Cumberland
/ˈkʌm.bə.lənd/noun
A historic county in northwestern England; also used in place names and surnames.
Did you know?Cumberland comes from Old English for the land of the Cumbræ, a name tied to the Brittonic-speaking inhabitants of the region—basically a linguistic fossil of an older Britain.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Celtic
PCelt
*kom-brogos
“possible ancestral idea of 'fellow-countrymen' or 'compatriots' (reconstructed, debated)”
Brittonic
Brittonic
*kombroges
“Britons; people of the same land”
Old English
OE
Cumbraland
“land of the Cumbræ / Britons”
Middle English
Middle English
Cumberlond
“the county name in northern England”
Modern English
English
Cumberland
“the historic county in northwestern England”
Explore more surprising origins