The origin cannot (unlikely
to) have come from the modern word 'shore' which
was not used in Saxon times, and does not appear to be used
in its current meaning until the 14th century. Scor,
pronounced 'shor' was probably a word at the time meaning
'slope' or a similar topographic feature.
(However, this is
according to English Dictionaries. The American Heritage Dictionary 3rd
Edition is different.)
It is also cannot be derived from the Latin/Saxon word 'õra' meaning shore or landing place for boats for linguistic reasons.Words were simply not constructed like this and the word 'õra' disappeared from use. (Origin of place names of Bognor and Pershore, but there is not 100% agreement on the meaning of õra. I am satisified AH. The earliest reference I can find to õra is a document called "Ora Maritima" by Festus Rufus Avienus dated 366 AD. AH.)
Popular place-name
books usually give the meaning for Shoreham as 'estate
at the foot of a steep slope'.
Steep slope was from
the Saxon word 'scor'. pronounced 'shor', but
written 'sore' by the Norman scribes.(This was first thought
to be as they would pronounce the word. The
French Normans had difficulty in pronoucing certain consonant groups.
Or is this a German sound shift ? Treat this as speculation.).
This is the most reasonable
explanation, although my first thoughts
were that the slope is hardly steep, it is too steep to
plough.
Where is the shear slope? It is not really there! (Although, Old Shoreham from the west would be at the foot of the steep Mill Hill, now obscured by trees, but in my time, late 1950s, it was a bare hill slope.) Both Shoreham in Kent and Sussex share a slope (dominant topographical feature) that is too steep to plough leading down to a river with navigational importance in Saxon times. (The slope at the Kentish Shoreham is longer and steeper.)
(The American Heritage Dictionary 3rd Edition gives the etymon for the word 'shore' as scora and this would be consistent with the past participle of scoren, scieran, shear, shorn.This is the same origin.)
[Middle English shore, from Old English scora; see sker-1 in Indo-European roots.]
shore
(n.)
c.1300,
"land bordering a large body of water," perhaps from M.L.G. schor "shore,
coast, headland," or M.Du. scorre "land washed by the sea," probably from
P.Gmc. *skur- "cut" and according to etymologists originally with a sense
of "division" between land and water, and thus related to O.E. sceran "shear,
to cut" (see shear). But if the word originated on the North Sea coast
of the continent, it may as well have meant "land 'cut off' from the mainland
by tidal marshes" (cf. O.N. skerg "an isolated rock in the sea," related
to sker "to cut, shear"). O.E. words for "coast, shore" were strand, waroþ,
ofer. Few I.E. languages have such a single comprehensive word for "land
bordering water" (Homer uses one word for sandy beaches, another for rocky
headlands). General application to "country near a seacoast" is attested
from 1610s.
from
Online
Etymological Dictionary
Normans changed the writing of English from the clear and easily readable
insular hand of Irish origin to the delicate Carolingian script then in
use on the Continent. With the change in appearance came a change in spelling,
e.g. sc to sh (Ency. Britannica)
(This is an over-simplified explanation.)
As for the palaeographical statement, I don't
think your edition of the Ency. Brit. has caught up with research in this
area. Insular minuscule wasn't always used by the Anglo-Saxons - the situation
is quite complex, including 'pointed minuscule', 'square minuscule' and
others, but Carolingian influence in this area came to England in the 10th
century at the time of the great monastic reform movement, not after 1066.
(CB)
Whether this word 'scora'
was in use for the current meaning of 'shore' when Shoreham was given its
name in Saxon times is debateable. The actual shore as we know it today
would be more than one mile to the south, although the River Adur estuary
had carved an inlet adjacent to Old Shoreham. (see reconstructed
map).
Ham
= probably from the Saxon 'hamm',
a geographical feature roughly corresponding to a peninsula surrounded
on three sides, usually by marsh. Later the marsh may have been drained
to become
a meadow.
Also hamm
a bend in a river or a river meadow?
[NB. Ham Road adjacent
to the Civic Centre, Police Station, and Supermarket, acquired is name
from the Ham(m), and so did Hammy Lane, and the Hamm Allotments (adjacent
to Eastern Avenue).]
