Gateshead

Meanings

1. A town in Tyne and Wear, in north-east England, found upon the southern bank of the Tyne (OS grid ref NZ2562).
2. A metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear formed in 1974, with its headquarters in the town.
3. A suburb of Newcastle in the City of Lake Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia, named after the town in England.

Etymology

From Middle English Gatesheved (c. 1190), from Old English *Gāteshēafod, from gāt (“goat”) + hēafod (“head”). First mentioned by Bede in Latin in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People as ad caput caprae (literally “at the goat's head”), meaning a headland or hill frequented by (wild) goats. Both Latin and English names may be calques of a Brythonic predecessor formed from Proto-Brythonic *gaβr, from Proto-Celtic *gabros (“goat”), and might have been the Romano-British fort of Gabrosentum.

Translations