Editing Lichfield (section)

== Toponymy ==
The origin of the modern name "Lichfield" is twofold. At [[Wall, Staffordshire|Wall]], {{convert|3.5|km|mi|abbr=on}} south of the current city, there was a [[Romano-British culture|Romano-British]] village, [[Letocetum]], a [[Common Brittonic]] place-name meaning "Grey wood", "[[grey]]" perhaps referring to varieties of tree prominent in the landscape, such as [[ash tree|ash]] and [[elm]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Lichfield: The place and street names, population and boundaries ', A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 14: Lichfield|year=1990|pages=37–42|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=42340|access-date=22 November 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110526054813/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=42340|archive-date=26 May 2011|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Staffordshire/Lichfield |title=Lichfield |work=Key to English Place Names |publisher=Institute for Name Studies, [[University of Nottingham]] |access-date=12 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304063744/http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Staffordshire/Lichfield |archive-date=4 March 2016 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Coates |first1=Richard |title=Celtic Voices, English Places: Studies of the Celtic Impact on Place-Names in Britain |last2=Breeze |first2=Andrew |publisher=Tyas |year=2000 |isbn=1900289415 |location=Stamford}}.</ref>{{rp|335}} In the post-Roman period, ''Letocetum'' developed into Old Welsh {{lang|owl|Luitcoyt}}.<ref name="Sims">{{cite book |author=Patrick Sims-Williams |author-link=Dating the Transition to Neo-Brittonic: Phonology and History, 400-600 |title=Britain 400–600: Language and History |publisher=Carl Winter Universitätsverlag |year=1990 |isbn=3-533-04271-5 |editor=Alfred Bammesberger |location=Heidelberg |page=260 |chapter=2}}</ref>

The earliest record of the name in English is the ''[[Vita Sancti Wilfrithi|Vita Sancti Wilfredi]]'' of around 715, describing when [[Chad of Mercia|Chad]] moves from York to Lichfield in 669. "Chad was made Bishop of the Mercians immediately after his deposition; Wilfred gave him the place (''locus'') at Lichfield (''Onlicitfelda'')".<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Sargent |first=Andrew |title=Lichfield and the Lands of St Chad |date=2020 |publisher=University of Hertfordshire Press |isbn=978-1-912260-24-9 |pages=Pages 90, 264 |language=English}}</ref> The prefix "on" indicates that the place given to Chad by Wilfrid was "in Lichfield", indicating the name was understood to apply to a region rather than a specific settlement.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Johnson |first=Douglas |title=VCH Staffordshire |publisher=Greenslade |edition=Volume 14, page 38}}</ref><ref>Hanks, Patrick; Hodges, Flavia (2002). ''The Oxford Names Companion''. Oxford University Press; p. 1107. {{ISBN|0198605617}}</ref> Bede's ''Ecclesiastical History of the English People'', completed in 731, states that Chad acquired ''Licidfelth'' as his episcopal seat (''sedes episcolpalem'').<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |title=The Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names, Based on the Collections of the English Place-Name Society |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2004 |isbn=9780521168557 |editor-last=Watts |editor-first=Victor |location=Cambridge}}, s.v. ''Lichfield''.</ref>

These and later sources show that the name ''Letocetum'' had passed into [[Old English]] as ''Licid'',<ref name="Delamarre">{{cite book|last=Delamarre|first=Xavier|title=Noms de lieux celtiques de l'europe ancienne (-500/+500): Dictionnaire|year=2012|publisher=Éditions Errance|location=Arles, France|isbn=978-2-87772-483-8|page=175}}</ref> to which was appended the Old English word {{lang|ang|feld}} ("open country"). This word {{lang|ang|Lyccidfeld}} is the origin of the word "Lichfield".<ref name="Delamarre" /><ref name=":1" />

The modern day city of Lichfield and the Roman villa of Letocetum are just two miles (3&nbsp;km) apart. While these names are distinct in modern usage, they had a common derivation in the Brittonic original *''Letocaiton'', indicating that "grey wood" referred to the region inclusive of modern-day Lichfield City and the Roman villa.<ref name=":0" />

[[Popular etymology]] has it that a thousand Christians were martyred in Lichfield around AD 300 during the reign of [[Diocletian]] and that the name Lichfield actually means "field of the dead" (see ''[[lich]]''). There is no evidence to support this legend.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=42340|title=Explaining the origin of the 'field of the dead' legend|publisher=British History Online|access-date=20 November 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110526054813/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=42340|archive-date=26 May 2011|url-status=live}}</ref>