Settlement names ending in ‑tved
The ending ‑tved is one of the most wide spread words for clearings in Danish place names. It is found in names such as Næstved and Ortved. Just like the rød-names, many of the tved-names are formed from personal names that are well-known from the Viking Age and the Middle Ages. However, there are Danish tved-names both in the Danelaw and in Normandy, and this means that the name type must be dated to the Viking Age. Yet, tved-names were continuously formed in the Middle Ages.
All together, the tved-names seem to be a little younger than the rød-names. Still, the most important difference between the rød-names and the tved-names is that the two name-types are found only rarely in the same areas. This means that they complement each other geographically.
The tved-names are often hard to identify because the ending easily changes. For instance the following Zealand names are all formed from the ending ‑tved: Bjergsted, Gelsted, Tornved and Tjørnede. The same counts for Harte in East Jutland and Humble on Langeland.
Pitfalls
This overview of the most important Danish settlement names, provides a tool to place names in time. For instance it is now possible to ascertain that Hvessinge must be hundreds of years older than Glostrup although Hvessinge actually is a part of Glostup today.
However, many place names have a form in present time that does not immediately reveal from which words the name was originally formed. Some of these corrupt names look like other name types, and some have passed through independent changes. By examining the oldest written sources, it is often possible to see from which endings those names were formed originally.
Examples of this are Grænge on Lolland, which is an inge-name, and Klinting in Vestern Jutland, which is an um-name. Further to that Maglemer on Lolland is a tved-name, Gislev on Funen is originally formed from one word, and Græsted in Northern Zealand originally ended in ‑holt. In other words, a place name is never sure to consist of the words immediately obvious from the present day spelling.