What is the German word you are thinking of? I'm a reasonably
competent speaker of German and can't think of anything which would
fit the context.
I.
Von: Jeremy Harte <[log in to unmask]>
An: [log in to unmask]
Betreff: Re: [EPNL] nick & puck
Datum: Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:34:13 +0100
Dear Keith, Dear All,
Compounds of pūca with stān are rare – perhaps unknown? They seem
to have preferred pits, wells, dells, and corners from which they
could jump out at people. And there are problems in deriving Nicheston
from any sort of goblin name, since OE nicor was still something like
nicre in 1200, if I remember my La3amon, and nick has the look of
being a late loanword from German.
There is a dialect word ‘nicko’ (or something like it) for
woodpecker which I’ve seen cited for forms that otherwise looked
like nicor. But hardly in 1200, and anyway ‘woodpecker stone’
doesn’t make much sense.
Jeremy Harte
From: The English Place-Name List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Richard Coates
Sent: 30 January 2012 11:03
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: nick & puck
Puchesston is on the face of it odd if it’s a tūn name, since OE
pūca is a weak masculine and shouldn’t form an –s genitive. Could
the FN be for ‘goblin’s stone’ (pūcan stān)?
Richard
From: The English Place-Name List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Keith Briggs
Sent: 30 January 2012 10:22
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [EPNL] nick & puck
The two field-names Nicheston and Puchesston are recorded in
Pickenham in Norfolk in 1200 [Dodwell:FFNf pp.107-108].
They seem to form a natural pair, and the second looks like a typical
puck-name (cf. OED s.v. puck n.1), though I am not aware of any other
-ton compound with this 'goblin' word. What is the element in the
first? OED s.n. Nick n.2 has this as a name for the devil only from
c.1695. (Smith (EPNE) has examples with nicor, but that word is
unrelated.)
Keith
@book{Dodwell:FFNf,
title= "{Feet of fines for the county of Norfolk for the tenth
year of the reign of King Richard the First, 1198--1199 and for the
first four years of the reign of King John, 1199--1202, now first
printed from the original in the custody of the Master of the Rolls}",
editor= "Barbara Dodwell",
volume= "LXV (NS 27)",
year= "1950",
publisher="Pipe Roll Society",
address= "London",
keywords={primary_source},
}
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