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I was passing through the hamlet of Chop Gate (in North Yorkshire) the other day, and heard it referred to as "chop yat" (tʃɒp yæt). This source here concurs with that pronunciation. Does anyone know why it is pronounced in that way (or, alternatively, why it is spelt that way)? |
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It may be because the g in Old English could be pronounced like a y when followed by an e or ea diphthong. For example, middangeard, the term used to refer to "this place right here where people live" (literally "middle earth" — so you can see where Tolkien got the term) was pronounced middahnyaird. The North Yorkshire accent may retain some vestiges of Old English pronunciation. |
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Maps aren't written by locals. For example "Pately Bridge" is known locally as "Pately Brig". Brig being norse for a large rock outcrop - no bridge involved. But some map maker came from the south, asked a local what the place was called and misunderstood the answer. It's not that "gate" is necessarily pronounced 'yat' - the 'yat' pronunciation is possibly from some totally unrelated earlier word and "gate" is the nearest the official surveyor could come to it (edit apparently in this case yat = gate) Yorkshire has a wide variety of place names, from early celtic (Pen-y-ghent), mostly Norse, a few anglo-saxon and a scattering of modern Norman places. |
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Chop Gate is pronounced Chop Yat. It is Old Norse for Pedlar's Way with the "Yat" being an old Norse word for route or gate. |
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