Keith Briggs wrote:
> John Briggs wrote:
>>
>> Presumably Purbrook ('puck brook') was the name of the stream
>
> In view of Carole Hough's *pohha/*pocca article, can we be so sure
> this is 'puck brook' any more?
> In fact Polebrook (Northants) is one of her examples, and we have
>
> Polebrook Pokebroc 1207
> Purbrook Pokebroc 13th.
>
> Reference: C. Hough, 'Place-name evidence for an Anglo-Saxon animal
> name: OE *pohha/*pocca "fallow deer"', Anglo-Saxon England 30 (2001),
> 1-14.
Oh, bugger! Mind you, I would be wary of an etymology with two asterisks
:-)
We don't have deer in these parts any more, but that doesn't mean anything.
The spelling Pokebroc' is from the rubric of an early 13th century Southwick
charter [III 219] (possibly 1213-1215), whereas the text has Adam de
Pukebrok'. I don't know what to make of that, except that it suggests to me
a 'pook' pronunciation. The same charter mentions Porteswalde, which is
just assumed to be the wooded area north of Portsdown Hill. No sign of
Marrelsmoor (or any other moor!) in the index, but Porteswalde isn't there
either...
John Briggs
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