If only it were that easy... The personal name Hob and the goblin term hob are formally identical (hob is just a lexicalised use of Hob) so there are no phonological grounds for choosing one over the other when interpreting a name. They’re both commonest in the same parts of the country, roughly north and east. Many of the generics found in these names, such as lane, can be matched equally well against place-names containing undoubted personal names and those containing supernatural beings, though some places in Hob-, like fields and clearings, seem more likely to refer to people. But there are several names with ModE hole as a generic, and that’s typically compounded with words for some sort of goblin. Simon Young has found the clincher here – a set of Hob Holes in eastern America, which must date from after the obsolescence of Hob as a man’s name, and before belief in hobs started to fade on those parts.

 

None of which addresses ME hobbe, ‘a tussock’…

 

Jeremy

 

-----Original Message-----
From: The English Place-Name List <[log in to unmask]> On Behalf Of Keith Briggs
Sent: 11 December 2018 19:20
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Spooky For Christmas

 

I'm sure we can learn that there were people called Hob or Hobbs living near all these places.

 

Keith

 

________________________________________

From: The English Place-Name List [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Martin Counihan [[log in to unmask]]

Sent: 11 December 2018 19:05

To: [log in to unmask]

Subject: Re: Spooky For Christmas

 

I too have a liking for supernatural place-names, although the topic would be more suitable for Halloween than for Christmas.  I have been interested in the various "Hob" place-names.  There are numerous examples of "Hobbs Lane", including one in Warmley (Gloucestershire) and one near Rye (East Sussex).  And there is another Hobbs Lane (earlier called Hobs Lane) in West London, near to Hobbs End tube station.  I wonder if we can learn anything from the geographical distribution of these names?

 

Martin Counihan

 

 

> Sent: Tuesday, December 11, 2018 at 5:44 PM

> From: "Keith Briggs" <[log in to unmask]>

> To: [log in to unmask]

> Subject: Re: Spooky For Christmas

> 

> I have a forthcoming paper on Wicklaw in Suffolk, the '(assembly) mound of the wīc'.

> 

> The latter is quite likely to be Wickham Market.

> 

> Keith

> 

> ________________________________________

> From: The English Place-Name List [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Jeremy Harte [[log in to unmask]]

> Sent: 11 December 2018 17:36

> To: [log in to unmask]

> Subject: Spooky For Christmas

> 

> Do you have a colleague who likes supernatural place-names? Is someone close to you found of names indicating places of assembly? Here comes the ideal Christmas present:

> Hethe voc’ Wychemote 1547 in Greenham (PN Berks 1 p249).

> 

> A moment after unwrapping this, reality set in: I thought, it can’t mean ‘assembly-place of the witches’. That’s too good (or, in the case of witches, bad) to be true. But then what does it mean? Wych, for witch-elm, is the usual explanation for places in ‘witch’. ME mote ‘mound’ can develop much like (ge)mōt. But mote is very rarely a generic, and I don’t think it’s ever coupled with words for trees – leaving aside the fact that witches are more likely than wych-elms to be found on a blasted heath. Is there another obvious explanation which I’ve missed?

> 

> Jeremy Harte