From: paulcu@cogs.susx.ac.uk
>Re Shoreham: it seems to me unsafe to assume
derivation from Old English _hamm_ ('hemmed-in
land') rather than OE _ha:m_ ('a homestead, a village') in the absence
of any -hamme or -hom spellings in what is quite a substantial medieval
record. You're quite right to note that _hamm_ does occur in the parish
in the name Ham (surviving in Ham Road etc.), but none of the data assembled
by Mawer & Stenton (The Place-Names of Sussex, EPNS, pp.246-7) provides
evidence for _hamm_ in the name Shoreham itself.
Humbly, Paul<
My guess is that this in turn came from the MLG word hamme, OE ham, hom, referring to the thigh (joined to the buttock like a peninsula) and the origin of the word ham for the joint of pigmeat.
le Ham 1549
The Hamme, Green Hamm, and Hamm Fields are mentioned in a Duke of Norfolk map of 1782.
There is some topographic/soil evidence to back up this claim as well (and there is no indication that this was known to Margaret Gelling).
Reference (for hamm):
"Place Names in the
Landscape" by Margaret Gelling,
pages 41- 50.
ISBN 0 460 04380 3
More notes: web page
I think hamm could simply mean pasture as distinct from meadow (where the hay is cut). Andy Horton, 1 July 2004.
The Gelling classification was later refined by John Dodgson, who divided category (5) into (5a) "cultivated plot in marginal land" and (5b) "an enclosed plot, a close", and added a category (6) "a piece of valley-bottom land hemmed in by higher ground" (Dodgson 1973). While Gelling had argued that "land in the bend of a river" was the original meaning of hamm, Dodgson looked upon the whole set of meanings as figurative expressions of the basic concept of "a surrounded, hemmed-in place" and Karl Inge Sandred's subsequent thorough study of the etymology of the element suggested to him that the original meaning was "enclosure" and that the meaning "plot of ground by a river" developed from this because river-meadows were frequently enclosed to protect them from straying cattle (Sandred 1976). [extract from the web page]
More notes: Hamm refers to a natural feature/enclosure
of the landscape chosen because it could be used as a grazing pasture?
protective enclosure? (from rustlers and enemy attack?) rather than a man-made
enclosure. Maybe these natural features were importance in the choice of
settlement sites, which would later have developed into villages and towns?
AH.
By 1086, 80% of settlements were accompanied
by a meadow (enclosed grassland?) of some sort (from
Rackham). AH.
My description (November 2003, revised April 2004): "enclosed pasture (by a river) next to human habitation" or less likely: "habitation next to a pasture (by a river)." AH.
In medieval times "the hamme" was on the coastal plain, but the River Adur was then deflected east to be adjacent to the hamme.
By October 2005 I
am inclined to think that the hamm component referred to the coastal pasture
next to the shore (the shore being the northern banks of the Adur). There
really isn't very much indication of a steep slope* at all. However, if
the centre of the Shoreham habitat was at Old Shoreham, there is conceivably
a case for a slope too steep to plough. The topographical links are a bit
tenuous. The western slope of Mill Hill, (nearer Erringham, which may not
be a hamm at all?) would lead to marshy ground at the foot of the slope
on the flat Adur levels, without sea defences to prevent the Adur overflowing
on the land at sea level.
(* The steep slope comes from the topography
of land at Shoreham in Kent, and the place name studies assume the same
etymology.) The hamme pasture if this is the etymon may actually be common
grazing land as opposed to enclosed grazing? All this is speculation
from local history studies. Hammy Lane and Ham Road would both lead to
the Hamm, of which only a small area of grass remains as a public open
space. The river bank is now concrete wharfage replacing wooden wharfage,
and the natural land would have been banked up since medieval times giving
no evidence of what the land would have looked like in Saxon times. There
could have been small cliffs on the banks of the River Adur, but more than
likely it would be a gradual sloping shore.
By May 2007: I am inclined hamm = water meadow, and the "shear" part of Old Shoreham is the western edge of the downs, including what is left of Mill Hill. There is an old hay meadow still at Old Erringham.
