Widders Bel
From Riddley Walker Annotations
Revision as of 17:10, 30 November 2021 by Eli Bishop (talk | contribs)
Whitstable.
As Jess Zimmerman has pointed out, the real place name "Whitstable" is an example of forgotten older meanings being adapted to resemble current words somewhat misleadingly, in much the same way that "Widders Bel" is. "Whitstable" derives not from "stable", but from the Old English "staple" meaning "post", but since that association has been lost a modern English speaker would understandably assume the name had to do with keeping horses.
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