. ' TEESDALE PLACE-NAMES. 109 



" In common Icel. usage holt means any rough, strong hill or 

 ridge, as opposed to marsh or lea." Cleasby. 



" Hurst is from hyrst, A.-S., a wood." Edmunds. 



Halliwell has hurst, a wood. 



^^ Hirst, a bank, or sudden rising of the ground." Engl. Dial. 

 Soc, Tour to the Caves. 



Hirst, hurst, a wooded bank, a place with trees. According 

 to Lord Coke, a wood generally. 



In IS'orthumberland we have Hirst and Longhirst, in Durham 

 and "the South it is Hurst, and forms the termination of many 

 proper names," Brockett; as Hurstmonceaux, Broekenhurst. 



Jamieson says, "in its general application the word suggests 

 an idea the reverse of ornamental." 



^^ Hirst, hurst, 1. a barren height or eminence, the bare and 

 hard summit of a hill. Scotl. I^orth England hirst, a bank, or 

 sudden rising of the ground." Grose. 



2. A sandbank on the brink of a river. 



3. Equivalent to shallow in relation to the bed of a river. 



4. A resting place. 5. A small wood. 



A.-S. hurst is rendered siha, whence barbarous Lat. hursta. ■ 



Ger. hurst, locus nemorosus et pascuus, ab opos, 7>ions. "Wachter. 



Tout, horscht, horst, virgultum ; sylva humiles tantum frutices 

 proferens. Kilian. 



If these terms be radically the same with ours, it is hard to 

 say which of the two significations is the original one. Hirst, 

 without any transposition, might be traced to Suio-Goth. har, 

 which exactly corresponds to the common idea with respect to a 

 hirst, locus lapidosus ubi solum glarea et silicibus constat. Ihre. 

 Or the term may have been previously used to denote the bar- 

 renness of ground as manifested by its producing only useless 

 twigs and brushwood, from Icel. hreys, hrys, for in plural it is 

 rendered, loca virgultis obsita et sterilia. G. Andr, p. 123 

 Afterwards it may have been transferred to such places as from 

 their elevation and bleak situation are unfit for cultivation." 

 Jamieson. 



Holt, a wood, plantation. Engl. Dial. Soc, Oxfordsh. 



Holt, a small grove or plantation. We have gooseberry holts, 