PS (2007): Further studies of chalkhill ecology indicate that the steep slope facing west, north of Old Shoreham was probable. However, this land would decend more to marshland on the Adur Levels.
'ham' meaning village or homestead is also a possibility.
Revised again in April 2008: now thought to be enclosed pasture land, which is a feature of the larger homesteads, so it does not matter if it is ham or hamm. From anthropological research in South Africa. cf. kraal
More information by Michael Haseler on BRITARCH
My contribution on 31 May 2008 on BRITARCH
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an error]
-hám,
es; m. 'The Latin word which appears most nearly to translate it is vicus,
and it seems to be identical in form with the Greek &omega-tonos;.
In this sense it is the general assemblage of the dwellings in each particular
district, to which the arable land and pasture of the community were appurtenant,
the home of all the settlers in a separate and well defined locality, the
collection of the houses of the freemen. Whenever we can assure ourselves
that the vowel is long, we may be certain that the name implies such a
village or community,' Cod. Dipl. Kmbl. iii. xxviii-ix. The distinction
between -ham and -hám seems to have been lost before the Norman
Conquest, as in the Chronicle one MS. has tó Buccingahamme, another
tó Buccingahám, 918; Th. i. 190, col. 1, 2, l. 21. [Icel.
-heimr, e.g. Álf-heimr the abode of the elves: O. H. Ger. -heim.]
Source:
Bosworth/Toller, page b0506, entry 15 Germanic Lexicon entries
Interpretation by Andy Horton. References available. 24/9/97, and 3/1/98.
Update (2020): Ham. [Ang. Sax., ham; German, heim; English,
home.] A level pasture field; a plot of ground near a river.
"In the country of the Angles as well as here (in North Friesland)
every enclosed place is called a hamra."
—Outzen's Glossary of the Frisian Language, p. 113. http://www.sussexhistory.co.uk/sussex-dialect/sussex-dialect%20-%200153.htm
In 1457 the port of
Shoreham is named in a document as Hulkesmouth
alias Shorham. The New Shoreham Borough Seal of c. AD 1295 shows a ship
in a curved form. A type of ship known as a hulc
is known from late 10th century laws, and in the 15th century this type
of boat was the main trading vessel of northern Europe. The seal is the
logo of King's Manor School, Shoreham.
From a mistake in interpretation of 5th century Roman documents for Portus Adurni, which was originally claimed to be in what is now the Adur estuary, but now known to be at Portchester. The name appeared in a map in Michael Drayton's 'Polyolbion' map in the 17th century (1612).
Further Investigations:
Ardaoneon (R&C 43) next
http://www.romanmap.com/htm/nomina/Ardaoneon.htm
Addenda: The mistake associating Aldrington with Portus Adurni came originally from William Camden's Britannia 1586-1607.
Poly-olbion:
432.
And Adur coming on to Shoreham.
This river that here falls into the ocean might
well be understood in that Poii of Adur^ about this coast, the relics whereof,
learned Camden takes to be Edrington, or Adrington, a little from Shm'eham.
And the Author here so calls it Adur.
