By John Watson-Taylor. 379 
says of the same place—Locum sylvestrem nomen sonat. The second 
meaning is also developed further still into a place surrounded by 
a wooden stockade, but this word is of Italian or Spanish manu- 
facture, and, if it owes anything to Anglo-Saxon in its origin, 
appears to come from “sticca,” a stick. Mr. Charles Bowles, a 
colleague of Sir Richard Colt Hoare, in his account of Stoke Verdon,? 
rather favoured this idea. “I am not satisfied,” he wrote, “that 
the word Stoke or Stock is derived from the Saxon word Stock, 
and am rather inclined to think that it had its origin in earlier 
times than the Saxons. It seems to me that it owes such origin 
to the contiguity of some grand earthworks or camp in the imme- 
diate neighbourhood of places called Stoke.” In support of his 
theory he gave the following examples: in Wiltshire, Winterbourne 
Stoke near Yarnbury Castle, Stoke in Broad Chalk near Chisel- 
bury; in Dorsetshire, Stoke Wake near Bull Barrow ; in Hampshire, 
Stockbridge near Danbury; and in Somersetshire, Stoke-under-Ham, 
the hill camp near Yeovil. The suggestion that the word Stoke 
is of an older origin than Saxon is supported by Welsh philologists, 
- who trace it to the Celtic root “tec,” or “ teg,” signifying a roof, the 
common parent of the Latin tegmen, toga, and tegula, and the 
_ Greek reyos, but the development of the meaning roof to house, 
group of houses, and place, is simple and the easier explanation of 
_ the phenomena seems to be that in early days it was necessary to 
the safety of the inhabitants of a place that they should have near 
them a camp or other stronghold to which to fly in the hour of 
danger from their enemies. 
Other Wiltshire authorities agree in the opinion that Stoke 
signified a place or a village, thus Sir Richard Colt Hoare, writing 
_ of Laverstock, says: the etymology is at once obvious and pleasing 
—the stoke, or village of the laverock or lark; Canon Jackson 
1 Modern Wiltshire. 
? To the Wiltshire examples might be added : Odstock near Clearbury Ring, 
_Baverstock near Badbury or Belbury Rings, Purton Stoke near Ringsbury, 
Stoke in Bedwyn near Chisbury Ring, while Bradenstoke, Beechingstoke, 
and Hrlestoke once had the same characteristic. 


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