenous group. Behind the “ordinary” names, one can discern an older layer, often referred to as “functional tun-names” which describe places with specialised functions. They seem to reflect a specialised economy and a sophisticated exercise of power. Examples of such names are Burh-tun, Stret-tun and Ceorla-tun. ”Groups of names in -tun encircle Mercian central places with a consistency ruling out coincidence” writes John Blair (in Building Anglo-Saxon England, 2018 p. 193) and suggests that the economy and organisation of the Mercian society was “based not on complex centres, but on central clusters comprising specialised and defined mono-functional foci linked in complementary groups”. Many of these foci seem to have had names in -tun.
This echoes of Scandinavian central place complexes and tuna-names, and Blair refer to these as a close parallel. A special study within this project is devoted to the potential connection between Scandinavian tuna-names and functional tun-names in England. Direct influences (in either way) is considered unlikely, but perhaps we should search for an explanation of the similarities in the ancient Proto-Scandinavian language. The home countries of the Angles seem actually to have been in south Denmark and the Saxon lived close by. This is not an area were central-place tuna-names later developed, but nevertheless Proto-Scandinavian was spoken here during the time of migration. This was also the language of the Swedish area were the tuna-names developed, much at the same time. The potential of the word tun to develop such specialised meanings as is present in both the Anglo-Saxon and the Swedish names might have its prerequisites in its meaning and connotations in the Proto-Scandinavian language.
When it comes to the investigation of the central places as centres of linguistic innovation, the results are somewhat unsatisfactory. A large name material have been mapped in Qgis, presenting good opportunities to study relations between different linguistic components of the central place. But the name clusters of the central places are neither so distinct nor so well-developed as one could wish – and perhaps sometimes have conceived of. The results will be discussed in two papers: Central places as centres of linguistic innovation and distribution and Plural tuna-names in Norway.
Dissemination and collaborations
We have had personal collaborations with a number of researchers in Sweden, Finland and Great Britain. The project has also been presented orally by Brink on a number of occasions, see list below.
The results of the project will be published in the form of an edited volume, containing the following titles:
1. Tuna revisited. Presentation of a project (Brink, Vikstrand)
2. The specifics of the tuna-names (Vikstrand)
3. The landscape-setting of the tuna-names (Vikstrand)
4. The chronology of the tuna-names (Brink, Vikstrand)
5. Tuna-names in the north of Sweden (Brink)
6. Sätuna (Vikstrand)
7. Svintuna (Vikstrand)
8. Central places as centres of linguistic innovation and distribution (Vikstrand)
We are hoping to be able to publish this volume in the acta-series of The Royal Gustavus Adolphus Academy for Swedish Folk Culture. The publication will have open access. Additionally there will be at least two free-standing papers: Plural tuna-names in Norway and Swedish tuna and Anglo-Saxon tun – is there a connection? The first a mentioned is under publication in an issue of UBAS (University of Bergen Archaeological Series). How the later one should be published is still not decided.
The place-name Tuna, the diffusion of linguistic innovations and the emergence of central places in Northern Europe during the first millennium AD
Per Vikstrand, Stefan Brink
The Aim of the project and its development
The names in tuna have today an eminent role in the flourishing discussion of central places in Scandinavia. However, from a linguistic/onomastic point of view not much ground has been gained since the 1960s. No major investigation has been launched to reassess the names according to new theories and new empirical knowledge. The aim of this project is to be such an investigation but also to study the names in tuna as part of the very special historic and linguistic context of the central places. A further aim, then, is to investigate whether the diffusion of names in tuna can be understood as a part of a much more far-reaching wave of linguistic change, related to the emergence of the Proto-Scandinavian language.
As usual in a research process, questions and approaches have been revised as the investigation has proceeded. Several aspects, which were to be treated separately, have been colligated into a larger study, taking its starting point in the specifics of the names. A line of inquiry that was not included in the original plan is the potential influence between tuna-names and English ”functional tun-names”. This has resulted in a special study.
Implementation
The project has been set up in the form of a number of smaller and well defined analyses.
The different analyses have been carried out on the basis of a systematic investigation of the Scandinavian names in tuna. Their specifics have been interpreted (as far as possible) and their name environments and archaeological settings have been scrutinised. Names and name environments have been mapped in a GIS application.
The three most important results
1. The controlling function of the tuna-sites
2. Tuna have not always denoted the core of the central site
3. The potential influence between tuna-names and English” functional tun-names”
1. The controlling function of the tuna-sites
The systematic study of the different tuna-sites indicates that they are carefully positioned in the landscape. Most of them occur in what must be described as strategic positions, hinting at territorial control and command of waterways. It is not unusual that they control both sides of an inlet or a fairway. Sometimes they are placed by rapids, which obstructed traffic along rivers. In all these cases they appear as manifestations of territorial ascendancy and command of important areas of resources. This quality of the tuna-sites is very pronounced.