(It looks that there are OCR errors)
Britannia:
11. Some what
lower upon the shore appeareth Shoreham, in times past Score-ham, which
by little and little fell to bee but a village, at this day called Old
Shoreham, and gave encrease to another towne of the same name, whereof
the greater part also beeing drowned and made even with the sea is no more
to bee seene, and the commodiousnesse of the haven by reason of bankes
and barres of sand cast up at the rivers mouth quite gone, whereas in foregoing
times it was wont to carrie ships with full saile as farre as to Brember,
which is a good way from the sea. This Brember was a castle sometime of
the Breoses. For King William the First gave it unto William de Breose,
from whom those Breoses are descended who were Lords of Bower and Brechnock,
and from them also, both in this County and in Leicestershire, are come
the Families of the Shirelys, Knights. But now in steed of a Castle there
is nothing but an heape of ruble and ruines. A little from this Castle
lieth Stening, a great mercate, and at certaine set daies much frequented,
which in Aelfrids will, unless I be deceived, is called Steningham; ‡in
later times it had a Cell of Black-monkes wherein was enshrined S. Cudman,
an obscure Saint and visited by pilgrimes with oblations.‡
That ancient place also called Portus Adurni,
as it seemeth, is scarce three miles from this mouth of the river: where
when the Saxons first troubled our sea with their piracies, the Band called
exploratorum under the Romane Emperours kept their Station, but now it
should seeme to be choked and stopped up with huge heapes of beach gathered
together. For that this was Ederington, a prety village which the said
Aelfred granted unto his younger sonne, both the name remaining in part
and also certaine cottages adjoining, now called Porslade, that is, The
way to the Haven, doe after a sort perswade; to say nothing how easily
they might land heere, the shore being so open and plaine. And for the
same cause, our men in the reigne of King Henrie the Eighth did heere especially
wait for the Frenchmens gallies all the while they hovered on our coasts,
and upon the sudden set one or two cottages on fire at Brighthelmsted,
which
our ancestors the Saxons tearmed Brighthealmes-tun, the very next road
or harbour thereunto.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Holder suggested a connection with ND's Portum
Adurni , traditionally assigned to Portchester (SU6204). This connection
is further argued in PNRB's Portus Ardaoni. But as Williams points out,
"there is no certainty as to the true location of Portus Adurni".
Entry in Notitia
Dignitatum:
Praepositus numeri exploratorum, Portum Adurni.
http://www.pvv.ntnu.no/~halsteis/occ001.htm
http://www.roman-britain.org/notitia.htm
New research: Old river names like the Thames often have ancient origins, pre-Saxon, i.e. Celtic. I have now discovered the Cornish (Celtic) word "dowr" and the Welsh "dofr" which means water. The must be a possibility that (Adur without the A) was in existence as the common name of the river before Michael Drayton erroneously attributed 'Portus Adurni' to a location near the current Adur.
New: 'a-dhowr' (Cornish) means of the water, or from the water. Now, there still must be considerable doubt over the origin Adur from the Celtic (there are no comparable names in Wales or Cornwall).
As for Adur, the Modern Welsh for 'water' is 'dwr' (pronounced 'door' with a long 'oo'), but the Old Welsh predecessor of 'dwr' is 'dofr'. This is where Dover gets its name. (Carol Biggam)
There is a River
Adour in France.
Adour
- Aturonna, vient de atur (rivière) +
onna (source).
- Du ligure passé par l'ibéro-basque
aturra : la source
In fact, we probably do have the pre-English name of the Adur recorded in the Ravenna Cosmography as 'Nuba' / 'Novia' (see Rivet & Smith pp. 426-7), most likely a British *_nouia:_ 'new, fresh, lively'. (Paul Cullen).
Nuba (for Nova R&C 68) is a settlement
name derived from the name of the river. Both the Adur and the Cuckmere
are candidates for Ptolemy's Kainos Limen (Novus Portus) and Ravenna's
river Novia (R&C 267). The Ouse can be
precluded because the settlement Mutuantonis
(R&C 69 (Lewes?)), is easily related to Midewinde, the earlier river-name.
Tom
Ikins
http://www.RomanMap.com
The
Roman Map of Britain
The river has also been known
as the Sore (Holinshed's
Chronicle 1577). This is likely to be because of back-formation. Back-formation
is the reverse of affixation, being the analogical creation of a new word
from an existing word falsely assumed to be its derivative. (i.e. Sore
arose after the name Shoreham and not the other way round).
e.g. The river that runs through Arundel used
to be called the Tarrant (Tarente c.725), when the Old English name Arundel
was first in use. Later, the river was called the Arun, not from the original
root of Arun ( hoar - valley #), but named as an abbreviation
of the name of the town.
However, in Celtic names, Aberdeen, Falmouth
(Aberfal) and others, the river name came first.
( # hoar refers to the shrub "horehound" ? Marrubium vulgare and dell is a smallish valley ?)
ofer may be the flat-topped hillsite mentioned by Ann Cole.
The 'ofer' above is a preposition with meanings
'over, beyond, above, upon, in, across' etc. Cole's 'ofer' is a noun. They're
different words - the preposition has a short initial 'o', and the noun
has a long 'o'. This indicates a different history. (CB)
ofer means over in this context, but this is not the meaning for lots of ofer = over in place names like Southover (on the outskirts of Lewes.) It can also mean shore.
