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 Eichard Colt Hoare, in his account of Stoke Verdon, 1 

 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. 2 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 re^o?, 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 Eichard 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. 



2 To the Wiltshire examples might be added : Odstock near Clearbury Ring, 

 Baverstock near Badbury or Belbury Kings, Purton Stoke near Eingsbury, 

 Stoke in Bedwyn near Chisbury King, while Bradenstoke, Beechingstoke, 

 and Erlestoke once had the same characteristic. 



2 C 2 



