TEESDALE PLACE-NAMES, 41 



places, as Lowcombe, Bowcombe." Engl. Dialect. Soc. Isle of 

 WigM Gloss. 



" Cooms, the high ridges in ill-kept roads, between the ruts 

 and the horse path." Forby, E. Anglia Vocab. 



" Coomb, the bosom, of a hill having a semicircular form." 

 Phillips says, " comb or combe, Sax., a valley or low plain be- 

 tween two hills, or a hill between valleys, used in Devonshire, 

 Cornwall, and many parts of England." It seems evidently of 

 Celtic origin. Wei. cwmm, vallis, convallis (Davies), probably 

 irom.com, a curve, around. Owen. Bas Breton, comb. 



The A.-S. probably adopted it from the British. 



Hispan. comba ; Armor, combant ; Bar. Lat. cuma, coma, cumba, 

 cumbus, locus declivus, propensus, in vallem desinens. The la- 

 dical term denoting anything curved ; this notion may be traced 

 in its various derivatives. 



•' Coom is used in Fife to denote a rising ground that has a 

 circular form . ' ' Jamieson. 



' ' Comb, vallis montibus utrinque obsita, inde tot nomina loco- 

 rum in comb desinentia quorum situs depressior, ut Balcomb, 

 Boscomb." 



No doubt this is one of our most ancient words, Celtic, Greek, 

 Latin, and Sanscrit, adopted by the A.-S. from the Celts, and 

 found for the most part in the south-western hilly parts of 

 England. 



It is peculiar as having like Dene, Dike, Cop, Hope, Howe, 

 and Low, a double meaning ; one the opposite of the other. Its 

 most common meaning, which was probably the original one, is 

 that of a bowl-like or concave spot among hills,. the exceptional 

 one being that of an elevation or convex form. 



Examples : — 



Combs — Langdon Beck, hollows at Langdon Beck. 



The Combs — hollows, at Scargill. 



Greencomb Sike — drain of the green hollow 



Stonycoom and Stonycombe — stony hollow. 