The south is harder to explain than wic which is Old English (originally Latin) for a farm, and certainly much more than this, the trading centre (road to London), market centre, and centre of the agricultural estate.
There have been considerable studies, debates, even some controversy or at least conflicting views, on the origin of wic in place names and their historical context. The Latin root vicus is clear.
PS: Southwick was recorded in the Domesday book (1085): Nigel
holds Esmerwick of William. Azor held it of King Edward. Then, and now,
it vouched for one hide and a half. There is land for 4 ploughs. In demesne
are 2 ploughs, and 4 villeins and 6 bordars with 2 ploughs. In the time
of King Edward it was worth 40 shillings, and afterwards 30 shillings.
Now 4 pounds. In that excerpt, the village is referred to by its Saxon
name, Esmerewick, meaning East pool hamlet. The village was first recorded
as Suthewicke in 1309. (late
entry in Wikipedia, unverified, I have not seen the original.)
Date
Spelling
1086
Lancinges
Full
Information on Ray Hamblett's Lancing web pages:
LancingRing2009.htmray.hamblett/History/Topon.htm
Wlen,
Poland
Other names: Lahn*, Laehn, Lähn, Wlen (*German)
le Milhouse, le Wynd Milhill 1549
Kingston
Chingestune 1086
Kyngeston next to the Schorham
1279
Kyngeston Bouci 1315
Boucsy 1317
Robert de Busci
held the manor in 1199
Kyngeston Bowsey 1608
Trailgi 1086 (now Truleigh) OE treow + leah = tree + clearing
Shoreham
Sele noua Schorham 1261
(Sele Priory)
Bukkyngham 1550
Eringeham 1086 DB (possibly
Ering = arable ? AH)
Anningadun 956
Staninges 1086 DB
Hethenburiels, Etenesburieles
1279
Fiskergate 1188
Slonk
Slonk Hill
(Shoreham) possibly from slohtre OE possible meaning
a field of some type unknown, or it could even come from slah-thorn
which is the sloe thorn, blackthorn in the books. Notes
(these are mislaid). These are now rejected as an unlikely meaning.
New notes:
*** *** *** Richard Coates writes:
(N1.2.5) SLONK in place-names of the Brighton area: no more slaughter,
please Field-names of this form are recorded in Rottingdean as follows:
the Slonkes furlonge 1638 (1655) ESRO BRD 3/1The Slonk or Southmost forlong
of the Vicurage Laine 1732 ESRO BRD 3/7 The Slonks 1819 ESRO AMS 4952/1/21
Upper and Lower Slonks, Slonks Hovel 1947/1970
Copper map Slonks (also Slonks
Corner, Hovel) 1971 Copper, pp. 9, 11, 157 Slonks Laine 1973 Copper, p.
12
The later fields Upper and Lower
Slonks are some way from Vicarage Laine, and we need to assume two places,
at different periods, bearing the same name. Slonk is recorded in Kent
(Parish and Shaw 1887) as meaning `a slope, declivity; a depression in
the ground'.
The first meaning is the one relevant
here. Upper and Lower Slonks occupy a smooth slope right on the Rottingdean/Rodmell
boundary. The profile of Slonk
Hill in Kingston Buci/Old Shoreham was a smoothly-descending spur before
it was carved up by the cutting which carries the A27. There also existed
land called the Sloncke in Preston (Court Rolls, 25 Sept. 1589; SRS 27),
the precise location of which is unknown; and also in Telscombe, a furlong
of Church Laine (document of 1701 (Cornes 1980)). Clearly the word was
an authentic local dialect item.
Web page: http://tinyurl.com/34gqn
Clearly the word was an authentic
local dialect item. It may be a variant of slant, which is
first recorded as a noun, `the slope of a hill, piece of ground,
etc.; a sloping stretch of ground', in 1655 (OED -2), and occasionally
written with
-o-.
But it is disturbing to find
that John Dudeney, who commands authority as a Downsman with intense local
knowledge and a hard-won education, gives only the `depression' explanation
in his discussion of slaunk (Dudeney, no date): "- a small bottom or slight
indentation running into a larger is called a Slaunk", and he names three
examples.
