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Anonymous
28-Jun-03, 16:22
I am sure I am not alone in being mistaken for Irish. Many people think the Caithness accent is Irish, was looking at a map the other day and the number of places with the suffix STER seemed to stand out, Scrabster, Lybster, Bilbster, Ulbster, Haster etc etc. Now I know there are counites in Ireland called Ulster, Munster etc I take it that the ster comes from Nordic or something (anyone elaborate?) . So then I thought, thats it, that why eveyone thinks we are Irish, then looked furhter down the map and found Manchester, Winchester..... :confused

2little2late
28-Jun-03, 21:54
There is some connection to place names in Caithness ending in STER. Not sure if it is something to do with cairns. I did read it a while ago in the local paper and i'm sure i've read about it on this website aswell.

Partan
29-Jun-03, 18:16
I understand that the "ster" suffix common in Northern Scotland and the North Isles is derived from a Norse word meaning "homestead" or "dwelling place".

The suffix "chester" derives from the Latin "castra" for fortification ("castle" is derived from the same Latin root).

Anonymous
29-Jun-03, 18:29
Cheers Partan.