Along the coast of Uppland, a central Swedish province, a number on tuna-sites also occur at the bottom of deep inlets. They are situated close to main fairways but at the same time protected by their hidden locations. This hints at a naval significance. It is likely that they were a kind of naval strongholds, from which warships quickly could respond and engage with an enemy. It could be noticed that tuna-sites in such position seldom show any other signs of high status beside their names. Sometimes they do not even seem to be permanent settlements during their earliest phase, and perhaps they were only manned during the sailing season.
It seems probably that many tuna-sites have had a controlling or even military function. It is conceivable that this controlling aspect has been an important part of the semantic of the name-element, and disposed it for usage both of high status settlement and controlling sites of a more specialised character.
2. Tuna have not always denoted the core of the central site
The old observation, that names in tuna often are associated with central places from the first millennium AD, still holds true. Examples such as Torstuna in Uppland, Sättuna in Östergötland and Tune on Gotland give little room for doubt. However, the tuna-name does not always designates the core settlements of these places, which often have a multi-focal character. Instead, they might appear on the outskirts, often by the shore of the sea, a lake or a river. A spectacular but somewhat uncertain example might be the royal manor of Gamla Uppsala, which is surrounded by a wide circle of tuna-sites. A less ambiguous case is the royal manor of Strö in Västmanland, beset by a number of tuna-sites and especially close to Jämmertuna by the shore of Lake Mälaren. An other example is Grimeton (*Grimutuna) in Halland in the south of Sweden, which is neighbouring an old central place at Broåsen, no longer known by name. Many more cases can be adduced.
When tuna-sites appear in such locations, the question is whether they should be regarded as belonging to the central place or as an attempt at external control of this places. That is, if the tuna-site is subordinate or superordinate. Any view taken on this subject depends on which historical framework we are prepared to accept. Superordination implies some kind of supra-regional supremacy, hardly later than during the Merovingian period. If counting on subordination, on the other hand, we must ask ourselves how this could be accommodated with the fact that other names designates settlements of the highest rank. As suggested above, the controlling function might offer a conciliatory link. An other possibility is that of chronological differences in meaning.
3. The potential influence between tuna-names and English ”functional tun-names”
Although etymologically identical, one do not immediately presume a connection between the plural Swedish names in -tuna and the singular Anglo-Saxon names in -tun. The later are very common and in the vast majority of cases seem to have meant only ‘farmstead’. They are, however, not a homogenous group. Behind the “ordinary” names, one can discern an older layer, often referred to as “functional tun-names” which describe places with specialised functions. They seem to reflect a specialised economy and a sophisticated exercise of power. Examples of such names are Burh-tun, Stret-tun and Ceorla-tun. ”Groups of names in -tun encircle Mercian central places with a consistency ruling out coincidence” writes John Blair (in Building Anglo-Saxon England, 2018 p. 193) and suggests that the economy and organisation of the Mercian society was “based not on complex centres, but on central clusters comprising specialised and defined mono-functional foci linked in complementary groups”. Many of these foci seem to have had names in -tun.
This echoes of Scandinavian central place complexes and tuna-names, and Blair refer to these as a close parallel. A special study within this project is devoted to the potential connection between Scandinavian tuna-names and functional tun-names in England. Direct influences (in either way) is considered unlikely, but perhaps we should search for an explanation of the similarities in the ancient Proto-Scandinavian language. The home countries of the Angles seem actually to have been in south Denmark and the Saxon lived close by. This is not an area were central-place tuna-names later developed, but nevertheless Proto-Scandinavian was spoken here during the time of migration. This was also the language of the Swedish area were the tuna-names developed, much at the same time. The potential of the word tun to develop such specialised meanings as is present in both the Anglo-Saxon and the Swedish names might have its prerequisites in its meaning and connotations in the Proto-Scandinavian language.
When it comes to the investigation of the central places as centres of linguistic innovation, the results are somewhat unsatisfactory. A large name material have been mapped in Qgis, presenting good opportunities to study relations between different linguistic components of the central place. But the name clusters of the central places are neither so distinct nor so well-developed as one could wish – and perhaps sometimes have conceived of. The results will be discussed in two papers: Central places as centres of linguistic innovation and distribution and Plural tuna-names in Norway.
Dissemination and collaborations
We have had personal collaborations with a number of researchers in Sweden, Finland and Great Britain. The project has also been presented orally by Brink on a number of occasions, see list below.
The results of the project will be published in the form of an edited volume, containing the following titles:
1. Tuna revisited. Presentation of a project (Brink, Vikstrand)
2. The specifics of the tuna-names (Vikstrand)
3. The landscape-setting of the tuna-names (Vikstrand)
4. The chronology of the tuna-names (Brink, Vikstrand)
5. Tuna-names in the north of Sweden (Brink)
6. Sätuna (Vikstrand)
7. Svintuna (Vikstrand)
8. Central places as centres of linguistic innovation and distribution (Vikstrand)
We are hoping to be able to publish this volume in the acta-series of The Royal Gustavus Adolphus Academy for Swedish Folk Culture. The publication will have open access. Additionally there will be at least two free-standing papers: Plural tuna-names in Norway and Swedish tuna and Anglo-Saxon tun – is there a connection? The first a mentioned is under publication in an issue of UBAS (University of Bergen Archaeological Series). How the later one should be published is still not decided.