Print

Print
Archaeology

Theoretically, yes, given that there are compounds of puca with dic in Herefordshire (Banister p158) and Warwickshire (Signposts to the Past p150). But isn’t powdike a vocabulary word? Richardson’s Dictionary (1839) defines it as ‘a pow or pool… dug for draining the ground’. And there’s an act of 1530 which classes as a felony ‘every perverse and malitious cutting down and breaking up of any part of the new… Powdike in Marshland in the county of Norff’. Presumably if this feature was new it would have been given a name with some appellative force.

 

None of this stops the etymology of the word (rather than the name) being ‘ditch of the puca’ or rather, given that they seem to have surrounded fens, ‘ditch to keep those pesky pucas in the marshes where they belong’. I’ve wondered if the Dorset word puxey for a wet spot originated as ‘puca’s water’.

 

Jeremy Harte

From: The English Place-Name List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Keith Briggs
Sent: 24 September 2010 11:09
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Powdyke

OED (Draft revision Sept. 2010) has an entry for powdyke, defined as the name of three in Norfolk.   (They even give a separate US pronunciation /{sm}po{shtu}{smm}da{shti}k/ - why would there be one?)   The earliest form (1293) is Pokediche.  The name survives as Podike at TF554054 on current OS maps.

 

I don't recall any discussion of this name in the place-name literature.   Could it be yet another named from a mythical being, in this case a pûca?

 

Keith

 

 

 

********************************************************************

The information contained in this message is confidential and may be

legally privileged. The message is intended solely for the addressee(s).

If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any

use, dissemination, or reproduction is strictly prohibited and may be

unlawful. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the

sender by return e-mail and destroy all copies of the original message.

 

Visit the Epsom and Ewell Borough Council website at www.epsom-ewell.gov.uk

********************************************************************