By the Rev. A. C. Smithy 31.A. 



335 



vulgar parlance into Yatsbury ; Yeatesbury as it was in 1700 ; 

 Yeatt'tsburye in 1553, when an inventory of Church goods was made 

 throughout the county ; but Yatesbury, just as it is spelt now, in 

 the ninth year of King Edward II. , A.D. 1316 ; Zatesbury* Jetesbury, 

 Hyatebiri, Sifesburi, Yactebury, Yattesbury ~ as it has been variously 

 written; was in Domesday book put down as Etesberie', and as we 

 have no historical record of the name prior to A.D. 1086, we can 

 push our enquiries no farther, and must therefore be content to ac- 

 cept this as the earliest name for it we know. It is true that when 

 we see Etesberie and Yatesbury printed side by side, there certainly 

 seems a wide divergence between them : but when a Wiltshireman 

 comes to pronounce them with the addition of the initial y before 

 a vowel — and especially before the vowel a — in which the true 

 Wiltshireman specially delights, 3 the ear of the listener will detect 

 but a very slight variation, and whether it be written Etesberie, 

 Zatesbury, Jetesbury, Yeatesburye, or otherwise, Yatesbury will be 

 very nearly the true pronunciation in the mouth of a native. But 



I when we desire to pull the word to pieces in search of its meaning, 

 and for this purpose of dissection trace out the original name as far 



1 as we can, we find we have nothing to do with gates or fortified 

 places, but are confronted with the word Mesberie : what then does 

 that name signify ? To begin with the latter part of the word, 

 which is clear enough ; berie signifies in Anglo-Saxon " a large open 

 field/'' " a flat plain/' or " a wide champaign " i : and berie-meadows 



• have been interpreted as " demesne or manor meadows, thence any 

 flat or open meadows that lay adjoining to any vill or farm " : and 

 surely no word could more accurately describe the exact appearance 

 of the district around Yatesbury that this : inasmuch as broad flat 



1 Zate was another ancient spelling for gate. See Promptuarium Parvulornm. 



2 Canon Jackson's Aubrey, page 46. Canon Jones' Names of Places, Magazine, 

 xiv., 276. 



j 3 " Gie I a yapple," said one boy to another in my hearing, not long since. " I 

 1 sprained my yarm," said a parishioner to me the other day. " I yast un [asked 

 j him] when er would return," said a third : but these are only samples of every- 

 ; day conversation in "Wiltshire. 



4 Magazine, xiv., pp. 255, 276; xv., p. 77. 



i 

 i 



