frames descriptive of Physical Features. 



SI 



This is the origin of Shaw, the name of two places, one 

 near Melksham, the other by Alton Priors. From the compound 

 bremele sceaga, literally " bramble-wood," we have the name Bram- 

 sh LW. I am inclined to think that the name Shockerwick, on the 

 Somersetshire border, by Batheaston, is a corruption of sceaga-ivic } 

 and means simply the " dwelling by the wood." 



45. In some eases the peculiar shape of a manor or estate seems 

 to have fixed the name. Stert, near Devizes, may fairly be presumed 

 to be the Anglo-Saxon steort , which means a tail, an extremity, a 

 promontory. Gore, a tithing of Market Lavington, would seem 

 to be gdra 3 an angular point or neck of land stretching out into the 

 plain, a word which, according to Kemble, is itself to be referred to 

 gar, a javelin or pike. 



Then from the Anglo-Saxon dun} which signifies hill, and from 

 which we get our common expression " the downs" come amongst 

 others the following names : Downton {dun-tun) is the village situ- 

 ated between the hills or in the neighbourhood of the downs ; — 

 Doxhead (dun-hedfod) means literally the head, i.£.,the commencing, 

 or the highest point, of the downs ; Hindon (kedn-dun) means high 

 hill, an apt description of the locality of the now decayed town 

 bearing that name, and which at first was simply the hilly part of 

 the parish of East Knoyle. 



46. Then, amongst the names derived from the natural productions 

 of a locality the following may be mentioned : — 



(a) Those derived from the vegetable kingdom. 



Such for example are Ash-down (eesces-dun) , the "hill of the 

 ash-trees," and the similar compounds of* Ashton, Ashgrove, 

 Ashton, which sufficiently explain themselves. Again Garsdon 



1 As regards this well known word, a philological friend has sent me the 

 following observations : "Dun (=hill, a fortified hill) is found in Anglo-Saxon 

 Dictionaries but it is not Teutonic. It is the Ir. and Gael, dun, a fortified 

 house or hill ; W. din, a fortified hill or mount, a camp or fort. Its appearance 

 in such Celtic names as Lug-dun-urn, andLon din-ium, shows clearly its origin. 

 It has been imported into the German dialects : Frisic diinen and S. German 

 donen are instances, but its proper home is on Celtic ground. Boeda says it is 

 a word of the ancient British language," See Pritchard's Researches, iii., 126. 



