About the germanic dialect attested in the place names of the former county of Boulogne-sur-mer (Pas-de Calais)

The paper deals with toponyms in the area around Boulogne-sur-mer (Pas-de-Calais). A fair number of them do not belong to the Frankish and Gallo-Romans layers, which can be found in the rest of Northern France. They derive from another source, obviously Germanic but with stronger links with
Normandy and England. From the toponymic data the main phonological features of this dialect can be retrieved within the comparative framework of Germanic, of its Westic branch for the most part but with some Norse components. A glossary of this dialect, which stands half-way between English and Saxon, can be created. It is also possible to determine how this linguistic intrusion was gradually absorbed by French, represented by the so-called “Picard” dialect. The paper focuses on the westernmost part of the Pas-de-Calais. References to neighboring areas within the Pas-de-Calais exemplify the contrasts with the area under survey. The ancient forms of the toponyms and the dates of their attestations are taken from the compilation in Poulet (1997). They can be checked in Haigneré (1881).