Words of a similar shape
to this are sometimes found in place-names with different meanings; but
we are not dealing here with narrow, winding pieces of land (slang) or
with hollows or swallowholes (slank).
German origin
http://wordsofyesterday.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/demulceate-slonk.html
slant
Etym:
Alteration of obsolete slent, from Middle English slenten, to fall aslant,
perhaps of Scandinavian origin.
Slonk Hill (Shoreham) is noted for its historic tumulus (now almost dissected by the A27 road) but this location if my interpretation of the old topography is correct would be on a hill with a slope facing the south. (This topography refers to the tumulus area rather than the farm.) NOT a muddy depression. which would refer to the farm.
There is a "Right of Way" passing through the area, and most 'slonks' seem to occur as roads. (This would be a better signpost AH.)
SLONK
c1470 HENRY Wallace III. 4 Baith erbe and froyte,
busk and bewis, braid Haboundandlye in euery slonk and slaid. 1513 DOUGLAS
Æneid XI. xi. 84 In dern sladis and mony scroggy slonk. 1563 WINET
tr. Vincent. Lirin. ii. Wks. (S.T.S.) II. 19 Sa grete dangerous slonkis
of sindry errouris. ?16.. Lindesay's (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (1728) 90
She standing in a slonk [v.r. slake] bringing home water. 1728 RAMSAY Poems
Gloss., Slonk, a Mire, Ditch, or Slough. 1880 Antrim & Down Gloss.,
Slonk,..a ditch; a deep, wet hollow in a road. 1894 HESLOP Northumbld.
Gloss., Slonk, a depression in the ground, like a ‘swallow hole’.
(OED)
The OED may refer to SLANK rather than SLONK ?
Le Haura from ON höfn
Late Old
English hæfen, from Old Norse h?fn; related to Dutch haven, German
Hafen ‘harbour’.
As Le
Haura (in France) was a new port founded in 1509, it seems that the
name is not a direct continuation of an ON name, but from the ordinary
noun `Haura'. According to Larousse étymologique, Havre
is from Dutch rather than Norse.
HAVEN
. A recess or inlet of the sea, or the mouth of a river, affording
good anchorage and a safe station for ships; a harbour, port.
1031 O.E. Chron., a hæfenan on Sandwic. c1205 LAY. 7415 at hauen
of Douere he hauede inumen. 1297 R. GLOUC. (1724) 134 Heo wolle to morwe
aryue atte haue [v.r. havene] of Tottenays. Ibid. 423 An hauene..at me
clupe Portesmoue. 1340 Ayenb. 182 Nyxt e hauene spil ofte et ssip et ge
zikerliche ine e hee ze. c1470 HENRY Wallace VII. 1068 A hundreth schippys..in
hawyn was lyand thar. 1535 COVERDALE Ps. cvi[i]. 30 So he bryngeth them
vnto the hauen where they wolde be [1611 vnto their desired hauen]. 1552
ABP. HAMILTON Catech. (1884) 28 Ane skyppar can nocht gyde his schip to
ane gud hevin without direction of his Compas. 1647 CLARENDON Hist. Reb.
VII. §161 Weymouth, a very convenient Harbour and Haven. 1862 LD.
BROUGHAM Brit. Const. xi. 152 Goods imported and exported at the havens
of the realm.
(OED)
Sompting: Suntinga gamære 956 BCS 961 Sultinges DB, Suntinges 1186Fr, Sumptinges 1242 Fees (All Ekwall) OE sumpt, sunt = marsh or pool, related to sump = swamp. gamære = boundary.
Sussex Archaeology & Folklore (includes Place Name Origins)
Place
Names Bibliography (External site)
Institute for the
Historical Study of Language
Anglo-Saxon
Plant-Name Survey
http://www2.arts.gla.ac.uk/SESLL/EngLang/ihsl/projects/plants.htm
List
of Plant Names
http://www2.arts.gla.ac.uk/SESLL/EngLang/ihsl/projects/ASPNS/Lstnam.htm#plantnames
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