Salford

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A city in Greater Manchester in north-west England, known for its docks and its close ties to neighbouring Manchester
2. An industrial city in the Greater Manchester area of north-western England, situated on the River Irwell beside Manchester
3. A large urban settlement in north-west England that forms part of the Greater Manchester conurbation

Etymology: Salford is a place name, and its meaning is about as transparent as English place names get. It joins Old English "sealh", meaning willow or sallow, with "ford", a shallow crossing where a river could be waded. The name therefore describes a crossing marked by willows, the trees that tend to grow along wet ground and riverbanks where a ford would have been used. The word works like many English town names built on a natural feature and a crossing. Its first element tells you what the landscape looked like, and its second tells you what people did there. Salford itself is a city in Greater Manchester, and the name has stayed attached to the river crossing it was first given to describe.