Watts, Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names, p. 511b, seems satisfied
with the priory founded "apud Crucem Rohesie c. Henry II or the "Crux
Roaisie (Roesie's cross" of 1184 or "simply Rohesie 1229." He states
possibly identified with Rose, wife of Eudo Dapifer, a steward of William
I." I would give short shrift to pre-modern phonetic or spelling
objections: our knowledge of diachronic phonology has progressed in the 20th
and 21st centuries.
Scott
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From: "Jean Kelly" <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, October 05, 2011 9:35 AM
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: [EPNL] Royston (Hertfordshire)
> I've been reading an article on the Royston Cave in Hertfordshire -
> http://tinyurl.com/3u2vl5b - which, inter alia, discusses the origins of
> the name "Royston".
>
> The author cites Beldam - http://tinyurl.com/6b2m5eb - " ... the Rev. Mr.
> Parkin argues, with some force, that the style and title of the Priory,
> founded in the lifetime of the second Lady Rosia, and called after the
> name of the Cross, “De Cruce Roæsie,†certainly imply that the Cross
> itself was at that time of considerable fame, and probably of considerable
> antiquity. And this inference seems strengthened by the local and
> vernacular name of the spot, frequently occurring in the earliest Priory
> deeds, and latinized into “Roœsie,†which is variously spelt
> “Roys,†“Roes,†“Rous,†and “Roheys,†words which
> certainly have much of a Scandinavian character, and are not so easily
> derived from a female Christian name.
>
> Salmon, the antiquary of the county, adopting a similar view, cites the
> earned Dane, Olaus Wormius, to prove, that among the northern nations, the
> practice of burning the dead, and heaping a mound over their ashes, was
> {11} known by the name of “Roiser,†and the tumulus itself, by the
> name of “Roise.†And various Saxon words, almost identical in sound,
> and of similar import, such as “Hreaws,†pronounced “Rows,â€
> meaning a funeral; “Reowes,†pronounced “Roes,†signifying sorrow
> or mourning; and “Rowes,†or “Rous,†implying rest or repose, all
> appear to confirm the Scandinavian origin of the name, and raise a strong
> presumption that the original Cross was so called, either from some
> remarkable funereal mound erected on the spot, or from those numerous
> tumuli in the neighbourhood, which in its originally wild and open
> condition, must have formed the chief characteristic of the country, and
> would naturally suggest the appellation."
>
> Stukely's argument can be found here - http://tinyurl.com/65kr4mj - and
> that of the Rev. Charles Parkin , here - http://tinyurl.com/3ltxbng.
>
> Do EPNListers have any views on the origin of the name "Royston"?
>
> Jean Kelly
>
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