What it Means to Be From a ‘Bury’ Like Danbury

Being from Danbury means having an awesome mall. Everybody knows that. But did you know being from Danbury means being from a strong place?

The ‘Bury’ in Danbury is indeed a sign of strength. It’s the same for Southbury, Roxbury, Waterbury, Glastonbury, Simsbury, and other "Bury" towns in our state. Why? The word stands for a fortified place or fortress. That’s what it meant in old Anglo Saxon speak, not that anybody really speaks it anymore. As the English settled cities and towns in Connecticut, we got some funky names from the root words of old Anglo Saxon terminology. So if you were on a route with 'Bury' towns, you knew it was a secure place according to an article in the Hartford Courant.

And if you were heading to a town with "Sex" in it, it wasn’t regarding intimacy.

Some are disappointed to learn that the "Sex" in Essex and Middlesex etc. refers to the territory of the English or Saxons. The "Sex" was originally "Seaxe", but then abbreviated. Also, many towns with "Sex" in them were named after actual places in England.

But wait, there’s more. If you’re from a 'Wich' city like Norwich, likely you’re from a city that was used as a port or trading place by the settlers, because ‘Wich’ was the word for port or as trading place. It turns out ‘Ford’ as in Hartford means river crossing.

Once I started researching root words for town names and cities, it became addicting. I found some more really cool info about this for every state in the nation on Ideasillustrated.com

That’s it for now from Brookfield (the brook by the field).