> [OE. ceaster:—*ceæster:—*cæster:—prehist. OE. *cæstra (5–6th c.) fem., a. L. castra pl. neuter, ‘camp’, often applied to places in Britain which had been originally Roman encampments. (For the phonology, cf. Sievers Ags. Gram. 1886, §75. 1.)
This is one of the best ascertained of the Latin words adopted by the Angles and Saxons during the conquest of Britain. Still existing as the proper name, or part of the name, of many places. In Cumbria, Lancashire, Yorkshire, and some counties south of these, it appears as -caster, without palatalization. The history of the form written -cester, of w…